Modeling dynamic factors affecting fine motor development milestone of 9-12 months old infants using structural equation model

Introduction: Investigating the factors affecting motor development is very important in identifying the causes of motor developmental delay for parents and occupational therapists in the development of pediatric treatment. This study aims to model dynamic factors affecting fine motor development milestones of 9-12 months old infants. Method: in this study 283 children were screened by age and stage scale which included providing the home environment for motor development-infant scale, parental postpartum attachment scale, Beak habitual physical activity questionnaire, and general health questioner. Factors affecting motor development were classified into three parts: individual, maternal and environmental factors.  Result: Structural equation model showed that according to the fitting indexes reported, the conceptual model of this research does not have an acceptable fitting level. Regression results showed that none of the factors had a significant contribution to the prediction of fine movements in the maternal factors group. Linear regression in the individual factors group showed that age with an effective coefficient of -0.15 and motivation with an effective coefficient of 0.14 had a significant contribution to the prediction of fine movements. And in the environmental factor group, the number of siblings with an effective coefficient of -0.17 and parents' encouragement with an effective coefficient of 0.15 had a significant contribution to the prediction of fine movements. Conclusion: The present results showed that the present predictive variables had poor predictive power, so more research is needed to identify stronger predictors of fine motor development.