Causal mediation mechanisms underlying early childhood development interventions in rural China

This study examined how early childhood development (ECD) interventions improved children's developmental outcomes in rural China. The three-wave panel data were drawn from a randomized controlled trial with a village-based parenting center intervention conducted between 2016 and 2018. Involving 1,613 children (aged 6–36 months, 52% boys) and their primary caregivers (70% mothers, predominantly Han ethnicity), the causal mediation analysis showed that the parenting center intervention improved children's standardized scores of cognition and language, with the primary caregivers’ parenting behaviors (reading books or telling stories with children) playing a significant mediating role. The primary caregivers’ parenting behaviors accounted for approximately 17% of the total effect of ECD intervention on children's cognitive outcomes and 29% on language outcomes.