Milestones or Millstones: How Standard Assessments Mask Cultural Variation and Misinform Policies Aimed at Early Childhood Development

Abstract

Traditionally, the study of motor development—rooted in Western populations and culture—has focused on establishing norms in the timing and sequence of motor skills, inspiring the widely used emphasis on motor milestones in standard assessments (e.g., crawling by 8 months). Motor milestones are only a perceived version of what is an important skill; they are cultural conventions, not universals. Some cultures allow infants floor time; others carry them constantly, limiting practice. Thus, milestones create millstones to considerations of culture and context. Cultural beliefs, practices, and expectations manifest in childrearing practices. The variability in childrearing—or differences in infants’ experiences—offer unique opportunities for posture, balance, and locomotion, which in turn generates variation in motor skills both within and between cultures. Cross-cultural comparisons best illustrate the enormous variability in infants’ everyday experiences and effects on motor skills. We offer suggestions from this cross-cultural perspective to inform policy when designing interventions to help infants and young children thrive.

Comparison of U.S. and Tajik infants' time in containment devices

“…Examining the use of containments in a U.S. sample in relation to a Tajik sample of same‐age infants highlights the cultural and physical contexts in which infants' motor skills emerge and offers a glimpse into their everyday experiences practicing manual, postural, and locomotor skills (Franchak, 2019; Karasik et al, 2011). Such knowledge may offer insights into the differences in motor skills reported in cross‐cultural work (Adolph et al, 2010; Karasik & Robinson, 2022).…”

Infant locomotion shapes proximity to adults during everyday play in the U.S.

“…For example, infants from cultures that engage in daily exercise and massage routines (e.g., parts of India, Africa, and the Caribbean) begin to walk weeks or even months earlier than Western infants do (see Karasik et al., 2010 for a relevant review). Other infants skip certain skills altogether (e.g., crawling; Karasik & Robinson, 2022). Even within the United States, sociodemographic factors appear to influence characteristics of infants’ home environments—like how crowded living spaces are—which may in turn account for later attainment of walking (Hospodar et al., 2021).…”

Somatovisceral Influences on Emotional Development

“…For example, urban parents tend to spend less skin-to-skin contact time with their infants as compared to parents from rural areas (Keller et al, 2009) and there is evidence that the types of touch used to soothe infants may vary across cultures (Carra et al, 2014). In the same way that different types of parenting practices related to motor stimulation appear to have consequences for motor development (Karasik & Robinson, 2022), differences in the use of social touch may influence emotional development. Evidence suggestive of this comes from research on maternal depression.…”