{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T16:53:06Z","timestamp":1790009586267,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,5]],"date-time":"2026-02-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770249600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Mental health problems affect 7%\u221218% of preschool-aged children globally, with early interventions crucial for mitigating long-term impacts. Parental verbal responsivity (PVR) is a modifiable factor linked to cognitive and emotional development, yet large-scale studies on its association with mental health in young children remain scarce.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This cross-sectional study was conducted between February 28 and March 5, 2025, in a western Chinese city, involving 21,366 parent-child dyads from 189 kindergartens. Parental Verbal Responsivity (PVR) was assessed using the parent-reported StimQ, which measures verbal interactions during daily routines, play, and regulation activities. Child mental health was evaluated via the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Multivariable logistic regression models were employed, adjusting for relevant sociodemographic and lifestyle covariates.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      After full adjustment, each unit increase in PVR corresponded to 4% reduced odds of total difficulties (95%CI 0.95\u20130.96) and 7% increased odds of prosocial behaviors (95%CI 1.06\u20131.08), both with\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt; 0.0001 significance. Subgroup analyses revealed effect modifications by parental gender, education, employment status, annual family income, and smoking status and alcohol intake status.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In this large-scale study, a weak association was found between verbal interaction frequency and child mental health, explaining less than 1% of outcome variance. This highlights the limitation of measuring only interaction frequency and underscores the need for future research to incorporate multi-informant and observational methods to better understand pathways to child mental health.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1688294","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,5]],"date-time":"2026-02-05T07:11:23Z","timestamp":1770275483000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Association of parental verbal responsivity with reduced mental health problems in preschool-aged children: a cross-sectional study of 21,366 dyads in western China"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Fenling","family":"Feng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Xi'an International Medical Center Hospital","place":["Xi'an, Shaanxi, China"]},{"name":"Tianyou Children's Hospital of Chang'an","place":["Xi'an, Shaanxi, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hongli","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shaanxi Institute for Pediatric Diseases, Xi'an Key Laboratory of Children's Health and Diseases, Xi'an Children's Hospital, National Regional Children's Medical Center (Northwest)","place":["Xi'an, Shaanxi, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yujun","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine, Xi'an Children's Hospital, Affiliated Children's Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, National Regional Children's Medical Center (Northwest)","place":["Xi'an, Shaanxi, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"172","DOI":"10.1016\/j.acap.2017.04.020","article-title":"Real-world usage of educational media does not promote parent-child cognitive stimulation activities","volume":"18","author":"Choi","year":"2018","journal-title":"Acad. 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