What Parents Know Matters: Parental Knowledge at Birth Predicts Caregiving Behaviors at 9 Months

To examine the mediating role of socioeconomically disadvantaged parents' knowledge of early cognitive and language development at the first postpartum visit in the relation between education and caregiving behaviors at 9 months. Parental knowledge was assessed at the 1-week newborn visit (n = 468); anticipatory guidance received and desired at 1-month (n = 212) and 6-month (n = 191) visits were reported; and caregiving behaviors toward infants during a teaching task were observed at 9-month visit (n = 173). We found substantial variation in knowledge and caregiving behaviors. Parents who had more knowledge of infant development at 1 week were more likely to respond to cues (r = 0.18; P