Early childhood development is influenced by a child’s environmental experiences. The qualities of surrounding in which a child lives, grows up and learns are key for attaining their milestones. Increased availability of screen-based media in families leads to excessive screen time among young children, resulting in high chances of displacing parent–child interaction which is fundamental in a thriving child’s process of learning and development. Numerous publications have investigated the potential health impacts of early exposure and excessive usage of screen-based media among children, with literature suggesting links between excessive screen time and behavioural difficulties, developmental delay and increased risk of obesity, among other issues. Existing guidelines from international bodies call for limiting screen time to an hour per day for children aged two to five years old and urge that children below the age of two should not be exposed to any screen time. To spark awareness among parents and caregivers concerning the potential health impacts of screen-based media usage among young children, child media habits are recommended to be incorporated as part of toddlers’ developmental assessment in health clinics. A guideline for mindful usage of screen-based media focusing on children below the age of five tailored to a Malaysian context ought to be developed based on current evidence from research, theory and practice. A collaborative effort between concerned agencies is essential to ensuring a developmentally stimulating environment in which young children may grow up.

This validation study aimed to provide a validated Malay language version of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social Emotional-2 (ASQ:SE-2) as a developmental screening tool for the social emotional development of Malaysian toddlers. In this study, content validity determination, translation, cultural and lingual modifications, and construct validity were made to the original English version of ASQ:SE-2. A pilot study was conducted to determine the internal consistency and construct validity of ASQ:SE-2 18-Month and 36-Month Questionnaires, with 100 respondents for each instrument, respectively. Test-retest reliability was conducted on 60 respondents for each instrument, respectively. Acceptable internal consistency was obtained based on Cronbach’s alpha of 0.731 and 0.686 for ASQ:SE-2 18-Month and 36-Month Questionnaires, respectively. Reproducibility of both sets of instruments are excellent, with Intraclass Coefficient of 0.922 and 0.970 for 18-Month and 36-Month Questionnaires, respectively. The Malay Language version of the ASQ:SE-2 has appropriate validity and reliability for screening social emotional developmental of Malaysian toddlers.
Tooth, Deciduous