Table 2.
Socio-demographic distribution at baseline for intervention and control group (N = 478)
| Variable | Overall | Intervention | Control | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N (%) | n (%) | n (%) | ||
| Gender of child: | ||||
| Male | 215(45.0) | 103 (44.2) | 112 (45.7) | 0.740a |
| Female | 263(55.0) | 130 (55.8) | 132 (53.9) | |
| Age of child: | ||||
| 2 years | 240 (50.2) | 118 (50.6) | 122 (49.8) | 0.853a |
| 3 years | 238 (49.8) | 115 (49.4) | 123 (50.2) | |
| Mean age of child* | 2.5 ± 0.5 | 2.5 ± 0.5 | 2.5 ± 0.5 | 0.853b |
| Ethnicity of child: | ||||
| Malay | 432 (90.4) | 206 (88.4) | 226 (92.2) | 0.156a |
| Chinese | 46 (9.6) | 27 (10.6) | 19 (7.8) | |
| Gender of older sibling: | ||||
| Male | 237 (49.6) | 111 (47.6) | 126 (51.4) | 0.408a |
| Female | 241 (50.4) | 122 (52.4) | 119 (48.6) | |
| Age of older sibling: | ||||
| 4 years | 117 (24.5) | 53 (22.7) | 64 (26.1) | 0.506a |
| 5 years | 155 (32.4) | 81 (34.8) | 74 (30.2) | |
| 6 years | 206 (43.1) | 99 (42.5) | 107 (43.7) | |
| Mean age of older sibling* | 5.2 ± 0.8 | 5.2 ± 0.7 | 5.2 ± 0.8 | 0.765b |
| Mother’s highest education: | ||||
| Never been to school | 13 (2.7) | 5 (2.2) | 8 (3.3) | 0.222a |
| Primary school | 43 (9.0) | 19 (8.2) | 24 (9.8) | |
| Secondary school | 295 (61.7) | 138 (59.2) | 157 (64.1) | |
| Diploma, degree and above | 127 (26.6) | 71 (30.5) | 56 (22.8) | |
aChi-square test; bIndependent t-test; significance level p < 0.05 *Mean and standard deviation