Time spent in different types of childcare and children's development at school entry: an Australian longitudinal study

Abstract

More time in centre-based childcare (but not other types of care) through the first 3 years of life was associated with higher parent-reported and teacher-reported externalising problem behaviours, and lower parent-reported internalising problem behaviours but not with children's receptive vocabulary ability at school entry.

Child care quality and Dutch 2‐ and 3‐year‐olds' socio‐emotional outcomes: Does the amount of care matter?

“…However, we did find that more days in daycare was associated with more caregiver‐rated externalizing behaviour problems, although this effect decreased to non‐significance when predicting externalizing behaviour one year later at age 3 years, when controlling for externalizing behaviour at age 2 years. This slight negative behavioural association with the amount of daycare is consistent with results from the NICHD studies (Belsky et al, ; NICHD ECCRN, , ) and several other studies (Gialamas et al, ; Loeb et al, ; Yamauchi & Leigh, ). Although attachment insecurity and emotion regulation problems have been suggested as possible explanations for these findings (for a critical review, see McCartney et al, ), the supporting evidence for these claims is limited (e.g., NICHD ECCRN, ).…”

“…However, several other studies found no relation with extensive time in child care or preschool and children's negative behavioural outcomes in the early years (Barnes, Leach, Malmberg, Stein, & Sylva, ; Romano, Kohen, & Findlay, ; Votruba‐Drzal, Coley, Maldonado‐Carren, Li‐Grining, & Chase‐Lansdale, ; Zachrisson, Janson, & Naerde, ). When comparing these studies, it seems that the most consistent negative behavioural associations are found for teacher reports (Gialamas et al, ; Loeb et al, ; NICHD ECCRN, ) and for families from relatively high SES families (Loeb et al, ; Yamauchi & Leigh, ). Thus, these mixed findings appear to be partially due to variations in study designs, such as differences in informants and sample characteristics.…”

“…In addition to the NICHD study, several other researchers both in and outside of the United States have investigated the association between the amount of child care and children's socio-emotional development. Some studies find similar associations with negative behavioural outcomes using diverse measures, such as the cumulative or average amount of child care between the onset of care and 36 months (Gialamas et al, 2015), and 60 months of age (Solheim, Wichstrøm, Belsky, & Berg-Nielsen, 2013), the average amount of hours at 2-3 years of age (Yamauchi & Leigh, 2011), the average amount of hours in pre-kindergarten (Loeb et al, 2007), and full-time centre care at 4 years (Coley, Votruba-Drzal, Miller, & Koury, 2013). However, several other studies found no relation with extensive time in child care or preschool and children's negative behavioural outcomes in the early years (Barnes, Leach, Malmberg, Stein, & Sylva, 2010;Romano, Kohen, & Findlay, 2010;Votruba-Drzal, Coley, Maldonado-Carren, Li-Grining, & Chase-Lansdale, 2010;Zachrisson, Janson, & Naerde, 2013b).…”

“…High amounts of experienced child care have sometimes been linked to higher levels of behaviour problems (Gialamas, Mittinty, Sawyer, Zubrick, & Lynch, ; e.g., Loeb, Bridges, Bassok, Fuller, & Rumberger, ; NICHD ECCRN, , ), while high‐quality child care has more often been related to fewer behaviour problems and more social competence (e.g., Burchinal et al, ; Mashburn et al, ; NICHD ECCRN, ; Sylva, Melhuish, Sammons, Siraj‐Blatchford, & Taggart, ). These negative behavioural associations with high amounts of child care, but positive behavioural associations with child care quality, raise questions about possible combined effects of the amount and quality of child care in relation to children's socio‐emotional development.…”

Epidemiology of positive mental health in a national census of children at school entry

“…Children from disadvantaged areas have the most to gain from ECEC experiences34 but, in our population, attendance per se did not appear to close the disadvantage gap. A recent Australian-based study has shown that in the ECEC setting, the quality of relationships between carers and children strongly modifies the association between income and developmental outcomes,35 suggesting that promoting high-quality relationships may be an effective strategy for closing this gap.…”