Ashton Posted February 8, 2014 Posted February 8, 2014 From page 110 and 111 of Understanding Childrens Development (Forth Edition) by Peter K Smith, Helen Cowie and Mark Blades (ISBN - 0-631-22823-3 in case anyone thinks I'm making it up)I quote: Belsky concluded that initiating day care of more then 20 hours per week before the child is one year of age may be a risk factor for mother-infant relationships. Combining data from five studies, the risk of having insecure attachment to the mother was 43 per cent for infants experiencing high day care, but only 26 per cent for infants experiencing low (or no) day care. However, a survey by Baydar and Brooks-Gunn (1991) of 1181 children in the USA, based on longitudinal data, gave findings more in support of Belsky's view. They reported that maternal employment starting in the first year of the infant's life had 'significant negative effects on cognitive and behavioural outcomes', but not if maternal employment was deferred to the child's second or third year Belsky 1988 (INFANT DAY-CARE AND SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT - THE UNITED-STATES) Baydar and Brooks-Gunn 1991 (EFFECTS OF MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND CHILD-CARE ARRANGEMENTS ON PRESCHOOLERS COGNITIVE AND BEHAVIORAL OUTCOMES - EVIDENCE FROM THE CHILDREN OF THE NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL SURVEY OF YOUTH) From The Developing Child (Tenth Edition) by Helen Bee and Denise Boyd (ISBN - 0-205-35797-0)Latchkey Children (The popular term for children who spend their after-school hours without adult supervision is Latchkey Children.)I quote (Page: 384): There is relatively little good research on the effects of self-care on children. The better studies, however, suggest mild to moderate negative effects, with latchkey children showing greater vulnerability to peer pressure and substance abuse, poorer social skills, lower school grades, or higher rates of aggression and delinquency (Petit, Laird, Bates, & Dodge, 1997; Zigler and Gilman, 1996). Some of these negative effects, especially increase levels of aggression or delinquency, are stronger among low-income urban latchkey children; latchkey children from middle-class, suburban, or rural areas appear to have somewhat lower school grades, but they show little or no increased risk of other problem behaviour (Galambos & Maggs, 1991; Marshall et al., 1997; Pettit, Laird, et al. 1997) End of Latchkey Children.I quote (Page: 386): A few studies suggest a less rosy picture, perhaps particularly for middle-class children. For example, one large study of over a thousand 3- and 4-year olds (Baydar & Brooks-Gunn, 1991) found that Caucasian American children - but not African American children - who began some kind of alternative care in the first year of life had the lowest vocabulary scores later in preschool, whether they were from advantaged or poverty-level families. I quote (Page: 387) However, this is by no means the universal finding. Many other researchers find nonparental care linked to heightened aggression with peers and lower compliance with teachers and parents, both during the preschool years and at later ages (Goldstein, Arnold, Rosenber, Stower, and Ortiz, 2001; Kim, 1997)For example, in one very well-designed large study, John Bates and his colleagues (1994) found that kindergarten children who had spent the most time in child care - in infancy, as toddlers or during the preschool years - were more aggressive and less popular with their peers at school age than were children who had been reared entirely at home or who had spent fewer years in child care. I quote (Page: 387) Still, the early research created enough concern that psychologist Jay Belsky, in a series of papers and in testimony before congressional committee, sounded an alarm (Belsky, 1985, 1992; Belsky & Rovine, 1998). Combining data from several studies, he concluded that there was a slightly heightened risk of insercure attachment among infants who entered day care before their first birthday, compared with those cared for at home throughout the first year. Subsequent analyses supported Belsky's conclusion (Lamb, Sternberg, & Prodromidis, 1992). From The Development of Children (Fifth Edition) by Michael Cole, Sheila R Cole, Cynthia Lightfoot (ISBN - 0-7167-5555-6)I quote (Page: 426): Stress is another physical consequence of time spent in child care. Sarah Watamura and her colleagues (2003) measured levels of salivary cortisol (a steroid used as an indicator of general stress) in groups of infants and toddlers who received care either in their homes or in child-care centres. Of those in child care, 35 percent of the infants and 71 percent of the toddlers showed a rise in cortisol across the day. Of those receiving care in their homes, however, 71 percent of the infants and 64 percent of the toddlers showed decreases in cortisol levels. I quote (Page: 427): On the other hand, children who attend child-care centres also tend to be less polite, less agreeable, less compliant with adults and more aggressive than those who do not. These effects seem to be related to the number of years a child spends in full-time non parental care, with more extensive time being associated with more aggressive behaviour and a greater likelihood of behaviour problems in kindergarten. My wife is a Child Language Psychologist and she asked me to post this after she was doing some research for one of her projects. Hope this helps!
Lians Posted February 8, 2014 Posted February 8, 2014 Excellent research! Here's a quote from a book called Why Love Matters by Sue Gerhardt (page 48, Kindle edition) that discusses the child's need for a physically present, emotionally available adult: It does not make much difference whether the lack of regulation is caused by being emotionally isolated from the caregiver or physically isolated by separation. What a small child needs is an adult who is emotionally available and tuned in enough to help regulate his states. The well-documented harmful effects of separation are, I suspect, mostly due to being emotionally cut off and unregulated. One study of nursery school children showed that it was not the mother's absence in itself that increased stress hormones such as cortisol, but the absence of an adult figure who was responsive and alert to their states moment by moment. If there was a member of staff in the nursery school who took on this responsibility, their cortisol levels did not rise. Without such a figure, the child became stressed (Dettling et al. 2000). I think Stef and Mike also have a presentation about day care in the works.
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