The present study describes the early life histories of a large sample of three-yearold children from different ethnic backgrounds living in three levels of family income-poverty, near-poverty, and above-poverty. The study examined the developmental characteristics of children in the three groups and related them to family characteristics and experiences in child care. To no one's surprise, significant differences associated with income were found for most of the family measures. Poverty and near-poverty families were more likely to have mothers with lower education, less sensitivity, more depression, and lower HOME scores. Correlatively, for the child development measures, there was an upward progression associated with income. Poverty children consistently showed the greatest deviation from established norms for cognitive and social behavior. A striking finding, however, was the considerable variability found on all the measures-a pattern not sufficiently stressed in related research. This finding has major implications for curriculum planning in Head Start programs. The analysis also showed that child care experience cannot be disregarded as a significant aspect of the history of a prospective enrollee in Head Start or other intervention programs geared to low-income children. Fewer of these children are likely to have a child care history, as families that used at least 10 hours of child care per week were less likely to be either poor or near-poor and thus eligible for enrollment. While this may reflect selection factors associated with child care usage, it also indicates that availability of child care is essential for borderline families that try to stay out of poverty. Number of hours of care per week and age of enrollment did not predict developmental level when the full income sample was considered. However, when only poor and near-poor children in care for at least 20 hours a week were used in the analysis, higher quality of care was associated with more favorable developmental outcomes in the children. This study is directed by a Steering Committee and supported by NICHD through a cooperative agreement (U10) which calls for scientific collaboration between the grantees and the NICHD staff. The participating investigators are listed in alphabetical order with their institutional affiliations designated by number: Mark Appelbaum (11); Jay Belsky (1); Kimberly Boller (5); Cathryn L. Booth (19); Robert Bradley (8); Celia Brownell (15); Donna Bryant (13); Margaret Burchinal (13); Bettye Caldwell (9); Susan Campbell (15); Alison Clarke-Stewart 10); Martha Cox (13); Sarah L. Friedman (5); Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek (7); Aletha Huston (16); Deborah Johnson (4); Bonnie Knoke (6); Nancy Marshall (21); Kathleen McCartney (3); Marion O'Brien (12); Margaret Tresch-Owen (17); Chris Payne (14); Deborah Phillips (2); Robert Pianta (18); Henry Ricciuti (5); Wendy Robeson (21);Since the launching of Head Start in 1965 as an enrichment program for poor children prior to formal school entry, a wealth of data has been collected ...
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