Comparison of motor and cognitive performance of children attending public and private day care centers

Abstract

BackgroundGiven that environmental factors, such as the school environment, can influence child development, more attention should be paid to the development of children attending day care centers. ObjectiveTodetermine whether there are differences in the gross motor, fine motor, or cognitive performances of children between 1 and3 years-old of similar socioeconomic status attending public and private day care centers full time. MethodParticipants were divided into 2 groups, 1 of children attending public day care centers (69 children) and another of children attending private day care centers (47 children). All children were healthy and regularly attended day care full time for over 4 months. To assess cognitive, gross and fine motor performance, the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development III was used. The Mann-Whitney test was used for comparative analyses between groups of children between 13 and 24 months, 25 and 41 months, and 13 and 41 months. ResultsChildren in public day care centers exhibited lower scores on the cognitive development scale beginning at 13 months old. The fine and gross motor performance scores were lower in children over the age of 25 months attending public centers. Maternal education was not related to the performance of children in either group. ConclusionThe scores of cognitive performance as well as fine and gross motor performance of children of similar socioeconomic status who attend public day care centers are lower than children attending private daycare centers.

Análise psicométrica dos itens da Avaliação da Coordenação e Destreza Motora (ACOORDEM) em crianças de 4 anos

“…Fatores ambientais podem ter influenciado esse resultado, pois foi observado que nas escolas particulares havia maior oferta de atividades motoras diferenciadas, como balé, natação, basquete e futebol. Santos et al 21 ao investigar as habilidades cognitiva e motoras fina e grossa de pré-escolares matriculados em creches públicas e particulares do interior de São Paulo, também evidenciaram diferença estatística significante para as três habilidades investigadas, com crianças de escolas particulares obtendo desempenho superior. Essa diferença no comportamento motor foi atribuída ao estímulo ambiental na escola e em casa, uma vez que a estrutura física e possibilidades de estimulação da criança de escolas particulares foram maiores.…”

O contexto ambiental e o desenvolvimento na primeira infância: estudos brasileiros

“…As for the environmental quality and child development, Brazilian studies bring important contributions to the international publications scenario, especially in the motor development domain 9,12,[18][19][31][32][33][35][36][37][38][39]41 . According to Zaslow et al 53 , when conducting an international literature review, there are more studies on some areas of child development at the expense of others, such as the influence of the daycare environment.…”

“…While there are many Brazilian studies in the context of public daycare [31][32][33][34][35][36][37] , few are those who verify the influence of the educational environment in the child development [38][39][40][41][42] . Existing studies have different research designs: longitudinal study with evaluation before and after attending daycare 42 , comparison between children who attend or not daycare 40 , comparison between the performance of children attending private and public daycare 41 and comparison between children from daycare environments of heterogeneous quality [38][39] .…”

“…Existing studies have different research designs: longitudinal study with evaluation before and after attending daycare 42 , comparison between children who attend or not daycare 40 , comparison between the performance of children attending private and public daycare 41 and comparison between children from daycare environments of heterogeneous quality [38][39] .…”

“…The authors found no difference between the groups regarding the outcome studied. Santos et al 41 compared the cognitive, fine and gross motor development of children with the same socioeconomic classification. 69 of the children attended a public daycare and the other 47 private daycare centers.…”