Child care arrangements and children's functioning: A comparison of self-care and adult-care children.

Abstract

Forty-eight self-care children were compared with 48 matched children in adult care to investigate whether the self-care ("latchkey") arrangement has negative consequences for children. On several measures of children's social and psychological functioning, no significant differences were found between the two matched samples. Virtually no research has been done on self-care, even though there are large numbers of children involved. Growing public and policy concerns about self-care suggest the need for much more research on the nature of the self-care arrangement and its consequences.arrangements for preschool and school-age children, even though there are far more children in such arrangements. For example, in 1974 there were 1.8 million children in the United States between the ages of 7 and 13 years who regularly cared for themselves during out-of-school hours (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1976); some current estimates are much higher. 1 This contrasts with approximately 900,000 preschool children who attended day care centers 2 in 1976-1977 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1980).Not only are there more children in selfcare than in day care centers, but there is also a growing recognition of the importance of the school-age years for a child's development. Many professionals have recently expressed strong concerns about the welfare of latchkey children (Genser & Baden, 1980;Turkington, 1983). This concern runs ahead of the available evidence. We could only

After-School Care: Child Outcomes and Recommendations for Research and Policy

“…Such children were previously called ''latchkey children'' because they often wore keys to their houses around their necks (Diamond, Kataria, & Messer, 1989). In contrast to widespread belief, early research often indicated no difference between children left in self-care and children left in other arrangements where an adult was physically present Galambos & Garbarino, 1985;Messer, Wuensch, & Diamond, 1989;Rodman, Pratto, & Nelson, 1985;Steinberg, 1986;Vandell & Corasaniti, 1988). This early research, while offering a good start to the examination of the effects of self-care, has many limitations, however.…”

“…As college attendance can be viewed as an indicator of good academic achievement and behavioral functioning, one would hardly expect large differences on these variables with such a sample. Rodman et al (1985) were limited by their data collection method as well as their rural sample. These authors compared the self-esteem and social adjustment of children in self-care and children in maternal care and found no differences.…”

Latchkey children: Potential sources of support

“…In contrast, Galambos and Garbarino (1983) did not find a difference between fifth-and seventhgrade latchkey children and their adult-supervised counterparts with regard to achievement level, fear, and school adjustment. Rodman, Pratto, and Nelson (1985) found no significant differences between latchkey and non-latchkey children in the fourth and seventh grades on measures of self-esteem, locus of control, social adjustment, and interpersonal relationships. Vandell and Corasaniti (1988) also found no differences between latchkey and mother-care children in terms of sociometric nominations, academic grades, standardized test scores, conduct scores, and self-reports of competence.…”

Self-care and deviance in elementary school-age children

“…Most studies have found no association between self-care in elementary school-age children and behavior problems, poor social/emotional adjustment, low academic achievement, or poor school adjustment-well established correlates of deviant development; (Chueh, 1992;Denmark, 1989;Galambos & Garbarino, 1982;Lovko & Ullman, 1989;McCright, 1992;Messer, Wuensch, & Diamond, 1988;Rodman, Pratto, & Nelson, 1985;Vandell & Corasaniti, 1988).…”