Effects of Public Day-Care: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

119 Swedish children were followed from their first year of life up to the age of 8. Most could be classified according to (a) type of day-care they had experienced during their first 7 years of life and (b) time of first entrance into day-care. At 8 years, the children were tested with aptitude tests and rated by their teachers on school performance and social and personal development. Hierarchical regression analyses and MANCOVAs were used in the statistical treatment. Time of entrance into day-care predicted children's cognitive and socioemotional development, controlling for sex and home background. Children with early day-care (entrance before the age of 1) were generally rated more favorably and performed better than children with late entrance or home care. There was a tendency for early center care to predict a more favorable outcome than other care.

Controversy, Theory and Social Context in Contemporary Day Care Research

“…Nonetheless, such longitudinal data as do exist support the earlier conclusion that good quality day care does not lead to deleterious consequences; a review of the relevant studies is provided by Hennessy and Melhuish (1991). Indeed, several studies have demonstrated considerable positive influences of day care on child development outcomes, both in the short and in the longer term (Lazar & Darlington, 1982;Ramey, Dorval & Baker-Ward, 1983;Field, Masi, Goldstein, Perry & Parl, 1988;Andersson, 1989Andersson, , 1992Field, 1991).…”

“…The importance of quality in day care is well illustrated by the contrasting fmdings from two longitudinal studies of the long-term effects of day care experience (Andersson, 1989(Andersson, , 1992Vandell & Corasaniti, 1990). Vandell and Corasaniti found that at 8 years of age, children who had been exposed to extensive day care as infants under conditions of minimal quality were rated by their teachers and parents as having poorer peer relationships, emotional health and school work habits and as being more difficult to discipline than age mates who had been in part-time day care or who had been reared exclusively at home.…”

“…Whenever comparisons reveal day care infants and children to be functioning less optimally than their peers reared exclusively at home there is a bias towards identifying exposure to non-parental care as the risk factor. However, as Scarr et al (1990) point out, when studies, such as those by Andersson (1989Andersson ( , 1992 and Schweinhart and Weikart (1989) reveal that youngsters with earlier experience of non-parental care fare better than home-reared children on indices of social competence, independence or school achievement, there is no rush to identify mothers as the risk factor!…”

Predškolski odgoj i obrazovanje kao socijalna investicija

“…koji nalaze da su djeca iz siromašnijih obitelji unaprijedila svoja kognitivna i akademska postignuća ako su provela više sati u predš-kolskoj ustanovi, dok su djeca iz bolje stojećih obitelji postizala manje uspjeha ako su tamo provodila više sati. Za razliku od američkih, švedske studije su suglasne da je ranije kretanje u predškolsku ustanovu te više sati boravka tjedno (Andersson, 1989(Andersson, ., 1992, odnosno veći broj mjeseci provedenih u ustanovi do dobi od 40 mjeseci (Broberg, 1997. ), povezano s boljim uspjehom u školi u dobi od 8 i 13 godina.…”

“…u longitudinalnoj studiji u Norveškoj pronašli da su djeca koja su više vremena provela u dječjem vrtiću u dobi između 4 i 7 godina imala manje problema u ponašanju u dobi između 7 i 10 godina. U Švedskoj je Andersson (1989Andersson ( ., 1992.) našla da su djecu koja su krenula u predškolsku ustanovu prije navršene prve godine života učitelji bolje procijenili u smislu socio-emocionalne prilagodbe u dobi od 8 i 13 godina.…”