Goodness-of-fit in center day care: relations of temperament, stability, and quality of care with the child’s adjustment

Abstract

In this study, the concept of 'goodness-of-fit' between the child's temperament and the environment, introduced by Thomas and Chess [Temperament and Development, Brunner/Mazel, New York, 1977], is applied within the setting of center day care. Mothers and primary professional caregivers of 186 children, aged 6-30 months, participated in this study. The child's problem behaviors were assessed with the CBCL Teacher Report Form [Achenbach, T.M., Guide for the Caregiver-Teacher Report Form for Ages 2-5, Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 1997]. The child's socio-emotional well-being in day care was measured with the Leiden Inventory for the Child's Well-Being in Day Care. The Infant Characteristics Questionnaire measured the child's temperament. Children with an easier temperament showed less internalizing and total problem behavior and more well-being. The results suggest that for children with a more difficult temperament, several parallel care arrangements interfere with the process of adapting to the day care setting. Also, our results indicate that in the group of children with greater availability of trusted caregivers, a more easy-going temperament was associated with more well-being. The association between temperament and well-being was not found in the group of children with less access to trusted caregivers.

A naturalistic observation of social behaviours during preschool drop-off

“…Children who are more positive in mood, less active, and engage in higher rates of approach behaviour tended to adapt to day care better than children who are more negative in mood, more active, and engage in lower rates of approach behaviour (Zajdeman & Minnes, 1991). In another study, children who were more difficult in temperament were reported by their care providers as less happy in day care than children who were easy in temperament (De Schipper, Tavecchio, Van Ijzendoorn, & Van Zeijl, 2004). Fox and Field (1989) also noted that high vagal tone (i.e.…”

Child Care Changes, Home Environment Quality, and the Social Competence of African American Children at Age 3

“…Context-related features of families, such as unsteady income and low levels of maternal education (Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, & Klebanov, 1994), may limit access to stable child care. Child-specific variables that have been shown to account for differential associations of child care changes include child gender (Youngblade, 2003) and child temperament (De Schipper et al, 2004). For example, children's behaviors in the child care setting may themselves act as an impetus for a change in care, and a growing literature examines expulsion from child care settings (e.g., Gilliam, 2005).…”

“…Several of the studies to date examining the effects of child care changes have focused on the experiences of children from primarily middle-class families (e.g., De Schipper, Tavecchio, Van IJzendoorn, & Van Zeijl, 2004;NICHD ECCRN, 1998;Tran & Weinraub, 2006) or have used samples from outside the United States (e.g., Love et al, 2003). Little work has been conducted with children living in poverty, African American children, or children living in rural areas.…”

Age for enrolling in full-time childcare: a qualitative study of parent and caregiver perspectives

“…De Schipper, Tavecchio, van Ijzendoorn, and van Zeijl (2004) found that young children with an easy-going temperament had fewer problems adapting to childcare than children with a more difficult temperament. Infants and toddlers who are more socially fearful than their peers may find the social context of childcare particularly challenging (Watamura et al, 2003).…”