This report summarizes findings from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development as effect sizes for exclusive maternal care and-for ...children in child care-type, quality, and quantity of care. Children (
n
= 1,261) were recruited at birth and assessed at 15, 24, 36, and 54 months. Exclusive maternal care did not predict child outcomes, but multiple features of child-care experience were modestly to moderately predictive. Higher quality child care was related to advanced cognitive, language, and preacademic outcomes at every age and better socioemotional and peer outcomes at some ages. More child-care hours predicted more behavior problems and conflict, according to care providers. More center-care time was related to higher cognitive and language scores and more problem and fewer prosocial behaviors, according to care providers. Child-care effect sizes are discussed from 3 perspectives: (a) absolute effect sizes, reflecting established guidelines; (b) relative effect sizes, comparing child-care and parenting effects; and (c) possible individual and collective implications for the large numbers of children experiencing child care.
Pathways to Reading Anon; NICHD Early Child Care Research Network
Developmental psychology,
03/2005, Letnik:
41, Številka:
2
Journal Article
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What is the role of oral language in reading competence during the transition to school? Is oral language in preschool best conceptualized as vocabulary knowledge or as more comprehensive language ...including grammar, vocabulary, and semantics? These questions were examined longitudinally using 1,137 children from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Children were followed from age 3 through 3rd grade, and the results suggest that oral language conceptualized broadly plays both a direct and an indirect role in word recognition during the transition to school and serves as a better foundation for early reading skill than does vocabulary alone. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of both theoretical models of early reading and practical implications for policy and assessment.
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care compared 3 statistical methods that adjust for family selection bias to test whether child care type and ...quality relate to cognitive and academic skills. The methods included: multiple regression models of 54-month outcomes, change models of differences in 24- and 54-month outcomes, and residualized change models of 54-month outcomes adjusting for the 24-month outcome. The study was unable to establish empirically which model best adjusted for selection and omitted-variable bias. Nevertheless, results suggested that child care quality predicted cognitive outcomes at 54 months, with effect sizes of .04 to .08 for both infant and preschool ages. Center care during preschool years also predicted outcomes across all models.
To examine relations between time in nonmaternal care through the first 4.5 years of life and children's socioemotional adjustment, data on social competence and problem behavior were examined when ...children participating in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care were 4.5 years of age and when in kindergarten. The more time children spent in any of a variety of nonmaternal care arrangements across the first 4.5 years of life, the more externalizing problems and conflict with adults they manifested at 54 months of age and in kindergarten, as reported by mothers, caregivers, and teachers. These effects remained, for the most part, even when quality, type, and instability of child care were controlled, and when maternal sensitivity and other family background factors were taken into account. The magnitude of quantity of care effects were modest and smaller than those of maternal sensitivity and indicators of family socioeconomic status, though typically greater than those of other features of child care, maternal depression, and infant temperament. There was no apparent threshold for quantity effects. More time in care not only predicted problem behavior measured on a continuous scale in a dose-response pattern but also predicted at-risk (though not clinical) levels of problem behavior, as well as assertiveness, disobedience, and aggression.
Effects of early child care on children's functioning at the age of 4 1/2 years were examined in the NICHD (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Study of Early Child Care, a ...prospective longitudinal study of more than 1,000 children. Even after controlling for multiple child and family characteristics, children's development was predicted by early child-care experience. Higher-quality child care, improvements in the quality of child care, and experience in center-type arrangements predicted better pre-academic skills and language performance at 4 1/2 years. More hours of care predicted higher levels of behavior problems according to caregivers. Effect sizes associated with early child-care experiences were evaluated in relation to effect sizes obtained for two other well-recognized influences on early development: parenting and poverty. The findings indicated the importance (and relative independence) of quantity, quality, and type of child care for children's development just prior to the time that children initiate formal schooling.
Women (
N
= 1,215) and their infants were followed from birth, and maternal reports of depressive symptoms were obtained at 1, 6, 15, 24, and 36 months. Women who never reported symptoms of ...depression were compared with those who reported symptoms sometimes or chronically. Women with chronic symptoms of depression were the least sensitive when observed playing with their children from infancy through 36 months. Children whose mothers reported feeling depressed performed more poorly on measures of cognitive-linguistic functioning and were rated as less cooperative and more problematic at 36 months. Depression-group differences in school readiness and verbal comprehension were accounted for by maternal sensitivity. Depression-group differences in expressive language and ratings of cooperation were moderated by maternal sensitivity; maternal sensitivity predicted better outcomes more noticeably among children whose mothers reported feeling depressed.
Family and child care factors from birth to 54 months, achievement and social outcomes at entry to school, and qualities of first-grade classrooms were used to predict first-grade social functioning ...for 864 children from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. Child gender, mothers' partner status, maternal education and depressive symptoms, sensitivity of mothering, and amount of time spent in nonmaternal child care were significant predictors. Home and child care variables predicted social functioning through associations with prior social functioning rather than directly. More teacher-led structured activities in first-grade classrooms predicted mother's reports of more internalizing behavior. Classrooms rated as more emotionally supportive predicted lower levels of mother-reported internalizing behavior and concurrently observed indicators of competence.
The role of attention processes as possible mediators between family environment and school readiness was analyzed with data from 1,002 children and their families. Data on children's sustained ...attention, impulsivity, and school readiness (i.e., cognitive, achievement, language, and social development) were obtained at 54 months of age, and quality of the family environment was assessed throughout the first 54 months. Mediation tests showed that children's sustained attention partially accounted for the link between family environment and achievement and language outcomes. Impulsivity partially accounted for the link between family environment and achievement, social competence, and externalizing behaviors. The roles of sustained attention and of inhibition of impulsive responding in the relation between family characteristics and school readiness are discussed.
Relations between nonmaternal child care and ratings of maternal sensitivity and child positive engagement during mother-child interaction at 6, 15, 24, and 36 months were examined for 1,274 mothers ...and their children participating in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care. In longitudinal analyses that controlled for selection, child, and family predictors, child care was a small but significant predictor of maternal sensitivity and child engagement. For the whole sample, including families who did and did not use child care, more hours of child care predicted less maternal sensitivity and less positive child engagement. For children who were observed in child care, higher quality child care predicted greater maternal sensitivity, and more child-care hours predicted less child engagement. The effects of child care on mother-child interaction were much smaller in the analytical models than the effects of maternal education but were similar in size to the effects of maternal depression and child difficult temperament. Patterns of association with child care did not differ significantly across ages of assessment.
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