Facts In Action

Today 62% of mothers with children under six years of age are in the labor force, and 58% of women with infants are returning to work before their child's first birthday. With more and more children spending time in non-maternal care, either in the care of relatives, with family child care providers or in center-based care, the latest findings from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development are drawing much attention. This study, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development followed over 1,000 children from birth to 4.5 years of age to examine the effects of non-maternal care on children's social and emotional development.

Researchers found that the more time children spent in child care, the more likely they were to be aggressive and display problem behavior. Many feel these findings show that the best option is for children to be cared for at home. However, authors of the study emphasize that their findings should not cause panic for parents. First, the majority of children in care do not have above average behavior problems - of children in 45 or more hours of care per week, 85% were not rated as aggressive or as displaying problem behaviors. In addition, for those who did show behavior problems, the problems were not severe enough for clinical intervention. Finally, researchers found that family characteristics - the mother's sensitivity and family's income - still have a greater influence over children's behavior than does the amount of time spent in child care.

Nevertheless, considering the number of children in care, these findings are important, and researchers emphasized the need for further exploration to better understand why they are seeing more aggression in these children. For parents, however, the researchers stressed that their findings do not mean that they should keep their children out of child care. They encourage parents to monitor their child's development, and to remember that quality of parenting is still the most important predictor of a child's development.

Source: Does Amount of Time Spent in Child Care Predict Socioemotional Adjustment During the Transition to Kindergarten?, NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, Child Development, July/August 2003.

Facts in Action, July/August 2003