NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH News National <http://www.nichd.nih.gov/> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, October 3, 2006 CONTACT: Robert Bock or Marianne Glass Miller, 301-496-5133,
<bockr@xxxxxxxxxxxx> FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS HAVE MORE INFLUENCE ON CHILD
DEVELOPMENT THAN DOES EXPERIENCE IN CHILD CARE A compendium of findings from a study funded by the National
Institutes of Health reveals that a child’s family life has more
influence on a child’s development through age four and a half than does
a child’s experience in child care. “This study shows only a slight link between child
care and child development,” said Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the NIH component
which funded the study. “Child care clearly matters to children’s
development, but family characteristics -- and children’s experiences within
their families -- appear to matter more.” The findings, from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and
Youth Development, are detailed in a new booklet available as a pdf file at
<http://www.nichd.nih.gov/childcare>. The booklet is based on the
scientific literature, compiling findings that have appeared in such journals
as “Applied Developmental Science, Child Development, Developmental
Psychology,” and the “Early Childhood Research Quarterly”,
from 1999 through 2003. Included in the booklet are detailed notes that refer
the reader to the original publication in which the individual findings were
cited. Because many families must rely on child care, the NICHD
launched the study in 1991 to understand how differences in child care
experiences might relate to children’s development. For 15 years,
researchers from 10 sites around the country have followed the development of
more than 1,000 healthy children from across the The study tracked children’s experience in child
care. It was not designed to determine cause and effect and so could not
demonstrate conclusively whether or not a given aspect of the child care
experience had a particular effect. Children in the sample averaged 27 hours per week in child
care from birth through age four and a half. Most started out in child care in
the homes of relatives or non-relatives in infancy and made the transition to
center-based care when they were older. The study demonstrated that quality,
quantity, and type of child care -- defined as any care provided on a regular
basis by someone other than the child’s mother -- are modestly linked to
the development of children up to age four-and-a-half. Among the study’s
major findings that are described in the booklet: -- Children who received higher quality child care were
better able to think, respond, and interact with the world around them -- and
had somewhat better reading and math skills -- than children who received lower
quality child care. -- Children who spent 30 or more hours in child care each
week showed somewhat more problem behavior in child care and in kindergarten
(but not at home) and had more episodes of minor illness than children who
spent fewer hours in child care each week. -- Children who attended child care centers had somewhat
better language and social skills and better pre-academic skills involving
letters and numbers, but showed somewhat more problem behavior when they first
entered school than did children who experienced other types of child care
settings. However, parent and family features were two to three times
more strongly linked to child development than was child care during the
preschool years. For example, children did better when parents were more
educated, when families’ incomes were higher, when mothers had fewer or
no symptoms of depression, and when families had well organized routines,
books, and play materials, and took part in learning activities. These features were as important to the well-being of
children who had been in child care as they were for children who had not been
in child care. Study researchers periodically visited each child and family
at home, in child care (if used), and in a laboratory playroom at each of the
10 sites. They also contacted families regularly by phone and by mail. Using
tests, questionnaires, and direct observation, researchers collected
information on how children responded to their environment, how they were
developing in relation to what is typical at a given age, how they interacted
with their parents and other children, and what their usual mood or personality
was. They also looked at children’s home environments;
parents’ attitudes toward work, family, and child care; how child care
was structured; and how providers cared for children. Children in child care centers that met accreditation
standards for adult-to-child ratios, group size, and training of staff had
somewhat more reading and math knowledge and better language comprehension.
They also were somewhat more cooperative at age three than children in centers
that did not meet the standards. In essence, the more standards the child care
met, the better children did. Even though links existed between child care features and
child development, the quality of interactions between mothers and children was
more important for children’s development. Children did better if
mothers were more sensitive, responsive, and attentive. And mothers were more
likely to be like this if they were more educated, lived in more economically
advantaged households, and had more positive personalities. These NICHD-funded researchers are now following the
development of the children through the ninth grade to see whether even minor
differences in children’s development due to different early child care
and family experiences might affect children later in life. (More detail about the NICHD study can be found at
<http://www.nichd.nih.gov/research/supported/seccyd.cfm> and on the study
Web site at <http://secc.rti.org>.) The NICHD sponsors research on development, before and after
birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population
issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit the
Institute’s Web site at <http://www.nichd.nih.gov/>. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- "The
Nation's Medical Research Agency" -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers
and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is
the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and
translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and
cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its
programs, visit <http://www.nih.gov>. ## This NIH News Release is available online at: http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/oct2006/nichd-03.htm. To subscribe (or unsubscribe) from this list, go to http://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=nihpress&A=1. |