1. Day Care

2. What factors affect the quality of daycare?

3. Andersson (1989, 1992) Conclusion: Evaluation:
What was done: Studied the social and cognitive progress of children attending Swedish day care.
What was found: Children who attended day care were able to get along with other children better, were more sociable and outgoing, and had better abilities to play with their peers than children who did not attend day care.
Conclusion:
Evaluation:
Swedish day care is particularly good quality. However, findings are supported by other studies, such as Shea (1981), Clarke-Stewart (1994) and the EPPE project

4. EPPE project – see summary pdf
What was done: Studied over 3000 children in UK, between 3 and 7 years old.
What was found: Children who attended day care showed increased….
This study also found that an early start in day care (between 2 and 3 years) was also linked with being more sociable with other children.
Conclusion:
Evaluation:
A large sample size means that findings can be generalised with relative confidence, at least to other UK children.

5. DiLalla (1988) Conclusion: Evaluation:
What was done: Carried out a correlational study into time spent in day care and pro-social behaviour.
What was found: DiLalla found a negative correlation between the amount of time spent in day care and pro-social behaviour: children who spent more time in day care were less cooperative and helpful in their dealings with other children.
Conclusion:
Evaluation:
Useful evaluative point for contrasting with studies which found a more positive outcome.

6. Campbell et al (2000)
Participants: Children in Sweden who attended childcare from age 18 months to 3½ years.
9 children: attended family-based care, e.g. childminder
30 children: attended nursery
9 children: switched from family-based to nursery care during the study
Control group: children whose parents applied for day care places but failed to
get them due to competition
1½ yrs ½ yrs 3½ yrs ½ yrs ½ yrs yrs A G E
Observed in own homes playing with familiar peers
Social competence assessed by asking care provider to describe child’s social skills
Class teachers asked for their perceptions of child’s social behaviour
Children seen in their own home, asked to complete two questionnaires to assess their social competence
Observed in day care to assess social skills
Assessed again, in the same way as at 18 months
Assessed again, in the same way as at 18 months
Assessing all children at age 18 months, BEFORE and IMMEDIATELY they entered day care, gave a BASE LINE measurement to compare them against one another, and to compare their own later progress
Start
day
care

7. Campbell et al (2000) - Findings:
Campbell’s findings suggest that the impact of day care can be positive or negative depending on the child’s age, on how long they spend in day care, and on the quality of day care. They also show how important the first 3½ years of life are to later social competence.
1. The effect of time spent in day care:
Children who spent long days in day care (e.g. from 8am to 6pm) under age 3½ were less socially competent.
Children who spent more days in day care, but shorter days, were more socially competent.
COMMENT: Small children spending a lot of time in day care might become tired and frustrated, leading to more negative interactions with other children.
2. The effect of quality of day care:
Children who attended high quality day care before age 3½ developed better social abilities.
3. The impact of day care in early years on later social abilities:
Social competence is stable between ages 3½ and 15.
COMMENT:
This implies that children’s social skills have largely developed by around age 3½, then remain constant through childhood and into adolescence. Therefore good quality day care up to age 3½ is essential for development of socially skilled children and teenagers.

8. NICHD Study (1991)
Findings, ctd: Belsky (2007) analysed data from the study as children neared the end of their primary education – he still found a link between day care and increased aggressiveness.
What was done: Over 1000 American children from families with very different backgrounds were screened in a longitudinal study.
What was found:
At age 5, the study found that the more time a child spent in day care – no matter what kind or quality of day care – the more they were rated as disobedient and aggressive.
2. Children in full time day care were almost 3 times more likely to show behavioural problems than those cared for at home – behaviour problems included arguing, temper tantrums, lying, and hitting.
3.Type of care- Nursery care resulted in improved cognitive and language abilities, whereas not in people’s homes
4. Quality of care- Low quality was particularly bad. Good quality could be judged by responsiveness, attention of staff and stimulating environment
Conclusion: There is a positive correlation between time spent in day care and amount of aggressive behaviour, therefore this suggests that day care and aggressiveness are linked.
Evaluation:
A correlation doesn’t necessarily show that day care caused aggression – there may be an unknown factor which affected both these sets of data. Also, results may have been reported in a way that makes the outcome seem magnified. There was a slight negative correlation, but 83% of children spending between 10 and 30 hrs per week in day care showed no increase in aggression.

9. Shea et al (1981)
What was done: Shea video-taped 3- and 4-year old children at playtime during their first 10 weeks at nursery school.
What was found:
Children became more sociable the longer they were at nursery.
The amount of aggressive behaviour towards one another decreased.
These changes were greater in children attending for 5 days a week, compared to those attending for just 2 days a week.
Conclusion: Day care can increase sociability and decrease aggressive behaviour.
Evaluation:
The fact that aggression reduced more in children attending for 5 days a week rather than 2 days a week, suggests that it was the day care that caused this effect rather than just the children maturing.

10. Day care helps child development Day care harms development
Research into daycare
Day care helps child development
Day care harms development
Campbell (Swedish longitudinal study – age, time, quality, early childhood to teenage)
Shea et al (more days in day care)
Andersson (Swedish day care)
DiLalla (correlation – day care and pro-social behaviour
NICHD (American longitudinal)
EPPE project (UK longitudinal study)
You need to be able to summarise the research findings on daycare
You also need to be able to outline the research and evaluate it, in case an extended writing question is set.

11. Evaluation
Difficult to assess the effects of day care due to methodological reasons:
Sample
Correlation
Random allocation to the different types of day care

12. Test questions
1. Outline what psychologists have found about the effect of day care on child development. (6 marks)
2a. Describe one research study that examines the effects of day care on child development (4 marks)
2b. Outline one criticism of this study (3 marks)
3a. Outline how one piece of research into attachment has influenced child care practice (3 marks)
4. What changes/improvements would you suggest to the government based upon the findings of one piece of research into day care (3 marks)
5. Evaluate day care provision for children up to school age (12 marks)
6. “Research into day care has found contradictory results on the benefits for the child’s development”. Assess this claim. (16 marks)

13. See the taking it further box on page 458 Pearson text book.
What are the implications for the well-being of children in day-care if the ratios of staff-child were relaxed and there was improvement in staff-qualifications? Use evidence to support your answer. (3 marks)
Implications for society: