17.2: Overall Influence of Care on Development

The Research

Previous research shows that children's early experiences in outside-home care promote the development of both disadvantageous and favorable developmental outcomes, depending on the total amount, the quality, and the timing of the childcare exposure (Maccoby and Lewis, 2003; Belsky, 2006; Vandell et al., 2010; Huston et al., 2015; Brownell and Drummond, 2018). Conclusions from the prior evidence in early childhood education and care tend to vary depending on the age of the child. For children aged 0–3 years, the research evidence is mixed, with some studies indicating benefits for outside-home care, some reporting negative effects, and some studies finding no effects at all (Melhuish, 2015). Several studies have shown that a high level of cumulative time spent in outside-home childcare, especially before the age of 4.5 years, is related to elevated levels of aggression, assertiveness, and disobedience in adolescence (Belsky, 2006; Vandell et al., 2010; Huston et al., 2015). By contrast, some studies have found that center-based childcare in the infant and toddler years may contribute to the development of social competence and prosocial behavior (Brownell and Drummond, 2018) or lower levels of later emotional or behavioral difficulties compared to informal childcare (Gomajee et al., 2017). Numerous studies have explored the benefits of center-based childcare, preschool and other forms of group-based care for children 3 years and older (Melhuish, 2015). Overall, previous findings suggest that the effects of early childcare depend on the child's developmental preparedness for outside-home care (e.g., metacognition and 'theory of mind' in the early years; Wellman et al., 2001; Chatzipanteli et al., 2014), as well as the characteristics of the care environment (such as quality of care). At age 3, children typically have not developed sufficient knowledge or skills to engage in social interaction without constant adult guidance (Rubin and Pepler, 1995; Huston et al., 2015). High quality, structural features in an early care environment (e.g., group size and/or child-to-staff ratio, and training, permanence, sensitivity and responsiveness of caretakers) have been raised as one major explanation for findings where center-based childcare may be beneficial even when the child is less than 3 years old (Brownell and Drummond, 2018).[1]However, high quality, center-based childcare can be challenging to achieve and maintain, which places more pressure on the child's developmental preparedness to cope in the care environment.

Most often, center-based care from ages 0 to 3 (or even up to 4.5 years) has been seen as a risk for a child's later social development (Belsky, 2006; Vandell et al., 2010). Yet some studies have shown that if center-based daycare is of sufficient quality, it may do no harm or even be beneficial for the socio-emotional development of children under the age of 3 (Gomajee et al., 2017; Brownell and Drummond, 2018). It is possible that due to the limited self-control, theory of mind, and language capabilities of a young child, the quality of childcare (e.g., peer group sizes and adult-to-child ratio) tends to matter more in the toddler years than in the preschool years, regardless of the form of care. This may explain why previous findings with children aged 0–3 years vary more than with older children: the benefits of group-based outside-home care for later development is more evident (Melhuish, 2015). Children closer to preschool age can cope in groups more independently than toddlers, likely making them less dependent on the quality of care.[1

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[1] Oksman E, et.al.,(2019) Associations Between Early Childcare Environment and Different Aspects of Adulthood Sociability: The 32-Year Prospective Young Finns Study. CC BY.