This project is a continuation of a research program initiated by Dr. Lamb at the University of Utah. Work completed or in progress at NICHD involves analyses of data from a longitudinal study in Sweden examining the effects of center day care, family day care, and home care on the development of 140 children recruited at an average of 16 months of age. A. Social competence. Multivariate analyses using Wold's Partial Least Squares """"""""soft modelling"""""""" procedure indicated that type of care had no reliable impact on the children one and two years post-enrollment. The quality of care received at home had the most consistent impact on personality maturity and emergent social skills with peer and adults. The quality of alternative care had a less consistent and more modest effect, as did measures of family social support networks, temperament, and child gender. B. Intellectual competence. PLS analyses again showed that type of care was unrelated to intellectual competence. Quality of home care was the most important predictor of tested performance one and two years after enrollment; quality of out- of-home care was not predictively important. The significance of these findings lies in its emphasis on the need to consider not only the type but also the quality of out-of-home care, and to consider the role of factors outside the care setting-- such as the quality of home care--when evaluating day care arrangements. This is also the first project to apply the PLS procedure to longitudinal behavioral data.
| Ahnert, Lieselotte; Gunnar, Megan R; Lamb, Michael E et al. (2004) Transition to child care: associations with infant-mother attachment, infant negative emotion, and cortisol elevations. Child Dev 75:639-50 |
| Ahnert, Lieselotte; Lamb, Michael E (2003) Shared care: establishing a balance between home and child care settings. Child Dev 74:1044-9 |
