This project involves a longitudinal study conducted in Sweden examining the effects of center day care, family day care, and home care on the development of 145 children recruited at an average of 16 months of age. Multivariate analyses have consistently indicated that type of care has no reliable impact on child development, but that the quality of home care and the quality of alternative care have substantial effects on the children's verbal abilities, their social skills, and their behavioral attitudes. The children were most recently assessed when they averaged 9 years of age and were completing their second year of formal schooling. To date, data on the development of verbal and mathematical abilities as well as the development of personal maturity (as measured by field- independence, ego-control, and ego-resilience) have been analyzed in relation to the varying child-care histories the children have experienced since their first enrollment in the study. These analyses indicate that family daycare has modest but significant negative effects on both verbal abilities and personal maturity, whereas center-based care has beneficial effects in both domains. The effects of the quality of home and alternative care diminish as children move into the formal educational system.
| 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 |
