Childcare effects

1. Childcare effects Cultural context

2. Child-care thru 3 & peer competencies • Positive responsive caregiver behavior most consistently associated with positive skilled peer interaction • More time in child-care  observed to be more positive and skilled in peer play in child care • caregivers rated these kids as more negative with playmates. • but observed peer play not related to the quantity of care. • Child-care not associated with peer competence as rated by mothers or as observed in dyadic play with a friend. • Maternal sensitivity and children's cognitive and language competence predicted peer competence across all settings and informants, suggesting that family and child-care contexts may play different, but complementary roles in the development of early emerging individual differences in peer interaction. • NICHD_Early_Child_Care_Research_Network (2001). "Child care and children's peer interaction at 24 and 36 months: The NICHD study of early child care." Child Development72(5): 1478-1500

4. No child care effects on observed interaction ?

5. Child-Care Effect Sizes Early Child Care and Youth DevelopmentNICHD Early Child Care Research Network • Children (n 1,261) were recruited at birth and assessed at 15, 24, 36, and 54 months. • Exclusive maternal care did not predict child outcomes • Higher quality child care related to advanced cognitive, language, and preacademic outcomes at every age and better socioemotional and peer outcomes at some ages. • More childcare hours predicted more behavior problems and conflict, according to care providers. • More center-care time was related to higher cognitive and language scores and more problem and fewer prosocial behaviors, according to care providers.

6. 54 Month Outcomes

7. Long-Term Effects of Early Child Care? • Parenting was a stronger and more consistent predictor of children’s development than early child-care experience. • But higher quality care predicted higher vocabulary scores and more exposure to center care predicted more teacher-reported externalizing problems. Belsky et al., 2007

8. Child-care History, Classroom Composition, and Children’s Functioning in KindergartenJulia Dmitrieva, Laurence Steinberg, and Jay Belsky • Non-parental child care associated with • Elevated levels of externalizing behavior • Enhanced linguistic, cognitive, and academic functioning • Study studied classroom-composition effects • Is a child’s externalizing behavior explained by the child-care histories of children in their classrooms above and beyond their own? • Peer contagion Nayfeld

9. Effects of care • Predictors of poorer achievement • >30 hrs/week • initiation at center before 2 years of age • Used as classroom level predictors • proportion of children in classroom • Center care versus any child care Nayfeld

10. Classroom-level effects > individual effects • Variance in class-level characteristics • externalizing behavior • 15% (T1) and 19% (T2) of variance • achievement • 35% (T1) and 31%(T2) of variance • Significant classroom level effects Nayfeld

11. Conclusions and Discussion • Effects of early or extensive non-parental care affect not only the child, but their classmates as well • Being in a class with high proportion of students with child-care histories affects all children, independent of personal experience • Are effects amplified or attenuated over years of schooling? Nayfeld

12. WHAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE: EARLY HEAD START EVALUATION FINDINGS IN A DEVELOPMENTAL CONTEXT JOHN M. LOVE, RACHEL CHAZAN-COHEN, HELEN RAIKES, AND JEANNE BROOKS-GUNN2013 • The federal Early Head Start (EHS) program began in 1995, and a randomized trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of 17 EHS programs. • 3,001 low-income families (35% African American, 24% Hispanic, and 37% White) with a pregnant women or an infant under the age of 12 months were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group (with 91% of the treatment group receiving some services). • Research questions examined (1) impacts of EHS at ages 2 and 3 (when services were being offered) and at age 5, and (2) contributions of early education experiences across children's first 5 years of life DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5834.2012.00699.x

13. At ages 2 and 3 EHS benefited children and families: impacts were seen in all domains, effect sizes .10 -.20. • At 5, EHS children had better attention &approaches toward learning, fewer behavior problems • But did not differ from controls on early school achievement. • Cognitive impacts at age 5 for African American children and language impacts for Hispanic children who spoke Spanish. Some significant family benefits were seen at age 5. • Earlier treatment effects on child cognition and on engagement with the parent at 2 and 3 contributed to the child impacts at age 5.

14. Although fewer than half the children enrolled in center-based preschool programs between ages 3 and 4, almost 90% participated in the year preceding kindergarten. A higher percentage of EHS than control children were enrolled. • Nonexperimental analyses suggested that formal program participation enhanced children's readiness for school while also increasing parent-reported aggression. • At 5, children and families who experienced EHS followed by formal programs fared best overall. • Benefits in language, behavior, and parenting were associated primarily with EHS; benefits in early school achievement were associated primarily with preschool attendance.

15. Reviews positive influence of peer play on academic and social outcomes for African American preschool children • Previous research mostly on white & middle-income children • Strengths-based resiliency framework • Developmental ecological theory • Within-group variability • Transactional and bidirectional effects Usher

16. Interactive peer play • Play dimensions specific to African American children: • Play interaction • Play disruption • Play disconnection • Positive peer interactions mediated relation between ext. & int. problems and math outcomes (Tracy & friends) • Play buddies & play partners; and other RCTs • Other ethnic groups • Educational practice Usher

18. Adjustment Scales for Preschool Intervention (ASPI)--Context • Existing scales consider behaviors to be “stable deficits” within children • Do not consider whether behaviors vary over different settings • Do not tell us when, where and how to intervene • Development of the (ASPI) • Specifically developed for low income preschool children • “Language of preschool teachers, rather than psychiatric terms” • 22 developmentally appropriate preschool classroom situations & 2 non-situation specific unusual behavior problems • 22 maladaptive behaviors & 22 adaptive behaviors • 5 behavioral dimensions: “Phenos” • Externalizing: aggressive, oppositional & hyperactive/inattentive • Internalizing : withdrawn/low-energy & socially reticent • Limitations: • Didn’t measure impact of multiple contexts in classroom on outcomes Fernandez

19. Theoretical Model: • developmental-ecological approach  (bioecological systems theory) • Goal: To examine the individual and interactional influence of the types of behavioral problems (what) and the situational context(s) in which they occur (where) on children’s developmental outcomes • Identified 3 reliable and unique situational dimensions: “Situs” • Structured learning • Peer Interactions • Teacher Interactions • N=3,799 Head Start children • 4 > 5 year olds • Boys > Girls Fernandez

20. Problems in Structured Learning • Involvement in class activities • Taking part in games with • others • Maintaining companions/ • friends • Paying attention in class • Sitting during teacher directed activities • Free play/individual choice • Working with hands (art) EMOTIONAL & BEHAVIORAL ADJUSTMENTWithin Routine Classroom Situations(Situational Needs) Problems in Teacher Interactions Problems in Peer Interactions • Talking to teacher • General manner with teacher • Answering teacher questions • Greeting teacher • Seeking teacher help • Helping teacher with jobs • Getting along with peers • Behaving in classroom • Respect for others’ • belongings • Reaction to correction • Telling the truth • Standing in line

21. Unique relationship between situtypes and school readiness outcomes • N=747 • Hypotheses: • Situational dimensions would contribute unique variance to the prediction of social and learning outcomes • The combined contribution of both situational and behavioral influences would be greater than either set alone • Findings: • Peer Social Competencies • Play Disconnection, Disruption & Interaction • Classroom Learning Competencies • Most Importantly • Contribution of structured learning to peer social competency & learning outcomes • Phenos moderate the influence of Situsin the prediction of multiple social and learning competencies Fernandez

22. Implications for Policy & Practice • ASPI guides intervention, rather than creating diagnostic labels • children are assessed within a “naturalistic context” • Developmental-ecological perspective • Multiple levels of influence (dynamic transaction): • child behavior (ontogenetic) • & classroom situation (microsystem) • Interventions: • Goal shift:“fixing the child”  broader systemic approach • Identification of “high-frequency” challenging situations and behavior problems (Classroom Management & Intervention Strategies) • Professional Development • Curriculum Fernandez

23. Fall Head Start Situational Needs Predicting Spring Head Start and Spring Kindergarten Social Competence Problems in peer interactions directly and indirectly affected play disruption at the end of kindergarten through its effect on play disruption at the end of Head Start Problems in structured learning situations did not directly predict play disconnection but indirectly predicted play disconnection at the end of kindergarten through its effect on play disconnection at the end of Head Start. Bulotsky-Shearer, Dominguez, Bell, Rouse, & Fantuzzo, 2010