What Are the Long Term Affects of Daycare?

By Marie Hunt

Mommy MD Staff Writer

A study on the long term affects of different forms of childcare has been conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The study, beginning in 1991, involved a group of children whose behavior was followed from the age of 4 1/2 to sixth grade. Looking at teachers' reports, researchers found that, in general, children who had attended day care as opposed to staying home with a parent, nanny, family member, etc. were more likely to be cited for disruptive behavior. These results, however, was drawn from the data of children who had attended any day care. The NICHD's study, however, took into account what kind of care the children recieved. Childcare facilities were given a rating from between one and four based on factors such as quality of environment and child to caregiver ratio. Children who had attended what was deemed a high quality daycare center showed little difference in behavior from a child receiving care at home. It was shown that behavioral concerns later on were linked with children who had attended poor quality centers. Researchers also noted in this study that children benefited from attending a high quality center in that their vocabulary scores were higher than that of the children receiving care at home. These higher vocabulary scores in children that had attended high quality daycare facilities remained consistent throughout the study.Aside from these factors, researchers took into account what kind of parenting all of the children involved in the study received, and it was concluded that later behavior was far more strongly associated with parenting than childcare type.

References

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01021.x

http://www.slate.com/id/2162876