The Effects of Infant Child Care on Infant-Mother Attachment Security: Results of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care NICHD Early Child Care Research Network

The aims of this investigation were to determine whether Strange Situation attachment classifications were equally valid for infants with and without extensive child-care experience in the first year of life and whether early Child Care experience, alone or in combination with mother/child factors, was associated with attachment security, and specifically with insecure-avoidant attachment. Participants were 1,153 infants and their mothers at the 10 sites of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. Mother were interviewed, given questionnairies, and observed in play and in the home when their infants were from 1 to 15 months of age; infants were observed in child care at 6 and 15 months and in the Strange Situation at 15 months. Infants with extensive Child Care experience did not differ from infants without child-care in the distress they exhibited during separations from mother in the Strange situation or in the confidence with which trained coders assigned them attachment classifications. There were no significant main effects of Child Care experience (quality, amount, age of entry, stability, or type of care) on attachment security or avoidance. There were, however, significant man effects of maternal sensitivity and responsiveness. Significant interaction effects revealed that infants were less likely to be secure when low maternal sensitivity/responsiveness was combined with poor quality child care, more than minimal amounts of child care, or more than one care arrangement. In addition, boys experiencing many hours in care and girls in minimal amounts of care were somewhat less likely to be securely attachment.     

Parenting and Children's Behavior at 36 Months: Equivalence Between African American and European American Mother - Child Dyads

Objective. This study examines the similarity of parenting and the associations between maternal behavior and child problem and prosocial behavior across two racial groups. Design. Using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (SECC), analyses included an examination of the comparability of maternal and child behavior between African American (n = 123) and European American (n = 953) families using multiple-group mean and covariance structures analysis (MACS). Observational data from two mother - child activities and maternal report of child behavior were used to construct three parenting and four child latent constructs. Results. Comparable measures of parenting (Responsive, Harsh, and Intrusive), child problem behavior (Externalizing and Internalizing), and child prosocial behavior (Compliance and Expressiveness) were found using partial invariance methods across racial groups. The associations between harsh, intrusive and responsive parenting and child behaviors were found to be similar across racial groups. Conclusions. Generality in the organization of parenting and similarity in their association to child behavior obtain across racial groups.     

Beyond Rough and Tumble: Low-Income Fathers' Interactions and Children's Cognitive Development at 24 Months

Objective. The purpose of this investigation was to explore associations between father-child interactions and children's cognitive status in an underrepresented group of low-income, ethnically diverse families. Design. Participants were 65 inner-city fathers and their 24-month-old children (34 boys, 31 girls). Father-child interactions were videotaped for 10 min at home during semistructured free play, and mental scale scores on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development were obtained on children. The quality of father-child interactions was assessed using 14 Likert ratings of fathers (e.g., responsiveness, language quality, and intrusiveness) and 12 of children (e.g., play, participation, emotional regulation, and communication). Results. Factor analyses revealed 2 patterns of engagement in fathers (Responsive-Didactic and Negative-Intrusive) and 3 in children (Playful-Communicative, Social, and Regulated). Thirty-six children scored within normal limits on the MDI and 29 scored in the delayed range. Together, fathers' and children's factor scores explained more than 25% of the variance in children's performance on the MDI. Logistic regressions indicated that fathers with high scores on the Responsive-Didactic factor were nearly 5 times more likely to have children within the normal range on the MDI than were low-scoring fathers. Conclusions. These findings point to the importance of considering fathers' role in early cognitive development, particularly in low-income families in which children begin to exhibit significant declines in their second and third years. Positive father-child interactions appear to obviate cognitive delay.     

Child Care Quality and Children's Engagement

The goal of this study was to understand the relationship between child care quality and children's engagement behavior. Seventy-eight toddlers from 17 child care centers were individually observed to determine the percentage of time they spent in sophisticated, unsophisticated, or differentiated engagement, or focused attention. The percentage of group engagement in classroom activities was recorded as well. Program quality ratings consisted of measures of the classroom environments, including the teachers. All the contextual quality measures but 1 were associated with unsophisticated engagement. Only global classroom quality was related to sophisticated engagement. The percentage of toddlers engaged in activities was associated with other program quality measures but not with observations of individual child engagement conducted at different times.     

Young Children's Exposure to Mathematics: The Child Care Context

Four preschool teachers from two preschool settings were observed to explore the contribution of child care experiences on the development of young children's understanding of mathematics. Teachers were also interviewed regarding their attitudes and beliefs about the importance of early education, children's understanding of mathematics prior to formal schooling, and their role in facilitating mathematical knowledge. Although the programs and teachers differed in terms of program orientation, teaching style, student participation, and interactions with students, the programs did not differ in terms of the amount or content of mathematics presented to children. During the classroom observations that were conducted, very little mathematics was presented in any of the classrooms either directly or indirectly to students. In contrast, teachers said that they believed that mathematics was important and that they engaged in mathematical discussions in their classroom interactions. Discussion of the lack of math presented in the classroom and the discrepancy of teachers' beliefs and teaching behaviors are discussed.     

Maternal employment and child cognitive outcomes in the first three years of life: the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

With increased numbers of women employed in their children's first year of life and with increased attention being paid by parents and policy makers to the importance of early experiences for children, establishing the links that might exist between early maternal employment and child cognitive outcomes is more important than ever. Negative associations between maternal employment during the first year of life and children's cognitive outcomes at age 3 (and later ages) have been reported using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement. However, it was not known whether these findings would be replicated in another study, nor whether these results were due to features of child care (e.g., quality, type), home environment (e.g., provision of learning), and/or parenting (e.g., sensitivity). This study explored these issues using data on 900 European American children from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care, which provides information on child cognitive scores at 15, 24, and 36 months, as well as data about the home environment (as assessed by the Home Observation of the Measurement of the Environment Scale), parental sensitivity, and child-care quality and type over the first 3 years of life. Maternal employment by the ninth month was found to be linked to lower Bracken School Readiness scores at 36 months, with the effects more pronounced when mothers were working 30 hr or more per week and with effects more pronounced for certain subgroups (i.e., children whose mothers were not sensitive, boys, and children with married parents). Although quality of child care, home environment, and maternal sensitivity also mattered, the negative effects of working 30 hr or more per week in the first 9 months were still found, even when controlling for child-care quality, the quality of the home environment, and maternal sensitivity. Implications for policy are also discussed.     

启动缓慢型幼儿同伴交往能力存在的问题及对策

文章通过与一般幼儿同伴交往能力标准进行比较,分析出启动缓慢型幼儿在同伴交往中存在主动性不强、缺乏交往技能、同伴交往情绪障碍及缺乏求助意识等问题;提出提高该气质类型幼儿同伴交往能力的策略,包括:刺激幼儿同伴交往主动性,注重对幼儿交往技能的训练,为幼儿创建适合与同伴交往的宽松环境,提高幼儿的表达能力和人际融合能力。     

大班幼儿在区域活动中的同伴互动特点分析

本研究采用观察法,对23名大班幼儿在区域活动中的287起同伴互动事件进行了定量和定性分析.研究结果表明:同伴互动事件的发生概率、主题、互动方式以及互动过程中幼儿的情绪体验等,都由于区域不同或幼儿性别不同而有所差异.为了更好地利用活动区促进同伴间的良性互动,教师应合理设置区域空间,投放丰富的操作材料,并根据幼儿的个性特征和兴趣需要给予有针对性的指导.     

Center-Based Evening Child Care: Implications for Young Children's Development

With increasing numbers of women joining the evening/nighttime workforce, there is a need for quality childcare during these hours. This project, conducted in Japan, sought to compare the effects of child day care, child evening care, and child night care on the development and adaptation of young children. Caregivers completed a survey on the childrearing environment at home, their feelings of self-efficacy, and the presence of support for childcare. Childcare professionals evaluated the development of children. The results of the discriminant analysis indicate that factors in the home environment, not type of center-based care, explained developmental variance.     

小班幼儿问题行为与其同伴交往能力的关系研究

研究对沈阳市五所普通幼儿园344名小班幼儿问题行为与其同伴交往能力发展的关系进行了探究。采用张元修订的《幼儿同伴交往能力量表》和Conners儿童行为教师评定量表,研究结果表明:(1)小班幼儿问题行为中多动因子和多动指数因子上存在显著的性别差异,且都是男孩得分高于女孩;独生女与非独生子女的幼儿问题行为无显著差异;(2)幼儿同伴交往能力中语言和非语言交往能力存在着显著的性别差异,即女孩得分显著高于男孩,而独生子女和非独生子女的同伴交往能力发展差异不显著;(3)幼儿问题行为中的四个因子均与其同伴交往能力中的语言和非语言交往能力、社交障碍及总分呈显著性负相关,其中注意力不集中—被动对幼儿同伴交往能力有极其显著的负向预测作用。     

Children's Classroom Peer Relationships and Early School Attitudes: Concurrent and Longitudinal Associations

The purpose of this study was to further explore the linkage between children's early school attitudes and interpersonal features of the classroom, including children's relationships with classmates and their perceptions of these relationships. Participants included 102 kindergarten children (M age = 5.8 years) who were interviewed at the beginning and end of kindergarten to obtain measures of their school attitudes (i.e., school liking), classroom peer relationships (i.e., peer acceptance, mutual friendships), and peer relationship perceptions (i.e., perceived loneliness, peer support). Results showed that initial school liking was associated with all four measures of children's peer relationships; however, only the number of mutual friendships that children possessed in their classrooms predicted changes in school attitudes (gains) over time. Early school attitudes were linked to changes in children's peer perceptions; children who disliked school early in kindergarten were more likely to view classmates as unsupportive as the school year progressed. Results are discussed in terms of the potential impact that classroom peer relations may have on early school attitudes, and vice versa. Implications for educational policy are also considered.     

Children's Use of Retreats in Family Child Care Homes

The use of retreat spaces by 65 children in 9 family child care homes was assessed in this study. Family child care providers used daily diaries to collect information about children's retreat frequency and associated behavior. The findings revealed that nearly half of the children used informal, readily available retreats during the research period. Playing with toys was the most frequent and stable retreat activity across age groups. Yet the number of passive and engaged behaviors varied based on child characteristics such as age, gender, and child's mood for the day. Retreat use can be viewed as a potentially adaptive environmental strategy that children apply as their needs change in a given day and from one developmental period to the next. Thus, it is recommended that child care professionals provide access to retreats and support children's varied use of retreat space.     

大班幼儿角色游戏中同伴互动行为分析及教育对策

角色游戏是幼儿的主要游戏方式,角色游戏中的同伴互动行为质量会影响影响幼儿社会性的发展。本研究对大班幼儿角色游戏中的同伴互动行为进行观察,分析其特点,并提出提升幼儿在角色游戏中进行同伴互动的技巧,以期提高幼儿同伴交往水平。     

Child Maltreatment and Children's Developmental Trajectories in Early to Middle Childhood

Associations between experiencing child maltreatment and adverse developmental outcomes are widely studied, yet conclusions regarding the extent to which effects are bidirectional, and whether they are likely causal, remain elusive. This study uses the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a birth cohort of 4,898 children followed from birth through age 9. Hierarchical linear modeling and structural equation modeling are employed to estimate associations of maltreatment with cognitive and social‐emotional well‐being. Results suggest that effects of early childhood maltreatment emerge immediately, though developmental outcomes are also affected by newly occurring maltreatment over time. Additionally, findings indicate that children's early developmental scores predict their subsequent probability of experiencing maltreatment, though to a lesser extent than early maltreatment predicts subsequent developmental outcomes.     

Child Care and Early Education: Satisfaction with Services Among Rural Families

Parents were surveyed regarding their satisfaction with early childhood services. Participants were 65 families who had at least 1 child younger than 5 years of age enrolled in a child care center or an early education program in a rural county; a majority of respondents were single, African American females with annual incomes below $20,000. Parents responded to the 20 items of the questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The average score for overall level of satisfaction was 4.64 for the child care group and 4.37 for the early education group; the average for individual items ranged from a low of 3.85 to a high of 4.64. Differences between child care centers and early education programs were not statistically significant. Applications, implications, and recommendations for early childhood services are discussed.     

Early Child Care and Education at Hull House: Voices from the Past, Challenges for the Future

Poverty, homelessness, lack of health care among families with young children—these problems of today were also faced by Jane Addams in Hull House 100 years ago. Hull House was a mini-community that offered a safe physical environment filled with beauty. It also served as a connection to the larger neighborhood and world while sheltering its early childhood programs. There were day nurseries, kindergartens, services for handicapped children, and kindergarten teacher education. Curricula were implemented that emphasized not only physical and cognitive development but also aesthetics to build the inner spirits of the children. Varieties of learning opportunities (many in the arts and humanities) were offered to the community. Advocacy was carried out based on information provided by residents surrounding Hull House—through neighborly conversations and carefully designed surveys. Paternalism was evident—curriculum and environment were reflective of the dominant society orientation, and advocacy was sometimes done for the community members. The issues raised by Hull House offer challenges for present and from early childhood programs—challenges in organizational structure, in provision of curriculum and learning experiences for young children and their families, and in joint advocacy efforts.     

The Impact of Child Care Subsidy Use on Child Care Quality

In 2008, the federal government allotted $7 billion in child care subsidies to low-income families through the state-administered Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), now the government's largest child care program (US DHHS, 2008). Although subsidies reduce costs for families and facilitate parental employment, it is unclear how they impact the quality of care families purchase. This study investigates the impact of government subsidization on parents’ selection of child care quality using multivariate regression and propensity score matching approaches to account for differential selection into subsidy receipt and care arrangements. Data were drawn from the Child Care Supplement to the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (CCS-FFCWS), conducted in 2002 and 2003 in 14 of the 20 FFCWS cities when focal children were 3 years old (N = 456). Our results indicate that families who used subsidies chose higher quality care than comparable mothers who did not use subsidies, but only because subsidy recipients were more likely to use center-based care. Subgroup analyses revealed that families using subsidies purchased higher-quality home-based care but lower-quality center-based care than comparable non-recipients. Findings suggest that child care subsidies may serve as more than a work support for low-income families by enhancing the quality of nonmaternal care children experience but that this effect is largely attributable to recipients’ using formal child care arrangements (versus kith and kin care) more often than non-recipients.     

早期留守经历对农村初中生同伴交往的影响

采用友谊质量问卷对河南省1 063名农村初中生同伴交往状况进行问卷调查,探讨早期留守经历对青少年同伴交往的影响。结果发现,经历了留守的农村初中生表现出更多的友谊冲突和背叛,较少的帮助与指导,与同伴间缺乏交流,早期双亲外出的初中生友谊质量最差,且经历留守的初中生友谊质量存在显著的性别差异。因此,早期的留守经历影响个体初中阶段的同伴交往,不利于青少年的社会化。     

Latino Mothers’ Responsiveness and Bilingual Language Development in Young Children from 24 to 36 Months

Early Childhood Education Journal - This longitudinal study examined the role maternal responsiveness had on shaping Spanish and English language development in bilingual 2-year-old children. Eight...