Multiple determinants of caregiver behavior in child care centers

In this study of the multiple determinants of professional caregiving, 237 caregivers (age range: 18–56 years) from 64 Dutch child care centers were extensively observed during their interactions with the children (0–4 years) in their usual care group. The choice of potential determinants of the caregiving quality was guided by Belsky's [Belsky, J. (1984). The determinants of parenting: A process model. Child Development, 55, 83–96] model of the determinants of parenting. Consistent with Belsky's model, quality of caregiving was found to be multiply determined by characteristics of the caregiver, the children and the caregiving context. More specifically, lower-quality care was provided by younger caregivers, to younger children, and by caregivers reporting higher physical occupational workloads. The differences between the participating child care centers proved to explain more variance in the quality of professional caregiving than the differences between the individual caregivers.     

Attitudes and beliefs of family- and center-based child care providers predict differences in caregiving behavior over time

This study examined how patterns of caregiving behavior differ between family and center providers over time, and to what extent caregivers’ attitudes and beliefs shape those caregiving patterns. Ninety-eight child care providers (59 family child care-based [family] and 39 center-based providers) self-reported their initial demographics, attitudes, and beliefs about children and caregiving. Their caregiving behavior in the child care setting was independently and reliably observed three times over the course of one year. When controlling for relevant demographic and structural variables, growth curve analyses revealed patterns of caregiving behavior that varied as a function of provider type and of the interaction between provider type and caregiver attitudes and beliefs. Center-based providers’ caregiving behavior was more heavily influenced by attitudes and beliefs and showed greater variability over time than family providers’ behavior. Implications for choosing child care and improving professional development are discussed.     

Are child developmental outcomes related to before- and after-school care arrangements? Results from the NICHD study of early child care

Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care, a prospective, longitudinal study involving 933 children, were used to examine relations between cumulative participation in 5 types of out-of-school care (before- and after-school programs, extracurricular activities, sitters, fathers, and nonadult care) and child developmental outcomes in the latter part of first grade (approximately age 7 years). Children who consistently participated in extracurricular activities during kindergarten and first grade obtained higher standardized test scores than children who did not consistently participate in these activities, controlling for child and family factors and children's prior functioning. Participation in other types of out-of-school care was not associated with child functioning in first grade when background factors were controlled.     

Regulation,subsidy receipt and provider characteristics: What predicts quality in child care homes?

Far less is known about predictors of quality for family child care homes than for child care centers. The current study of 120 randomly-selected family child care providers in four Midwestern states examined distal, state policy-level variables (family child care regulations and the concentration of children cared for who received public child care subsidies, referred to as subsidy density), and proximal, provider-level variables (providers’ level of education and reported annual training hours) as influences on global quality and caregiver sensitivity. More regulation, lower subsidy density, higher levels of provider education and more training hours were associated with higher global quality in family child care homes. Lower subsidy density and higher provider education were associated with more sensitive caregiving, but no effects on sensitivity were observed for regulation and training hours. An interaction effect indicated that regulation moderated the relation between education and sensitivity; education was especially important for sensitive caregiving among providers low in regulation. In addition, after including all predictor variables in the model, significant mean differences between states were noted. Findings demonstrate that both policy-level variables and provider characteristics influence quality in family child care homes, and further, that they may interact to affect observed child care quality. Implications for state child care policies are discussed with emphasis on implications for quality of care for low-income children whose tuition is paid by public child care subsidies.     

Measurement of quality in child care centers

Assessment of quality of care in 363 classrooms with infants, toddlers, and preschool children was conducted in 120 child care centers in three states with widely varying regulations. Three major process measures, InfantToddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS; Harms, Cryer & Clifford, 1987), Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS; Harms & Clifford, 1980), and the Assessment Profile for Early Childhood Programs (Abbott-Shim & Sibley, 1987) were included. Regulatable aspects of quality of child care included ratio of caregivers to children, group size, teacher training in child development or child care, teacher education, highest wage paid to a teacher in the center, and staff turnover. The goal of the study was to evaluate how well the quality of child care is measured by process and regulatable variables. For research purposes, the process measures proved to be highly redundant, both internally and with each other. Much smaller sets of items, drawn randomly from the instruments' item pools, were found to be perfectly acceptable measures of quality of care. Regulatable measures did not prove to be acceptable measures of quality care, except for teachers' wages, which were highly correlated with process measures of quality.     

Cortisol levels of caregivers in child care centers as related to the quality of their caregiving

The present study examined whether stress in professional caregivers – as reflected in salivary cortisol levels – is related to the quality of their caregiving behavior. The 221 professional female caregivers in 64 child care centers were observed in three different situations and saliva samples were taken three times during the morning. Results showed that higher levels of cortisol, particularly at the beginning of the workday, predicted lower-quality caregiver behavior beyond the contribution of three other predictors, namely a higher self-reported physical workload, more children under age two in the care group, and lower caregiver age. Contrary to the expectation, higher cortisol levels did not mediate the relation between higher self-reported physical workload and more children under age two on the one hand and lower-quality caregiving behavior on the other.     

Employed mothers and family day-care substitute caregivers: a comparative analysis of infant care

Despite dramatic increases in recent decades in the number of employed mothers with children under 3 years of age and the greater utilization of nonmaternal child-care services (particularly unregulated family day care), little is known about the nature and quality of care provided to these infants by their employed mothers and substitute caregivers. This study was conducted to provide a comparative assessment of maternal and nonmaternal infant caregiving practices in own-home and unregulated family day-care homes, respectively. 30 caregivers (10 employed mothers, 10 substitute caregivers, and 10 nonemployed mothers) were observed in interaction with 5-6-month-old infants using Yarrow, Rubenstein, and Pedersen's Home Environment and Mother-Infant Interaction scales. While no differences were observed in the caregiving of employed and nonemployed mothers, both of these groups exceeded the sitters in socially mediated stimulation, contingent responsiveness, positive affect, and overall level and variety of social stimulation. In addition, employed mothers provided more tactile-kinesthetic, visual, and auditory stimulation to their infants than did the substitute caregivers. However, no differences were found between the infants reared in the home and day-care settings in Bayley Mental and Psychomotor developmental abilities. Evidence implicated group size (total number of children) in the quality of caregiving in family day-care homes. The impact of daily separations and qualitatively different caregiving experiences on infants is discussed.     

Working with toddlers in child care: Practitioners’ beliefs about their role

This exploratory research analyzes child care workers’ beliefs about the nature of their practice in center-based child care programs. Twenty-one female child care workers who worked with toddlers (aged 1 to 3 years) participated in the research. The participants were videoed in their practice and later interviewed about how good practice in child care could be described. In the interview, the video of participants’ practice was also reviewed to discuss salient videoed events to elicit further evidence about the nature and structure of beliefs that informed practice. The focus of the data analysis was to ascertain how affective, cognitive and executive functions of teaching in child care were represented in the practitioners’ beliefs and how well those beliefs were integrated into a relational structure. All child care workers identified the affective (care) function as a feature of their practice in working with toddlers. Fewer participants (71%) identified the cognitive (education) function or the executive function (38%) as features of their role. Only two child care workers were judged to have a highly sophisticated and relational belief structure integrating affective, cognitive, and executive functions in how they discussed their practice with toddlers. Greater emphasis in professional training for work in child care settings should be placed on exploring the expectations and beliefs that child care workers hold about their role in teaching young children and how that role is instrumental in supporting early learning.     

Shared care: establishing a balance between home and child care settings

The onset of regular nonparental care for infants and toddlers has complex psychobiological and behavioral effects on their functioning both at home and in child care centers. Maladaptive behavior on the part of children who spend many hours in child care may reflect not the direct effects of nonparental care but the inability of parents to buffer the enhanced levels of stress experienced in child care. Successful adaptation demands careful equilibration of the contrasting limitations and benefits of the two environments, with parental care characterized by stress reduction and emotional regulation and providers' care characterized by emphasis on cognitive stimulation and behavioral regulation.     

Quantity of Group Child Care,Behavior Problems,and Prosocial Behaviors: A Study with Portuguese Preschoolers

Research Findings: Data from a national sample of Portuguese preschool centers were used to examine the relationship between age of start and number of hours in child care and levels of externalizing and prosocial behaviors with peers. Participants were both parents and teachers of 543 children (mean age = 4.5 years, 50.6% girls). Children started child care between 3 and 64 months and were attending child care 1–9 hr per day. The child care centers’ classrooms had adult–child ratios between 5 and 8.7 and group sizes between 15 and 26 children. Externalizing and prosocial behavior with peers was assessed with the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale–Short Form completed by the 3 adult informants. Control variables included family sociodemographics and education level, maternal parenting style assessed with the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire, and maternal stress assessed with the Parenting Experiences questionnaire. Practice or Policy: Both the number of hours per week in child care and an earlier start of center-based child care had modest but significant associations with dimensional scores from teachers’ reports of externalizing behavior but not with mothers’ or fathers’ reports, suggesting that externalizing behavior with peers could be regarded as context specific to peer relationships in group child care. There was no evidence that the quantity of exposure to child care per se could be a substantial risk factor for severe levels of externalizing behavior. Prosocial behavior with peers was not significantly associated with the number of hours in child care or with the age of entry into group child care.     

Predictors of quality and child outcomes in family child care settings

Few studies have examined correlates of quality ratings in family child care arrangements. This study analyzes data from a multi-state sample of family child care providers actively seeking professional development for two purposes. First, we examine predictors of observed quality ratings focusing on characteristics of child care providers, the most proximal influences of quality in family child care. Second, we explore associations between three targets of professional development (providers’ attitudes, beliefs, and practices) and the pre-academic and social–emotional skills of preschool-aged children. Provider characteristics indicative of personal and professional resources and stress, as well as providers’ professional attitudes and beliefs, are predictive of observed quality measures. Observed quality and providers’ child-centered beliefs and perceptions of job demands are related to children's developmental outcomes. Implications for future research, policies, and practices are discussed.     

Special care needs and risk for child maltreatment reports among babies that graduated from the Neonatal Intensive Care

Newborns discharged from intensive care are at elevated risk for child welfare reports, especially for child neglect. This study investigates the role of caregiving burden as a risk predictor among the NICU graduate population. Discharge data were captured for 2,463 infants graduating from a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) during 2005–2008, then linked to child welfare reports at a median 3.2 year follow-up. Survival analyses were used to examine child welfare report outcomes conditional on caregiving burden and its moderating relationships with other family risk factors. Caregiving burden was associated primarily with an increased risk of child welfare reporting during the first few months to first year of life, after which risk was similar to NICU graduates without caregiving burden. Caregiving burden effects were potentiated by having three or more siblings in the family. A history of prior child welfare reports predicted very high risk, regardless of caregiving burden. Young maternal age increased risk. The findings suggest that the immediate months after NICU discharge may be an important window of child neglect prevention opportunity among newborns with special caregiving needs. This may be a key time to provide caregiver support and monitoring, particularly when caregivers have multiple children.     

Experiences in day care and social competence among maltreated children

The experience of 39 preschool-age maltreated children from 13 child care facilities was examined to determine the extent to which the children's social development was related to the quality of day-care service. Maltreated children assigned by the Arkansas Department of Social Services to three different types of child care facilities were observed: specialized day-care programs, regular day-care centers and family day homes. The children scored below average in intelligence and were rated by their parents as displaying higher than normal rates of disturbed behavior. While no comparison group of non-maltreated children was included in the study, observations of the maltreated children in the child care setting revealed substantially more positive than negative social behavior. The children were reasonably effective in interacting with adult caregivers in day care. The maltreated children were also productive in most encounters with peers. Ratings of the quality of care received in day care were significantly correlated with the children's social competence in child care. Aspects of social behavior in maltreated children were related to the organization of the program, the physical facilities, traits of the caregiver, and caregiver expectations for the children.     

The North Carolina Child Care Corps: The role of National Service in Child Care

The purpose of the present study is to document the impact of training and ensuing experience on the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of AmeriCorps national service volunteers in child care classrooms. The North Carolina Child Care Corps (NCCCC) combined federal (AmeriCorps) and state (Smart Start) dollars in the state of North Carolina to improve existing teacher-child ratios by providing trained teachers for child care centers. Participants (Corps members) in the project received four weeks of intensive training in child development and early childhood education and were then assigned to child care classrooms in counties receiving Smart Start funding in five regions of the state. Corps members did not replace existing staff, but were added as assistant teachers above and beyond the mandated teacher-child ratios. Results from Year One of the project indicate that the NCCCC was successful in training Corps members in the areas of child development and early childhood appropriate practices. However, Corps members showed a decline in the appropriateness of their interactions with children after nine months of service in child care classrooms. Implications concerning the use of AmeriCorps volunteers to improve the quality of child care are discussed.     

At the heart of child care: Predictors of teacher sensitivity in center-based child care

This study examined the extent to which characteristics of early childhood teachers and settings predicted observed teacher sensitivity. Participants included 41 head teachers at child care centers located in Northern California. Accreditation status, center size, and program quality were uniquely associated with teacher sensitivity. Accreditation was also associated with a number of other teacher (training, ethnic minority status, and depression) and setting characteristics (program quality, subsidies, and child ethnic minority enrollment). Other unique predictors included more teacher training, smaller center size, and perceived organizational health. Having a greater number of depressive symptoms or working in a larger center were identified as risks to teacher sensitivity, and were moderated by higher levels of teacher training and observed program quality The current study provides preliminary support for the importance of examining the ways that teacher and setting characteristics are related to teacher interactions with young children.     

Family and child factors related to the use of non-maternal infant care: An English study

This paper explores factors related to the use, amount and type of non-maternal child care infants experience in their first year, reporting on a prospective longitudinal study of 1201 families recruited from two different regions in England. The selection and timing of non-maternal child care was investigated within a socio-ecological model that took account of child and family characteristics as well as maternal psychological factors. Family socio-demographic background (education, occupation and income level) was the most consistent predictor of the amount and nature of non-maternal care infants received. Infants who started in non-maternal child care before the age of 3 months were more likely to come from relatively disadvantaged families; in contrast the mothers of infants starting in child care between 4 and 10 months were more advantaged. Disadvantaged families were more likely to use familial care, while more advantaged families were likely to use purchased child care. Children who began non-maternal care later (3–10 months) and spent more hours in care were more likely to be from ethnic minorities (Asian) and have mothers who believed that maternal employment had more benefits and fewer risks for their child. First born children were also more likely to experience non-maternal care after the age of 3 months. Infants rated by their mothers at 3 months as less ‘adaptable’ in temperament and at 10 months as more ‘fussy’ spent more hours in child care. Finally, the type of child care selected was related to the families’ socio-economic background, maternal beliefs and attitudes, and birth order. Findings are compared with the US large scale National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) study and considered in the light of national policies.     

Predicting kindergarten academic skills: Interactions among child care,maternal education,and family literacy environments

This investigation used structural equation modeling to examine sources of children's reading, vocabulary, general information, mathematics, and letter recognition skills upon entrance to kindergarten. Potential predictors included ethnicity, gender, child IQ, family literacy environment, maternal education, and months in child care centers. Family literacy environment had positive causal links with four of five academic measures. Greater number of months in child care centers was associated with higher mathematics scores among children from less educated mothers who scored low on a measure of family literacy environment. In contrast, no effects of child care were found for children from mothers with more education. Implications include the need for strong parental involvement in children's development and subsidized child care for children in need.     

Emotional Energy as an Explanatory Construct for Fathers' Engagement with Their Infants

Objective. This goal of this study was to examine predictors of fathers' sensitivity and engagement with their young infants. Design. Predictors of the quality of father engagement during play and sensitivity during caregiving were explored in 73 middle-class families with a 6-month-old infant. Data were gathered through observation, self-report, and interviews. Results. Factors representing the exosystem (e.g., income and work characteristics) and microsystem (e.g., family and individual characteristics) were found to predict fathers' sensitivity during caregiving and engagement during play. Compared with father - infant play in the dyad, when mothers were present all types of interaction except social play decreased in frequency. Correlational and regression analyses supported the view that fathers were more sensitive and/or engaged with their infants when they did not suffer from job stress, possessed positive coping skills, held more child-centered beliefs, wanted to be like their own fathers, had wives who were more engaged when they played with their infants, and had male infants. Fathers were more affectionate toward their infants when they were in more harmonious marriages and the infants were temperamentally easy. Conclusions. These findings confirm the position that fathering behavior is best understood within an ecological, multilevel framework and that emotional energy is a reasonable explanatory construct underlying fathers' sensitivity and engagement.     

Family day care: State of the art

While public emphasis in the past was on the development of center-based child care, many working parents today remain reluctant to put their infants and preschoolers into formal day care settings. Since the majority of these parents cannot afford to have full-time sitters come into their homes, neighborhood homes have sprung up in which someoneprefers to stay at home to care for the children of others, who can then go out to work. Thus, the growth of family day care.Mary Clurman is Program Coordinator for Apple Pie Family Day Care, Essex County, NJ, and Employee Child Care Consultant to Muhlenberg Hospital, Plainfield, NJ.