Editorial

Abstract

The issue of the relationship between the quality, quantity, and timing of childcare outside the home and later psychological development has been one of the most hotly contested social policy issues for developmental psychology. The Emanuel Miller lecture in this issue of the JCPP is by Jay Belsky, whose writing on this topic has been at the centre of the debate. The paper provides a current perspective on the issue and summarises evidence indicating that early, extensive, and continuous non-maternal care is related to less harmonious patterns of mother–child interaction and high levels of noncompliance and aggression in later childhood. Belsky suggests that this evidence should be seen as a cause for concern but not necessarily alarm. Although the effects detected are not attributed to low-quality care, nor do they merely reflect assertiveness rather than true aggression, it would be a mistake to exaggerate the magnitude of what are clearly modest negative effects of early childcare. Moreover, the evidence does not suggest that prolonged periods in care predict later clinical levels of behaviour problems. Even though the findings summarised in this paper may therefore be of limited clinical relevance, especially when considered from the perspective of an individual child or family, they would seem to be important when seen from the perspective of society as a whole. This becomes even more important given that full-time or near-full-time care initiated in the first year of life and which continues until school entry, i.e. early, extensive, and continuous care, is rapidly becoming the usual experience of children in America and perhaps in other countries too. Thus there is a need to distinguish implications for individual children and for society at large. This is why the paper recommends policy that extends parental leave and gives parents more options to work on a part-time basis, something that some research indicates is exactly what parents want.