Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:55:33.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early Childcare and Child Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2009

KIRSTINE HANSEN  and
DENISE HAWKES
KIRSTINE HANSEN*
Affiliation:
Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL
DENISE HAWKES
Affiliation:
Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL
*
*Correspondence to: email [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Nowadays many more young children experience non-maternal childcare than in the past. From a theoretical perspective, the effect this may have on their cognitive and behavioural development is unclear. This paper uses data from the UK for a sample of children in the Millennium Cohort Study, whose mothers were working when they were nine months old, to test how different forms of childcare at an early age play a role in the production of cognitive skills and the behavioural development of young children (measured at age three). The results show that formal group care is positively associated with school readiness test scores. But, unlike previous research, we find no association between formal group care and problem behaviour. Grandparent care, which has received negative attention in the past, is shown to be positively associated with vocabulary test scores, but also positively related to problem behavioural scores.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , April 2009 , pp. 211 - 239
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Belsky, J. (1986), ‘Infant day care: a cause for concern?’, Zero to Three, 6: 1–9.Google Scholar
Belsky, J., Burchinal, M., McCarthy, K., Vandell, D., Clarke-Stewart, K. and Owen, M. (2007), ‘Are there long-term effects of early childcare?’, Child Development, 78: 681–701.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belsky, J. and Eggebeen, D. (1991), ‘Early and extensive maternal employment and young children's socioemotional development: children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth’, Journal of Marriage and the Family, 53: 4, 1083–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernal, R. and Keane, M. (2007), ‘Childcare choices and children's cognitive achievement: the case of single mothers’, IPR Working Paper: WP-06-09.Google Scholar
Bianchi, S. M. (2000), ‘Maternal employment and time with children: dramatic change or surprising continuity?’, Demography, 37: 11, 139–154.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blau, D. M. (1995), ‘The quality of childcare: an economic perspective’, in Blau, D. (ed.), The Economics of Childcare, New York: Sage.Google Scholar
Blau, D. M. (1999), ‘The effect of childcare characteristics on child development’, Journal of Human Resources, 34: 786–822.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1951), Maternal Care and Mental Health, World Health Organization, Geneva.Google ScholarPubMed
Bracken, B. (1998), Bracken Basic Concept Scale – Revised, San Antonio, Texas: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Brooks-Gunn, J., Han, W. and Waldfogel, J. (2002), ‘Maternal employment and child cognitive outcomes in the first three years of life: the NICHD study of early child care’, Child Development, 73: 4, 1052–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chase-Lansdale, P. and Votruba-Drzal, E. (2004), ‘Human development and the potential for change from the perspective of multiple disciplines’, in Chase-Lansdale, P., Kiernan, K. and Friedman, R. (eds), Human Development Across Lives and Generations: The Potential for Change, New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, P. and Bianchi, S. (1999), ‘Marriage, children and women's employment: what do we know?’, Monthly Labor Review, 122: 12, 22–31.Google Scholar
Crosby, D. and Hawkes, D. (2007), ‘Cross-national research using contemporary birth cohort studies: a look at early maternal employment in the United Kingdom and United States’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 10: 5, 379–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desai, S., Chase-Lansdale, P. and Michael, R. (1989), ‘Mother or market? Effects of maternal employment on cognitive development of four year old children’, Demography, 26: 545–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Desai, T., Gregg, P., Steer, J. and Wadsworth, J. (1998), ‘Gender in the labour market’, in Gregg, P. and Wadsworth, J. (eds), The State of Working Britain, Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Duncan, G. and Gibson Davis, C. (2006), ‘Connecting childcare quality to child outcomes: drawing policy lessons from non-experimental data’, Evaluation Review, 30: 611–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregg, P., Washbrook, E., Propper, C. and Burgess, S. (2005), ‘The effects of a mother's return to work decision on child development in the UK’, Economic Journal, 115: 48–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, R. (1997), ‘The strengths and difficulties questionnaire: a research note’, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38: 581–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodman, R. (2001), ‘Psychometric properties of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)’, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40: 1337–1345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, R., Meltzer, H. and Bailey, V. (1998), ‘The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: a pilot study on the validity of the self-report version’, European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 7: 125–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffin, Z. and Spieler, D. (2006), ‘Observing the what and when of language production for different age groups by monitoring speakers' eye movements’, Brain and Language, 9: 3, 272–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Han, W., Waldfogel, J. and Brooks-Gunn, J. (2002), ‘The effects of early maternal employment on child cognitive development’, Demography, 39: 2, 369–92.Google Scholar
Hansen, K. (2006), ‘Millennium Cohort Study: a guide to the datasets’, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London, http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/studies.asp?section=00010002000100040008.Google Scholar
Hansen, K., Joshi, H. and Verropoulou, G. (2005), ‘Childcare and mothers' employment: approaching the Millennium’, National Institute Economic Review, 195: 84–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawkes, D. (2008), ‘The UK Millennium Cohort Study: the circumstances of early motherhood’, in Edwards, R. (ed.), Researching Families and Communities: Social and Generational Change, Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hawkes, D., Joshi, H. and Ward, K. (2004), ‘Unequal entry to motherhood and unequal starts in life: evidence from the first survey of the UK Millennium Cohort’, Cohort Studies Working Paper No. 6.Google Scholar
Kisker, E. and Maynard, R. (1995), ‘Quality, cost and parental choice of child care’, in Blau, D. (ed.), The Economics of Childcare, New York: Sage.Google Scholar
La Valle, I., Smith, R., Purdon, S., Bell, A., Dearden, L., Shaw, J. and Sibieta, L. (2007), ‘Impact study final report’, Department for Education and Skills, London.Google Scholar
Love, J., Harrison, L., Sagi-Schwartz, A., van Ijsendoorn, M., Ross, C., Ungerer, J., Raikes, H., Brady-Smith, C., Boller, K., Brooks-Gunn, J., Constantine, J., Kisker, E., Paulsell, D. and Chazan-Cohen, R. (2003), ‘Child care quality matters: how conclusions may vary with context’, Child Development, 74: 4, 1021–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathers, S. and Sylva, K. (2007), ‘The relationship between quality and children's behavioural development: Neighbourhood Nurseries Initiative National Evaluation, quality and child behavioural outcomes final report’, DfES, London.Google Scholar
Mathers, S., Sylva, K. and Joshi, H. (2007), ‘Quality of childcare settings in the Millennium Cohort Study’, Report for Sure Start.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McQuail, S. Mooney, A., Cameron, C., Candappa, M., Moss, P. and Petrie, P. (2003), ‘Early years and childcare international evidence project: child outcomes’, DfES and DWP, London, https://dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/7136paper3childoutcomes.pdfGoogle Scholar
Melhuish, E. (1991), ‘Research on childcare in Britain’, in Melhuish, E. and Moss, P. (eds), Childcare for Young Children: International Perspectives, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Melhuish, E. (2004), ‘A literature review of the impact of early years provision upon young children, with emphasis given to children from disadvantaged backgrounds’, Report to the Comptroller and Auditor General, London: National Audit Office.Google Scholar
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network (1997), ‘The effects of infant child care on infant–mother attachment security: Results of the NICHD study of early child care’, Child Development, 68: 860–79.Google Scholar
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network (2004), ‘Type of childcare and children's development at 54 months’, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19: 203–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Office for National Statistics (2006), ‘Focus on gender: Work and family’, www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1655Google Scholar
Paull, G. and Taylor, J. (with A. Duncan) (2002), Mothers' Employment and Childcare Use in Britain, London: Institute for Fiscal Studies.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plewis, I. (2007), ‘Millennium Cohort Study: technical report on sampling’, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London, http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/studies.asp?section=00010002000100050004Google Scholar
Potter, C. (2007), ‘Developments in UK early years policy and practice: can they improve outcomes for disadvantaged children?’, International Journal of Early Years Education, 15: 171–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruhm, C. (2000), ‘Parental employment and child cognitive development’, NBER working paper 7666, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruhm, C. (2004), ‘Parental employment and child cognitive development’, Journal of Human Resources, 39: 1, 155–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sammons, P., Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Siraj-Blatchford, I., Taggart, B. and Elliot, K. (2002), ‘The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project technical paper 8b – Measuring the Impact of Pre-School on Children's Social/behavioural Development over the Pre-School Period’, DfES/Institute of Education, University of London, London.Google Scholar
Smith, T., Coxon, K. and Sigala, M. (2007), ‘Implementation study final report’, London: Department for Education and Skills.Google Scholar
STATA library, http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/library/cpsu.htmGoogle Scholar
Strapp, C. (1999), ‘Mothers', fathers', and siblings' responses to children's language errors: comparing sources of negative evidence’, Journal of Child Language, 26: 2, 373–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sure Start (2005), ‘National evaluation report: early impacts of Sure Start local programmes on children and families’, Sure Start Report 13.Google Scholar
Sylva, K. (1994), ‘The impact of early learning on children's later development’, in Ball, C. (ed.), Start Right: The Importance of Early Learning, London: The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce.Google Scholar
Sylva, K., Sammons, P., Melhuish, E., Siraj-Blatchford, I., Taggart, B. and Elliot, K. (2001), ‘Measuring the impact of pre-school on children's cognitive development: preliminary results’, Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Conference, Seattle, USA.Google Scholar
Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I. and Taggart, B. (2004), ‘The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) project technical paper 12 – the final report’, DfES/ Institute of Education, University of London, London.Google Scholar
Tamis-LeMonda, C., Shannon, J., Cabrera, N. and Lamb, M. (2004), ‘Fathers and mothers at play with their 2-and 3-year-olds: Contributions to language and cognitive development’, Child Development, 75: 6, 1806–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
US Census Bureau (2001), Maternity Leave and Employment Patterns: 1961–1995, Washington, DC: Household Economic Studies.Google Scholar
Vandell, D. and Wolfe, B. (2000), ‘Childcare quality: does it matter and does it need to be improved?’, Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van IJzendoorn, M., Tavecchio, l., Riksen-Walraven, J., Schipper, J., de Gevers Deynoot-Schaub, M., and Shaub, M. (2004), ‘Centre day-care in the Netherlands: what do we know about its quality and effects?’, Paper presented at the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development, Belgium.Google Scholar
Waldfogel, J., Han, W. and Brooks-Gunn, J. (2002), ‘The effects of early maternal employment on child cognitive development’, Demography, 39: 2, 369–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed