TY - JOUR
T1 - Structural and process features in three types of child care for children from high and low income families
AU - Dowsett, Chantelle J.
AU - Huston, Aletha C.
AU - Imes, Amy E.
AU - Gennetian, Lisa
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge comments on earlier drafts from Margaret Burchinal and Janet Currie. This research has received support from the grant 90YE0074, Child Care Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) as well as the grant 5 T32 HD041019, Training Program in Population Studies, awarded to the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views of the funding agency, nor does the publication constitute an endorsement by the funding agency.
Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2008/3
Y1 - 2008/3
N2 - We use observations from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and, Youth Development (SECCYD) to compare structural and process characteristics of child care centers, family child care homes (nonrelative care in a home setting) and care by relatives for 2-, 3- and 4.5-year-old children. Type of care differences in structural and caregiver characteristics were consistent across ages: centers had higher child-to-adult ratios and bigger groups; centers had caregivers with better education, more training in early childhood, and less traditional beliefs about child rearing. Children in centers experienced more cognitive stimulation, less frequent language interactions with adults, less frequent negative interactions with adults, and less television viewing than did those in other types of care. In centers and family child care homes compared to relative settings, children engaged in more positive and negative interactions with peers and spent more time in transition and unoccupied. Curvilinear associations were found between structural features of care and family income, particularly for caregiver education and training. In contrast, process measures of caregiving rose monotonically with family income. Children from high-income families experienced more sensitive care, more cognitive stimulation, and fewer negative interactions with adults than did those from low-income families. We interpret the findings by linking the structural features and caregiver training to the cognitive and social processes observed in different types of care. Future research designed to understand the influences of child care on children's behavior might benefit from using this more nuanced description of child care experiences.
AB - We use observations from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and, Youth Development (SECCYD) to compare structural and process characteristics of child care centers, family child care homes (nonrelative care in a home setting) and care by relatives for 2-, 3- and 4.5-year-old children. Type of care differences in structural and caregiver characteristics were consistent across ages: centers had higher child-to-adult ratios and bigger groups; centers had caregivers with better education, more training in early childhood, and less traditional beliefs about child rearing. Children in centers experienced more cognitive stimulation, less frequent language interactions with adults, less frequent negative interactions with adults, and less television viewing than did those in other types of care. In centers and family child care homes compared to relative settings, children engaged in more positive and negative interactions with peers and spent more time in transition and unoccupied. Curvilinear associations were found between structural features of care and family income, particularly for caregiver education and training. In contrast, process measures of caregiving rose monotonically with family income. Children from high-income families experienced more sensitive care, more cognitive stimulation, and fewer negative interactions with adults than did those from low-income families. We interpret the findings by linking the structural features and caregiver training to the cognitive and social processes observed in different types of care. Future research designed to understand the influences of child care on children's behavior might benefit from using this more nuanced description of child care experiences.
KW - Caregiving quality
KW - Child care
KW - Early childhood
KW - Income
KW - Type of care
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ecresq.2007.06.003
DO - 10.1016/j.ecresq.2007.06.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:37849035498
SN - 0885-2006
VL - 23
SP - 69
EP - 93
JO - Early Childhood Research Quarterly
JF - Early Childhood Research Quarterly
IS - 1
ER -