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Pierrehumbert, B., Ramstein, T., Karmaniola, A., Miljkovitch, R., & Halfon, O. (2002). Quality of child care in the preschool years: A comparison of the influence of home care and day care characteristics on child outcome. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 26(5), 385-396.
Families with young children in family child care or center care were studied. Findings highlighted the importance of child care quality.
The Study
- Studies on non-parental care conducted over the past 20 years have had fairly inconsistent results. Caregiver, child, and parent variables all affect the outcomes.
- This study sought to compare parental versus non-parental care to determine any significant effects on children.
- Outcomes assessed included attachment, social development, behavior problems, temperament, and cognitive development.
The Methods
- An assessment tool was developed to measure caregivers’ child care values as well as a tool for direct observations of child care settings.
- The sample consisted of 106 families who had a two-year-old in non-parental care at least 30% of the time. Children in center care were slightly over-represented due to some unwillingness to participate by family child care providers.
- Eighty-nine families agreed to participate in the follow-up measures.
The Findings
- Child care providers valued professional aspects of child care such as availability and organization whereas mothers placed more value on warmth.
- Non-parental care affected various child outcomes more strongly than home care. [Where is distinction between family and center-based?]
- Child attachment was more influenced by non-parental care than home care.
- The findings in this study differed from other studies on home care versus non-parental care that showed less influence of the non-parental care. The researchers examined the sample and instruments in an attempt to explain the variance but were unable to. They believed their findings indicated that the quality of child care was extremely important given their findings.
R2P Evaluation
This study was conducted in Europe, yet the findings call for replication of the research in different areas to determine if non-parental care affects child outcome variables more strongly or equally to care at home with the parents.
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