The impact of day care

Research on the impact of day care

What is meant by 'social development'?

The aspects of a child's growth concerned with the development of sociability, where the child learns how to relate to others, and with the process of socialisation, in which the child acquires the knowledge and skills appropriate to that society.

Negative effects on social development:

Violata and Russel (1994) conducted a meta-analysis of the findings from 88 studies, concluding that regular day care for more than 20 hours per week had a negative effect on socio-emotional development, behaviour and attachment of young children.

Peer relations:

There is evidence that children in day care are less likely to be securely attached. Belsky and Rovine (1988) assessed attachment (using the strange situation) in infants who had been receiving 20 hours or more of day care per week before they were one year old. These children were more likely to be insecurely attached compared with the children at home. This would lead us to expect that children in day care are more likely to be insecurely attached and therefore less successful in peer relationships.

Positive effects on social development:

Good day care can provide plenty of social stimulation, whereas children at home, especially if they have little contact with other children, may lack such social interaction. In addition, mothers at home on their own may feel isolated and bored, finding interaction difficult. Brown and Harris (1978) found that many depressed woman claimed their low mood was due to the isolation of being at home with children.

Peer relations:

Day care exposes a child to interact with others and permits them time to develop social strategies. Field (1991) found that the amount of time spent in full-time day care was positively correlated to the number of friends children had once they went to school. Clarke-Stewart et al (1994) found that those children who attended day care could negotiate better with peers. 

Weaknesses of research on day care:

Aggression and day care: Some research indicates that children who spend more time in day care are more aggressive. Not all studies support this finding. Prodromidis et al (1995) studies Swedish first-borns, and concluded that childcare arrangements were not associated with aggression or non-compliance.

Peer relations and day care: We cannot assume that experiences in day care cause later sociability. For example, shy and unsocial children have mothers who are also shy and unsociable and such mothers prefer to stay at home to care for their children. Therefore, it is more outgoing children who attend day care, which explains why them children are more sociable.

Day care has no effects: There are many factors that can influence a child's social development. There are so many influences that it is difficult to disentangle the direct effects of day care as opposed to the effects of type of attachment between mother and child. Clarke-Stewart et al (1985) concluded that, while day-care programmes had some direct effects on development, they clearly were not operating alone.

Mediating factors:

1. Quality of day care 

2. Individual differences 

3. Child's age and number of hours

4. Applications