NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development: Phase II, 1996-1999 [United States]

The overall purpose of this study was to examine the influence of variations in early childcare histories on the psychological development of infants and toddlers from a variety of family backgrounds. This general objective was addressed through a prospective, longitudinal study of the experiences of 1,364 children and their families, which took into account the complex interactions among child characteristics and those of the human and physical environments in which the children were reared. Research Goals The specific research aims were as follows: Examining the relationship between infants' childcare arrangements (defined in terms of hours, type, quality, and stability of care and the age at which the child entered care) and children's concurrent and long-term development. Specifically, the study investigated the association between children's experiences in childcare and their social, emotional, language, and cognitive development. The social-emotional assessments included measures of attachment, independence, compliance, behavior problems, prosocial and antisocial behavior, and general competence in interacting with peers. Cognitive variables include general developmental level and problem solving skills. Language assessments incorporated measures of children's expressive and receptive communicative competence. Examining whether the social ecology of the home moderates the effects of childcare, i.e., whether children from different home environments are differentially affected by similar childcare experiences. The study examined the moderating effects of parents' values and attitudes, psychological adjustment and mental health, stress and social support, child-rearing practices, time use, interactions with the child, the marital relationship, and family demographics. Examining whether individual differences among children moderate the effects of infant care on child development. The study examined the moderating effects of such child characteristics as age, sex, health, birth order, and temperament. Identify demographic and family characteristics associated with families' childcare decisions. The study examined whether specific childcare arrangements are related to the parents' social class, marital status, psychological adjustment and personality, child-rearing values and attitudes, parenting practices, stress, social support, marital relationship, and the availability of childcare in the community. Provide a natural history of infant care in the 1990s, and help establish a baseline of data pertaining to the kinds of care being used by families. Whereas other national databases, such as those provided by the United States Census Bureau, provide static estimates of the number of children in different types of childcare, this network study supplements that knowledge with longitudinal data on successive enrollments into day care at various ages, patterns of arrangements used concurrently and over time, and the stability of arrangements during the first three years of life. One of the most valuable aspects of the collaborative study is the opportunity it provides to obtain a more complete and accurate picture of patterns of infant care used by families today. Census surveys use only gross categories of care (e.g., center vs. in-home). In this study, more fine-grained information regarding the types of centers and home-care facilities was gathered. Examine the consequences for families of maternal employment and childcare choices. Family relationships, parental mental health, family stress, and so on, are not just inputs to child development or moderators of childcare effects, they are also outcomes. High-quality childcare may alleviate family stress and enhance parental adjustment. Low-quality childcare may add to the stress parents experience. Although the main focus in the study was on the effect of childcare on the child, the study also examined the effect of childcare on the family. Identify demographic characteristics of childcare associated with childcare quality. Of interest to policy makers is another aspect of the study, the investigation of those regulatory characteristics that predict care of higher quality. These characteristics included the level and type of caregiver training, the size of the childcare group, the auspices of the childcare program (public/private, profit/nonprofit, independent/chain, em

本研究之总体目标在于探究早期育儿经历在不同家庭背景下的婴幼儿心理发展之影响。此一总体目标通过一项前瞻性、纵向研究1,364名儿童及其家庭的经历得以实现，该研究充分考虑了儿童特征与养育儿童之人文与物理环境之间的复杂相互作用。研究目标具体研究目的如下：探讨婴幼儿的照料安排（包括照料时间、类型、质量、稳定性以及儿童开始照料时的年龄）与儿童同时期及长期发展之间的关系。具体而言，研究调查了儿童在照料中的经历与其社会、情感、语言和认知发展之间的关联。社会情感评估包括依恋、独立性、顺从性、行为问题、亲社会和反社会行为以及与同龄人互动的一般能力等方面的衡量指标。认知变量包括一般发展水平和问题解决技能。语言评估包括衡量儿童的表达和接受沟通能力的指标。探究家庭社会生态对照料效果的调节作用，即不同家庭环境中的儿童是否受到相似照料经历的不同影响。研究考察了父母价值观和态度、心理调适和心理健康、压力和社会支持、育儿实践、时间利用、与儿童的互动、婚姻关系和家庭人口统计学等方面的调节效应。探究儿童个体差异是否调节了婴儿照料对儿童发展的影响。研究考察了年龄、性别、健康状况、出生顺序和气质等儿童特征的调节效应。识别与家庭照料决策相关的家庭和人口统计学特征。研究考察了特定照料安排是否与父母的社会阶层、婚姻状况、心理调适和人格、育儿价值观和态度、育儿实践、压力、社会支持、婚姻关系以及社区中照料的可获得性相关。提供20世纪90年代婴儿照料的自然史，并帮助建立有关家庭使用照料类型的基线数据。尽管其他国家数据库，如美国人口普查局提供的数据，提供了关于不同类型照料的儿童数量的静态估计，但这项网络研究通过纵向数据对在不同年龄段进入日托的连续注册、同时和随时间变化的安排模式以及生命头三年中安排的稳定性进行补充。协作研究的最有价值之处在于，它提供了获得今天家庭使用的婴儿照料模式更完整、更准确图景的机会。人口普查调查仅使用粗略的照料类别（例如，中心照料与家庭照料）。在这项研究中，收集了有关中心和家庭照料设施类型的更细致信息。考察母亲就业和照料选择对家庭的影响。家庭关系、父母心理健康、家庭压力等，不仅是对儿童发展的输入或照料效果的调节因素，也是结果。高质量的照料可能减轻家庭压力并增强父母的调适。低质量的照料可能增加父母经历的压力。尽管研究的主要焦点是照料对儿童的影响，但研究也考察了照料对家庭的影响。识别与照料质量相关的照料人口统计学特征。对政策制定者来说，研究的另一个方面是调查那些预示高质量照料的监管特征。这些特征包括照料者的培训水平和类型、照料小组的大小、照料项目的发起（公立/私立、盈利/非盈利、独立/连锁）。