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Time spent in different types of childcare and children's development at school entry: an Australian longitudinal
Angela Gialamas1, Murthy N Mittinty1, Michael G Sawyer2
1School of Population Health, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
Insights
Increased time in childcare, particularly center-based care, was linked to more externalizing behaviors and fewer internalizing behaviors in young children. Receptive vocabulary was unaffected by childcare duration.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Childcare Research
- Early Childhood Education
Background:
- Childcare is a significant factor in early development.
- Understanding the impact of childcare duration and type on child outcomes is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between total childcare time in the first three years of life and children's outcomes at ages 4-5.
- To determine if different childcare types influence these associations.
- To assess impacts on receptive vocabulary, externalizing behaviors, and internalizing behaviors.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the prospective, population-based Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (n=3208-4066).
- Collected parental reports on childcare time (0-3 years) via interviews.
- Assessed receptive vocabulary directly and behaviors (externalizing/internalizing) via parent/teacher questionnaires at 4-5 years.
Main Results:
- Increased childcare time was associated with higher parent- and teacher-reported externalizing behaviors (β=0.10-0.31).
- Increased childcare time was linked to lower parent-reported internalizing behaviors (β=-0.08).
- Center-based care was associated with higher externalizing and lower internalizing behaviors compared to no childcare.
Conclusions:
- Extended time in center-based childcare during the first three years is associated with increased externalizing behaviors.
- More time in center-based care correlated with decreased internalizing behaviors.
- Childcare duration and type did not show an association with receptive vocabulary ability at school entry.
Objective:
To investigate whether the total amount of time in childcare through the first 3 years of life was associated with children's receptive vocabulary, externalising and internalising problem behaviours at age 4-5 years, and whether this association varied for different types of childcare.
Methods:
We used data from the prospective, population-based Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (n=3208-4066, depending on outcome). Parental reports of the time spent in different types of childcare were collected at face-to-face interviews at age 0-1years and at age 2-3 years. Children's receptive vocabulary was directly assessed in the child's home, and externalising and internalising behaviours were measured by questionnaire, completed by parents and teachers at age 4-5 years.
Results:
At 3 years of age, 75% of the sample spent regular time in the care of someone other than the parent. After adjustment, more time in childcare was not associated with children's receptive vocabulary ability but was associated with higher levels of parent-reported (β=0.10 (95% CI 0.00 to 0.21)) and teacher-reported (β=0.31 (0.19 to 0.44)) externalising problem behaviours and lower levels of parent-reported internalising problem behaviours (β=-0.08 (-0.15 to -0.00)). Compared with children who did not attend any type of childcare, children in centre-based care had higher parent-reported and teacher-reported externalising and lower internalising problem behaviours.
Conclusions:
More time in centre-based childcare (but not other types of care) through the first 3 years of life was associated with higher parent-reported and teacher-reported externalising problem behaviours, and lower parent-reported internalising problem behaviours but not with children's receptive vocabulary ability at school entry.
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