Quality child care supports the achievement of low-income children: Direct and indirect pathways through caregiving and the home environment

Existing studies of child care have not been able to determine whether higher quality child care protects children from the effects of poverty, whether poverty and lower quality child care operate as dual risk factors, or whether both are true. The objective of the current study was to test two pathways through which child care may serve as a naturally occurring intervention for low-income children: a direct pathway through child care quality to child outcomes, and an indirect pathway through improvements in the home environment. Children were observed in their homes and child care settings at 6, 15, 24, and 36 months. An interaction between family income-to-needs ratio and child care quality predicted School Readiness, Receptive Language, and Expressive Language, as well as improvements in the home environment. Children from low-income families profited from observed learning supports in the form of sensitive care and stimulation of cognitive development, and their parents profited from unobserved informal and formal parent supports. Policy implications are discussed.     

For-profit/nonprofit differences in center-based child care quality: Results from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development

In secondary analyses of National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development data, multiple indicators of quality (caregiver wages and turnover; child/staff ratio; caregiver education and professionalism; positive caregiving) were compared between child care centers by sector (for-profit/nonprofit) and subsector (for-profit independent/chain, nonprofit church/nonchurch) at multiple points from infancy through prekindergarten. Nonprofit centers evidenced higher caregiver wages and education at most ages and better quality child/staff ratios, turnover, caregiver professionalism, and positive caregiving for toddlers and preschoolers. Subsector differences in preschool classrooms were more complex. In general, quality was higher in nonprofit non-religiously affiliated centers, intermediate in nonprofit religiously affiliated and for-profit independent centers, and lower in for-profit chains, but differences were not found on every indicator or between every group. Further, for-profit chain status predicted lower quality positive caregiving, controlling for family characteristics, staff, and structural quality, at 54 months, but not 36 months. Results support and extend prior research by controlling for family characteristics. Policy implications regarding supply- and demand-side quality-improvement strategies that address market competition and parent choice across subsectors are discussed.     

Individual differences in effects of child care quality: The role of child affective self-regulation and gender

The current study investigated whether the relation between child care quality and children's socio-emotional behavior depended on children's affective self-regulation skills and gender. Participants were 545 children (M_age = 27 months) from 60 center-based child care centers in the Netherlands. Multi-level analyses showed that children with low affective self-regulation skills or who were male demonstrated less teacher-rated social competence when exposed to relatively low quality child care. In addition, children with low affective self-regulation skills also showed more social competence in the case of relatively high quality child care, suggesting mechanisms of differential susceptibility. No main effects of child care quality or interactions were found for teacher- and parent-rated externalizing behavior. These findings emphasize the importance of considering children's affective self-regulation skills and gender in understanding the effects of child care quality. High quality child care can be a means to strengthen children's social development.     

Effects of day care and maternal teaching on child educability

Two groups of matched mother-child pairs, a day care sample (N = 38) and a home reared sample (N = 38) participated in a study testing mothers for degree of decentred teaching and children for degree of decentred educability. The children were seven years old. Mother and child were tested in separate settings, thus preventing interdependency among scores. The study used a matched-pair design with control of five background variables; age of the child, mother's educational level, mother's occupational status, family SES level, and type of family. The results showed strong positive effects of both day care experience and maternal teaching on child educability. Day care experience improved the educability of children independent of the mother's teaching strategy and gender of the child.     

Prevalence and predictors of expulsion in home-based child care settings

This study explored the prevalence of expulsion in home-based child care (HBCC) settings using a nationally representative sample of HBCC providers from the National Survey of Early Care and Education. In addition to prevalence, enrollment and provider characteristics that predicted expulsion were examined. Although there is increasing awareness of the prevalence of early childhood suspension and expulsion in early care and education settings and the negative effects it has on children's development, few studies have included or focused on HBCC, where many children receive care. This study highlights that many home-based providers, especially listed providers, report that they expelled at least one child within the last year. Significant predictors of expulsion emerged, including enrollment characteristics such as caring for children with disabilities, enrolling more children, and caring for children unrelated to the provider. Provider characteristics, including years of experience, provider education, and provider age, also predicted provider report of expulsion. These results provide insight as to possible strategies that may be effective in reducing expulsion rates in this caregiving context.     

Preschool child care and parents' use of physical discipline

Parenting practices, including the use of physical discipline, are shaped by multiple influences. Although much research focuses on how parent, child, and dyadic characteristics shape parenting practices, extra‐familial resources may also play a role. This paper focuses on how children's experiences of child care during the preschool years may affect one aspect of parenting—discipline practices. Using a rich, nationally representative data set, we explore the correlation between children's participation in centre based care, Head Start, or other non‐parental care arrangements and parents' use of physical discipline, and related phenomena, parents' experience of domestic violence and parenting stress. We conduct probit regressions of parents' use of physical discipline, and parents' experiences of domestic violence, on preschool child care experiences. For disadvantaged groups of children, who have higher risks of experiencing physical discipline and witnessing family violence, we find that Head Start participation is associated with an increase in the likelihood that parents say they never spank their children and reduction in reports of domestic violence. And, for children in two‐parent families, Head Start is associated with an increase in the likelihood that parents say they never spank their children and the likelihood that they do not say they would resort to spanking in a hypothetical situation. However, we find no evidence that non‐parental child care is associated with a lasting reduction in parenting stress. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From scapegoating to thinking and finding a home: delivering therapeutic work in schools

This paper discusses how the child psychotherapist's core skills can be usefully applied in a school setting. It outlines some of the important policy changes that have necessitated a move towards delivering therapeutic work in community settings such as schools. It is argued that the role of the child psychotherapist in schools has much in common with the role played by the psychotherapist in a therapeutic community. The paper suggests that therapy in schools is in many ways less simple than therapy in clinic settings, and in particular it is often unclear who exactly the client is and at what level to intervene when a referral is made. The referred patient is not necessarily the ‘problem’, so that the child psychotherapist must be prepared to tackle issues in the system to ensure that splitting and projection are reduced, and systems around children can become more containing. Clinical vignettes and one main clinical illustration are used to try to illustrate these points.     

Sibling relationship quality in early adolescence: child and maternal perceptions and daily interactions

Correspondence between child and maternal perceptions of sibling relationship quality (standards, actual ratings, problems) and children's reports of daily interactions were assessed in 40 early adolescent children (M age=11.5 yrs) and their mothers (n=32). Children completed the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985. Child Development, 56, 448–461) and Daily Checklist ratings of sibling interactions for 14 days. Mothers completed the Parental Expectations and Perceptions of Children's Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (Kramer & Baron, 1995. Family Relations, 44, 95–103). Overall, findings revealed correspondence between child perceptions of sibling warmth and maternal ratings of standards, actual ratings, and problems in sibling warmth but not conflict and rivalry. Maternal and child perceptions of sibling relationship qualities were positively associated with children's reports of ongoing interactions. Finally, regression analyses identified unique maternal and child correlates for both happy and prosocial daily interactions. Findings are discussed in light of recent research and theory on family dynamics. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cumulative parenting stress across the preschool period: relations to maternal parenting and child behaviour at age 5

Despite increasing interest in the effects of parenting stress on children and families, many questions remain regarding the nature of parenting stress and the mechanism through which stress exerts its influence across time. In this study, cumulative parenting stress was assessed across the preschool period in a sample of 125 typically developing children and their mothers. Indices of parenting stress included both major life events stress‐assessed annually from age 3 to 5, and parenting daily hassles assessed every 6 months across the same period. Naturalistic home observations were conducted when children were age 5, during which measures of parent and child interactive behaviour as well as dyadic pleasure and dyadic conflict were obtained. Mothers also completed the CBCL to assess children's behaviour problems. Results indicated that parenting daily hassles and major life stress are relatively stable across the preschool period. Both cumulative stress indices also proved to be important predictors of parent and child behaviour and dyadic interaction, although the predictions were somewhat differential. Despite meaningful relations between the stress factors and child well being, no evidence was found to support the premise that parent behaviour mediates the association between parenting stress and child outcomes. Results are discussed within a developmental framework to understand the stability and complexity of cumulative stress associations to early parent–child relationships. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Client supportiveness in contingent employment: The role of relationship quality

Extant literature dealing with nonstandard employment relationships reveals that contingent (“temporary”) workers are influenced by the supportiveness levels of their client organizations. However, the antecedents and consequences of client supportiveness remain underinvestigated. Specifically, the link between client supportiveness and relationship quality (i.e., the relationship between client organizations and temporary help services [THS] firm) has received minimal attention. I proposed that (1) the quality of the relationship between client organizations and the THS firm will influence client supportiveness, (2) client supportiveness will influence contingent workers’ job attitudes, (3) these job attitudes will influence future levels of relationship quality, and (4) relationship quality will predict unit-level profitability. A time-lagged, unit-level test of this model using large samples of worker and client data obtained from 89 business units of a THS firm provided complete support for the first three proposed relationships. Further, the association between relationship quality and profitability was found to be significant for medium-sized and large business units, but not for small business units.     

The relations of child adiposity with parent-to-child and parent-to-parent hostility

Objective: Investigate (1) the association of child adiposity with parent-to-child and parent-to-parent hostility, (2) the mediation of these associations by dietary behaviours and (3) moderation by gender.

Design: One hundred thirty-five couples with 6- to 14-year-old children completed measures of emotional and physical aggression, overreactive discipline and child diet. Parent-to-parent hostility was also coded from laboratory observations.

Main Outcome Measure: Child adiposity was a combination of body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio.

Results: Mother-to-child hostility was associated with child adiposity. This association was concentrated in boys and was not significantly explained by child dietary factors. Mother-to-father hostility was not significantly associated with boys’ or girls’ adiposity. Girls’ adiposity was not significantly associated with family hostility. Fathers’ hostility was not linked to child adiposity.

Conclusion: This is the first study to take a family-level approach to understanding the relation of hostility to child adiposity by examining relations among adiposity and both mothers’ and fathers’ hostility directed toward one another and toward their children. Our findings highlight the potential role played by mothers’ emotional hostility in boys’ adiposity and suggest that, if this role is further substantiated, mother-son emotional hostility may be a promising target for the prevention of child obesity.     

The effects of maternal employment and non-maternal infant care on development at two and four years

Differences in maternal employment during children's first year of life and children's entry into non-maternal care before the age of 1 year failed to predict differences in cognitive and socioemotional development at 2 and 4 years of age, after family background variables were controlled. Two samples were studied: a population sample of 1100 Bermudian children and a smaller subsample of children most of whom were determined to be at risk for developmental problems. To assess the effects of maternal employment, we compared infants with mothers who worked 20 or more hours a week to infants with mothers who worked less than 20 hours a week. To assess the effects of entry into non-maternal care before the age of one, we compared infants who were placed in regular non-maternal care before the age of one versus infants who did not experience regular non-maternal care before the age of one. The results revealed that family background variables frequently predicted many child outcome measures in both the total sample and the smaller research sample. After controlling for family characteristics, no differences were found between children whose mothers worked 20 or more hours a week when they were infants and children with mothers who worked less than 20 hours a week in either sample. In addition, age of entry into non. maternal care before the age of one did not significantly predict any child outcome measures.     

Bullying and harassment at work and their relationships to work environment quality: An exploratory study

Team-based working has become a popular model of work organization. One of the expected yields of working in teams is collective learning. As team members work closely together they are likely to exchange information, which can enhance learning. One of the processes that may facilitate team learning is team conflict. In this study, 471 respondents, working in 84 teams in 38 organizations, indicated their perceptions of task conflict, relationship conflict, team learning, and their rating of the performance of the team. Task conflict was not related to team learning but was negatively related to the team members' rating of team performance. As was hypothesized, relationship conflict negatively affected team learning. Importantly, team learning was a strong predictor of the perceived team performance and partially mediated the relation between relationship conflict and performance.     

Infant care from infants' viewpoint: the views of some professionals

Debate about infant care tends to focus on still unresolved questions about whether or not day care is harmful, while research studies often confine care options to an unrealistic axis of choice between group care and mother care. Research that delineates constituents of day care quality in relation to measurable outcomes for different groups of children is urgently needed and should be based on a broader view of infant care options. A postal opinion survey sought the confidential views of members of an international organization of infant mental health professionals as to the kinds of care they considered likely to be best for infants from birth to 36 months, assuming that all types of care were of equally high quality and availability. Surprisingly lengthy periods of care by mothers were consistently endorsed; fathers were almost entirely disregarded as principal or joint caregivers; all forms of family care were endorsed over all forms of purchased care, but all forms of individual care were preferred to full-day group care for all age groups and to half-day group care up to the age of 2. The patterns of care judged by these respondents as likely to be best for infants are very different from those which most infants experience now, and from those which policy- and opinion-makers, practitioners and parents aspire, publicly at least, to provide for infants in the future. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling multiple risks during infancy to predict quality of the caregiving environment: contributions of a person-centered approach

The primary goal of this study was to compare several variable-centered and person-centered methods for modeling multiple risk factors during infancy to predict the quality of caregiving environments at six months of age. Nine risk factors related to family demographics and maternal psychosocial risk, assessed when children were two months old, were explored in the understudied population of children born in low-income, non-urban communities in Pennsylvania and North Carolina (N = 1047). These risk factors were (1) single (unpartnered) parent status, (2) marital status, (3) mother's age at first child birth, (4) maternal education, (5) maternal reading ability, (6) poverty status, (7) residential crowding, (8) prenatal smoking exposure, and (9) maternal depression. We compared conclusions drawn using a bivariate approach, multiple regression analysis, the cumulative risk index, and latent class analysis (LCA). The risk classes derived using LCA provided a more intuitive summary of how multiple risks were organized within individuals as compared to the other methods. The five risk classes were: married low-risk; married low-income; cohabiting multiproblem; single low-income; and single low-income/education. The LCA findings illustrated how the association between particular family configurations and the infants' caregiving environment quality varied across race and site. Discussion focuses on the value of person-centered models of analysis to understand complexities of prediction of multiple risk factors.     

Psychoanalytic thinking in primary care: The Tavistock Psychotherapy Consultation model

This paper describes the conceptual underpinnings, structure and operations of a novel service, the City and Hackney Primary Care Psychotherapy Consultation Service – a service set up partly with the aim of addressing the needs of patients who present with ‘medically unexplained symptoms’. As part of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, this service moves its clinical base, staff members and daily work, as well as the foundations of psychoanalytic thinking that define the Trust's work, into the heart of a community, and provides psychoanalytically informed clinical practice and consultation to patients and general practitioners in the City and Hackney, one of London's (and the UK's) most deprived and ethnically diverse boroughs. The authors describe the psychoanalytical underpinnings of the model, the design and structure of the service, patient demographics and preliminary outcome data, as well as an example of consultation work with general practitioners. The authors propose that psychoanalytic applications have a place in primary care and that psychoanalytic thinking can help general practitioners and patients alike, even when the clinical interventions offered are not solely based on psychoanalytic technique or therapeutic approaches. The paper concludes with thoughts about the model, its origins and its future.     

The nature of quality of life in residential care facilities: the case of White older South Africans

This study describes the nature of quality of life (QoL) from the perspective of older South Africans (n?=?41) in residential care facilities (female =?75%; age range 62–95 years). The residents participated in individual in-depth interviews and focus groups. They also set down their narrative reflections on their QoL in journals. Data were analysed by means of interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings reveal the resident older South Africans regard QoL as a spiritually informed worldview of life events, coping with challenges and being mindful of others. The residents perceived QoL to include proximity and quality and reciprocity with others. QoL among older people is context and people specific.