Effects of Child Care on Children's Development.

Recent ERIC documents and journal articles that discuss the effects of child care quality and environment on various aspects of children's development are summarized in this column. For details about ERIC and ordering ERIC documents, please see the information following these abstracts.

ERIC Documents

ED 386297

COST, QUALITY AND CHILD OUTCOMES IN CHILD CARE CENTERS. Technical Report, Public Report, and Executive Summary. Suzanne W. Helburn, Ed. 1995. 575 pp. (Available from EDRS and: Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes Study, Economics Department, Campus Box 159, P.O. Box 173364, University of Colorado at Denver, Denver, CO 80217-3364.) This study provides a comprehensive analysis of child care and children's outcomes. The study was designed to examine how child care costs and the nature and effects of children's child care experiences are related. Researchers interviewed and distributed questionnaires to center directors, teachers and parents; observed classrooms in each center; and gathered data on 826 children from preschool classrooms. The study found that most child care is mediocre in quality and interferes with children's emotional and intellectual development. While market forces constrain costs, they also depress the quality of care provided to children. Although it costs more to provide good quality care than poor quality care, higher costs are not reflected in parent fees.

ED 385342

QUALITY OF CHILD CARE AND CHILDREN'S QUALITY OF LIFE. Tullia Musatti. 1993. 27 pp. This paper examines child care quality and the effects of in-home and out-of-home child care on children's quality of life, focusing on the results of a 1992 study of child care in Italy. The study also found that children in child care centers tend to have more social interactions with peers, spend less time watching television and spend more time with their fathers than children cared for by mothers or other caregivers.

ED 383440

EVALUATING EDUCATION REFORM: Early Childhood Education. A Review of Research on Early Education, Family Support and Parent Education, and Collaboration. Anne Mitchell, Heather Weiss & Tom Schultz. 1993. 56 pp. This literature review summarizes past and current research on early childhood education, parent education and family support programs. The literature indicates that the theoretical constructs underlying various intervention strategies have evolved over 30 years. Initial programs focused on improving children's cognitive functioning or on altering parents' behavior to promote cognitive functioning. This narrow cognitive focus expanded over the years to concentrate on the entire range of children's developmental outcomes and the improvement of parents' lives. This review of research also indicates that interventions beginning early in a child's life are more effective than later interventions.

ED 381265

ARE OUR KIDS ALL RIGHT? Answers to the Tough Questions About Child Care Today. Susan B. Dynerman. 1994. 372 pp. (Not available from EDRS; write Peterson's Publishing Group, Department MD9404, P.O. Box 2123, Princeton, NJ 08543-2123.) Examining over 20 years of research, this book attempts to answer three of parents' pressing questions about child care: 1) Is child care harmful?; 2) Are babies damaged by the fact that their mothers work?; and 3) Are working parents, by being absent during most of the day, neglecting their children's needs? Pediatricians, researchers, teachers and society in general are ambivalent about the answers. Part 1 of the book focuses on child care quality in the United States, child care studies, the attachment controversy, the lives of mothers and infants who use child care, and how parents' work lives affect their children. Part 2 is a guide to child rearing.

ED 368466

EDUCATION AND CARE: A Review of International Studies of the Outcomes of Early Childhood Experiences. Valerie N. Podmore. 1993. 56 pp. (Available from EDRS and: New Zealand Council for Educational Research, P.O. Box 3237, Wellington, New Zealand.) This research review examines international studies on early childhood education and care, particularly those concerning outcomes or benefits related to age, length of time spent in early childhood education and care, program type and scope and type of parental involvement. Research literature from North America, Scandinavia, Britain, Australia and New Zealand is included. The review demonstrates that infants can benefit from center-based care if they receive high quality care. The studies also suggest that poor quality early childhood care and education may adversely affect children, whereas high quality care enhances infants' social and cognitive development.

ED 366433

SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 27. Monographs of the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, No. Ten. Lawrence J. Schweinhart, Helen V. Barnes, David P. Weikart, W. Steven Barnett & Ann S. Epstein. 1993. 272 pp. (Available from EDRS and: High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, 600 North River Street, Ypsilanti, MI 48198-2898.) This book reports on the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project, a longitudinal study assessing whether high quality preschool programs can benefit children living in poverty who are at high risk of academic failure. The study has followed a group of African American children for almost three decades. The report focuses on: 1) preschool program effects; 2) educational performance; 3) delinquency and crime; 4) economic status; 5) family formation, health and social relations; and 6) cost-benefit analysis. Findings indicate that the preschool participants have significantly higher earnings, rates of home ownership and levels of schooling, as well as significantly fewer arrests and social service interventions, than a control group of nonparticipants.

ED 366429

DAY CARE. Revised Edition. Alison Clarke-Stewart. 1993. 208 pp. (Not available from EDRS; write Harvard University Press, 79 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-9983.) Noting that the lack of affordable, quality child care continues to be a major parental concern, especially for mothers, this book offers practical information for solving problems and making decisions about child care. The book includes chapters on: the effects of day care on children, aspects of child care that affect children's learning, individual differences and guidelines for evaluating high quality child care.

ED 365437

ISSUES IN CHILD CARE. Yearbook in Early Childhood Education, Volume 3. Bernard Spodek & Olivia N. Saracho, Eds. 1992. 210 pp. (Not available from EDRS; write Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027.) This volume addresses how Americans have increasingly accepted and used child care, how child care is provided in the United States, and how child care services have become an increasingly important part of early childhood education. Among the book's 11 chapters is one by Carollee Howes on "Child Outcomes of Child Care Programs."

Journal Articles

EJ 510543

QUALITY OF THE LITERACY ENVIRONMENT IN DAY CARE AND CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENT. Loraine Dunn, Sara Ann Beach & Susan Kontos. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Fall-Winter 1994): 24-34. This study explored the literacy environment's relationship to traditional measures of child care quality and its influence on children's cognitive and language development. The results indicate that child care quality can significantly affect children's language development.

EJ 488426

THE EFFECTS OF NON-PARENTAL CARE AND THE QUALITY OF THE CHILD CARE SETTING ON THE YOUNG CHILD'S DEVELOPMENT: A Swiss Study. Athanassia Karmaniola et al. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1 (1994): 43-50. This longitudinal study examined the effects of nonparental care on the development of 47 children through age 5. The results illustrate that infants who were placed in child care had an inferior developmental quotient compared to those who did not have such experience.

EJ 484012

CHILD CARE: A Synthesis of Research. Nancy S. Davis & Kathy R. Thornburg. Early Child Development and Care, Vol. 98 (1994): 39-45. This article identifies popular child care settings; outlines several components of quality child care; lists short- and long-term cognitive, social and emotional effects of child care on children from low-income families; describes some benefits of child care; and reports a cost-benefit analysis of one quality program.

EJ 474786

CHILDREN'S EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION IN CHILD CARE CENTERS VARYING IN QUALITY. Linda L. Hestenes, Susan Kontos & Yvonne Bryan. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 3 (September 1993): 295-307. The authors examined the relationship between child care quality and children's emotional expression and temperament. The results, based on interactions among 60 children, indicate that the appropriateness of a center's caregiving, not the appropriateness of its activities, significantly predicts the proportion of children's positive emotional expressions.

The ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education (ERIC/EECE) contributed this column. ERIC documents are abstracted in the monthly index Resources in Education (RIE), and in the ERIC database online or on CD-ROM. Most ERIC documents (EDs) can be read on ERIC microfiche, which are available in many libraries. In addition, most documents can be ordered in paper copy or on microfiche from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS), 7420 Fullerton Rd., Suite 110, Springfield, VA 22153-2852 (1-800-443-3742). For complete ordering information, contact EDRS or consult the most recent issue of RIE. An availability source is indicated for those documents summarized in this column which are not available from EDRS. For journal articles cited in the column, refer directly to the journal, or contact article clearinghouses such as UMI (800-732-0616) or ISI (800-523-1850) for ordering information. Further information on elementary and early childhood education is available from ERIC/EECE, University of Illinois, 805 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Urbana, IL 61801 (phone: [phone] or 800-583-4135; E-mail: [e-mail]).