Childcare effects
Cultural context
Child-care thru 3 & peer competencies
 Positive responsive caregiver behavior most consistently associated
with positive skilled peer interaction
 More time in child-care  observed to be more positive and
skilled in peer play in child care
 caregivers rated these kids as more negative with playmates.
 but observed peer play not related to the quantity of care.
 Child-care not associated with peer competence as rated by
mothers or as observed in dyadic play with a friend.
 Maternal sensitivity and children's cognitive and language
competence predicted peer competence across all settings and
informants, suggesting that family and child-care contexts may
play different, but complementary roles in the development of
early emerging individual differences in peer interaction.
 NICHD_Early_Child_Care_Research_Network (2001). "Child care and children's peer interaction at 24
and 36 months: The NICHD study of early child care." Child Development 72(5): 1478-1500
No child care effects on observed interaction
Child-Care Effect Sizes
Early Child Care and Youth Development
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network
 Children (n 1,261) were recruited at birth and assessed
at 15, 24, 36, and 54 months.
 Exclusive maternal care did not predict child outcomes
 Higher quality child care related to advanced cognitive,
language, and preacademic outcomes at every age and
better socioemotional and peer outcomes at some ages.
 More childcare hours predicted more behavior problems
and conflict, according to care providers.
 More center-care time was related to higher cognitive
and language scores and more problem and fewer
prosocial behaviors, according to care providers.
54 Month Outcomes
Long-Term Effects of Early Child Care?
 Parenting was a stronger and more
consistent predictor of children’s
development than early child-care
experience.
 But higher quality care predicted higher
vocabulary scores and more exposure
to center care predicted more teacherreported externalizing problems. Belsky
et al., 2007
Child-care History, Classroom Composition, and Children’s
Functioning in Kindergarten
Julia Dmitrieva, Laurence Steinberg, and Jay Belsky
 Non-parental child care associated with
 Elevated levels of externalizing behavior
 Enhanced linguistic, cognitive, and academic functioning
 Study studied classroom-composition effects
 Is a child’s externalizing behavior explained by the child-care
histories of children in their classrooms above and beyond their
own?
 Peer contagion
Nayfeld
Effects of care
 Predictors of poorer achievement
 >30 hrs/week
 initiation at center
before 2 years of age
 Used as classroom level predictors
 proportion of children in classroom
 Center care versus any child care
Nayfeld
Classroom-level effects
> individual effects
 Variance in class-level characteristics
 externalizing behavior

15% (T1) and 19% (T2) of variance
 achievement

35% (T1) and 31%(T2) of variance
 Significant classroom level effects
Nayfeld
Conclusions and Discussion
 Effects of early or extensive non-parental care affect not
only the child, but their classmates as well
 Being in a class with high proportion of students with
child-care histories affects all children, independent of
personal experience
 Are effects amplified or attenuated over years of
schooling?
Nayfeld
WHAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE: EARLY HEAD START
EVALUATION FINDINGS IN A DEVELOPMENTAL CONTEXT JOHN
M. LOVE, RACHEL CHAZAN-COHEN, HELEN RAIKES, AND JEANNE BROOKS-GUNN2013
 The federal Early Head Start (EHS) program began in 1995, and a
randomized trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of 17 EHS
programs.
 3,001 low-income families (35% African American, 24%
Hispanic, and 37% White) with a pregnant women or an infant
under the age of 12 months were randomly assigned to a
treatment or control group (with 91% of the treatment group
receiving some services).
 Research questions examined (1) impacts of EHS at ages 2 and 3
(when services were being offered) and at age 5, and (2)
contributions of early education experiences across children's first
5 years of life
DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5834.2012.00699.x
 At ages 2 and 3 EHS benefited children and families:
impacts were seen in all domains, effect sizes .10 -.20.
 At 5, EHS children had better attention &approaches
toward learning, fewer behavior problems
 But did not differ from controls on early school achievement.
 Cognitive impacts at age 5 for African American children and
language impacts for Hispanic children who spoke Spanish.
Some significant family benefits were seen at age 5.
 Earlier treatment effects on child cognition and on
engagement with the parent at 2 and 3 contributed to the
child impacts at age 5.
 Although fewer than half the children enrolled in center-based
preschool programs between ages 3 and 4, almost 90%
participated in the year preceding kindergarten. A higher
percentage of EHS than control children were enrolled.
 Nonexperimental analyses suggested that formal program
participation enhanced children's readiness for school while also
increasing parent-reported aggression.
 At 5, children and families who experienced EHS followed by
formal programs fared best overall.
 Benefits in language, behavior, and parenting were associated
primarily with EHS; benefits in early school achievement were
associated primarily with preschool attendance.
 Reviews positive influence of peer play on academic and social
outcomes for African American preschool children
 Previous research mostly on white & middle-income children
 Strengths-based resiliency framework
 Developmental ecological theory
 Within-group variability
 Transactional and bidirectional effects
Usher
Interactive peer play
 Play dimensions specific to African American children:
 Play interaction
 Play disruption
 Play disconnection
 Positive peer interactions mediated relation between ext. & int.
problems and math outcomes (Tracy & friends)
 Play buddies & play partners; and other RCTs
 Other ethnic groups
 Educational practice
Usher
Adjustment Scales for Preschool
Intervention (ASPI)--Context
•
Existing scales consider behaviors to be “stable deficits” within children
Do not consider whether behaviors vary over different settings
Do not tell us when, where and how to intervene
•
•
•
Development of the (ASPI)
Specifically developed for low income preschool children
 “Language of preschool teachers, rather than psychiatric terms”
 22 developmentally appropriate preschool classroom situations & 2 nonsituation specific unusual behavior problems
 22 maladaptive behaviors & 22 adaptive behaviors
 5 behavioral dimensions: “Phenos”
o Externalizing: aggressive, oppositional & hyperactive/inattentive
o Internalizing : withdrawn/low-energy & socially reticent
 Limitations:
 Didn’t measure impact of multiple contexts in classroom on outcomes

Fernandez
• Goal: To examine the individual and interactional influence of the
types of behavioral problems (what) and the situational context(s) in
which they occur (where) on children’s developmental outcomes
• Identified 3 reliable and unique situational dimensions: “Situs”
 Structured learning
 Peer Interactions
 Teacher Interactions

N=3,799 Head Start children
 4 > 5 year olds
 Boys > Girls
Fernandez
EMOTIONAL & BEHAVIORAL ADJUSTMENT
Within Routine Classroom Situations
(Situational Needs)
Problems in
Structured Learning
• Involvement in class
activities
• Taking part in games with
others
• Maintaining companions/
friends
• Paying attention in class
• Sitting during teacher
directed activities
• Free play/individual choice
• Working with hands (art)
Problems in
Peer Interactions
• Getting along with
peers
• Behaving in classroom
• Respect for others’
belongings
• Reaction to correction
• Telling the truth
• Standing in line
Problems in
Teacher Interactions
• Talking to teacher
• General manner with
teacher
• Answering teacher
questions
• Greeting teacher
• Seeking teacher help
• Helping teacher with
jobs
• Unique relationship between situtypes and school readiness outcomes

N=747
 Hypotheses:
o Situational dimensions would contribute unique variance to the
prediction of social and learning outcomes
o The combined contribution of both situational and behavioral
influences would be greater than either set alone
 Findings:
•
•
Peer Social Competencies
• Play Disconnection, Disruption & Interaction
Classroom Learning Competencies
o Most Importantly
•
•
Fernandez
Contribution of structured learning to peer social competency &
learning outcomes
Phenos moderate the influence of Situs in the prediction of multiple
social and learning competencies
• Implications for Policy & Practice
 ASPI guides intervention, rather than creating diagnostic labels
 children are assessed within a “naturalistic context”
 Developmental-ecological perspective
 Multiple levels of influence (dynamic transaction):
o child behavior (ontogenetic)
o & classroom situation (microsystem)
 Interventions:
 Goal shift:“fixing the child”  broader systemic approach
 Identification of “high-frequency” challenging situations and behavior
problems (Classroom Management & Intervention Strategies)
 Professional Development
 Curriculum
Fernandez
Fall Head Start Situational Needs Predicting
Spring Head Start and Spring Kindergarten Social Competence
Problems in peer interactions directly and indirectly affected play disruption at the end of
kindergarten through its effect on play disruption at the end of Head Start
Problems in structured learning situations did not directly predict play disconnection but
indirectly predicted play disconnection at the end of kindergarten through its effect
on play disconnection at the end of Head Start.
Bulotsky-Shearer, Dominguez, Bell, Rouse, & Fantuzzo, 2010