Long Hours in Day Care Increase Risk of Behavior Problems
April 19, 2001 -- Children who spend extended time in day care risk behavior problems when they reach kindergarten. But most of these kids don't have behavior problems -- and the better their day care, the better their memories and learning skills.
These findings are part of a new report from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development. The report was presented recently at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, held in Minneapolis.
During the study, researchers followed 1,200 children from birth to the age of 4.5 years. They found that 17% of children enrolled in child care for more than 30 hours exhibited aggressive behaviors, while these behaviors were seen in only 8% of children with less than 30 hours of day care per week.
"Children who had more hours in child care were reported by the caregivers and then by their kindergarten teacher to show more behavior problems than children with fewer hours of care, regardless of the quality and type of that care," study presenter Deborah Lowe Vandell, PhD, tells WebMD. "The behavior problems we see are more boisterous, rambunctious children who are more likely to get into fights."
Why some of these children developed these behaviors while most others did not remains a mystery. But Vandell, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin, thinks parent-child relationships explain part of the problem.
"I think we do see that more hours in child care also affects mother-child interactions," Vandell says. "When these hours are higher, mother-child interactions are a little less positive. When you [take into account] these interactions you see the effects of child-care hours go down, so it looks like that is part of it."
NICHD researcher Sarah L. Friedman, PhD, is the scientific coordinator and project scientist for the study. She warns that although long hours of child care may increase a child's risk of behavior problems, reducing a child's time in day care can also bring problems -- particularly for working families.
Long Hours in Day Care Increase Risk of Behavior Problems
April 19, 2001 -- Children who spend extended time in day care risk behavior problems when they reach kindergarten. But most of these kids don't have behavior problems -- and the better their day care, the better their memories and learning skills.
These findings are part of a new report from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development. The report was presented recently at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, held in Minneapolis.
During the study, researchers followed 1,200 children from birth to the age of 4.5 years. They found that 17% of children enrolled in child care for more than 30 hours exhibited aggressive behaviors, while these behaviors were seen in only 8% of children with less than 30 hours of day care per week.
"Children who had more hours in child care were reported by the caregivers and then by their kindergarten teacher to show more behavior problems than children with fewer hours of care, regardless of the quality and type of that care," study presenter Deborah Lowe Vandell, PhD, tells WebMD. "The behavior problems we see are more boisterous, rambunctious children who are more likely to get into fights."
Why some of these children developed these behaviors while most others did not remains a mystery. But Vandell, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin, thinks parent-child relationships explain part of the problem.
"I think we do see that more hours in child care also affects mother-child interactions," Vandell says. "When these hours are higher, mother-child interactions are a little less positive. When you [take into account] these interactions you see the effects of child-care hours go down, so it looks like that is part of it."
NICHD researcher Sarah L. Friedman, PhD, is the scientific coordinator and project scientist for the study. She warns that although long hours of child care may increase a child's risk of behavior problems, reducing a child's time in day care can also bring problems -- particularly for working families.
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