Day care quality, family and child characteristics and socioemotional development

Abstract

The study investigated effects of day care quality in interaction with child and family characteristics on socioemotional development concurrently at 29 months and longitudinally at 4 years. By international standards, the study was performed in high-quality day care settings and in a fairly homogeneous group of well-functioning families. In a group of 52 children ( M day care experience = 12.6 months at the age of 29 months), main effects of day care quality and effects due to interactions between such quality and the background characteristics of SES, home environment quality, gender, and infant manageability were studied. Socioemotional development was studied both in terms of children's problems (externalizing and internalizing) and positive aspects of functioning (positive emotional expressions and ego strength/effectance). The results showed a main effect of day care quality on expressions of positive emotions, and interactive effects were demonstrated for several of the other indicators of socioemotional functioning. Compensatory effects of high-quality care on externalizing behaviors for children from less advantaged homes as well as positive effects on boys' internalizing problems and ego strength/effectance were among the findings. Thus, using culturally relevant measures of day care quality, clear influences can be demonstrated even in a culture with a fairly uniform and high standard of care.