Belsky, J. (1988). Infant day care and socioemotional development: the United States. J Child Psychol. Psychiat., 29(4). 397-406.The author’s purpose for writing this article is to distinguish between two groups of investigation: 1) primary focus on infants being cared for by a non-parental day care facility that is a research-based university child care center that is of higher quality and more expensive and 2) infants being cared for by several non-parental child care resources such as babysitters, family, and day care. What the author set out to do was to identify contrasting ecologies and compare these two groups of infants in relation to those ecologies. Furthermore, the author went into detail about early studies that focused on emotional bonds between infants and their parents when in a non-parental child care center. What was found in earlier studies were emotional attachments were lacking between infant and mother, separation anxiety, and ability to engage in age appropriate social interactions with peers. In later studies, similar results were seen where the child showed little desire in the reuniting of infant and mother when being cared for by a non-parental entity on a full-time basis.
The information in this article is useful to determine how social and emotional attachment between infant and mother develops when attending non-parental day care centers full-time. These attachments are detrimental at this stage of infant development and, when those attachments are lacking or absent, serious issues with social and emotional health of the infant could be destroyed. The information appears to be reliable for that time period (late 1980’s). This article was written in 1988 and, while the information is very useful, it may not be as reliable due to the fact that it was published 28 years ago. It can provide a basic history of how infant development and non-parental child care has changed and evolved over the years which will help shape the historical component of my argument. After reading the article, it made me realize that these studies of infant development and attachment with their mother have been an area of debate for many more years than I originally thought. At first, I believed that attachment and bonding between infant and mother in situations where non-parental day care was a more recent issue (within the past 10 to 15 years) and did not think it extended much before that. Before 1980, many mothers were stay-at-home mothers and there was no need for child care outside the home. That trend changed and more mothers to young children under the age of one-year-old are working full time and are leaving the care of their child to other caregivers.
Deater-Deckard, K., Pinkerton, R., & Scarr, S. (1996). Child care quality and children’s
behavior adjustment: a four-year longitudinal study. J. Child Psychol. Psychiat., 37(8). 937-948.
The author’s purpose for writing this study was to follow-up on a four-year long study that looked at the effects of daycare and out-of-of home care on the socio-emotional development of children. This article focused on behavioral adjustments four years after attending day care with the two main variables being the quality of the daycare and the quality of the family and home environment. The evidence used in this article includes data from self-reports from teachers and parents with regards to the quality of care given and how that affected the adjustment period for behavior in children four years after receiving non-parental care.
This source will be useful as socio-emotional development is one of the more important areas of development children from infancy through preschool age will develop. How they interact with others both same-age peers and adults can predict behavioral outcomes later on in life. If the quality of out-of-home care is of poor quality, the chance of the child developing well in this area of development will be lower; if non-parental care is of higher quality, the chance of the child being more socio-emotionally stable will be high. The information is reliable as it shows no bias towards race, age, gender, or child care situation and it was found on an academic journal database. This article will shape my argument as socio-emotional development is extremely important to children of this age range. By including this in my research, it will expand on an additional developmental stage that is imperative during these influential years.
Socio-emotional development is a stage that has made me curious as to how those bonds are developed. I know about separation anxiety and how traumatizing it can be for a child to leave their parents at a young age. When it comes to a point where the child does not feel one way or another when a parent arrives it raises concern as to how effective non-parental child care centers are in fostering socio-emotional development.
Erickson, J. J. (2011). The effects of day care on the socio-emotional development of children. FamilyFacts.org Report, 2. 1-31.
This purpose of this article is to examine research findings from over 30 years’ worth of research studies that evaluated the effects of day care and non-parental care has on the socio-emotional development of a child. The author’s theory is that children who spend full-time hours in day care settings (30 or more hours per week) are more likely to have problems with social behaviors such as conflict, aggression, risk-taking behaviors, and poor work habits. The author examined over 30 years’ worth of research studies that focused on socio-emotional development in children who attend day care full-time giving him a wide range of comparative information that was used to prove his theory.
The source is useful as it focuses on one area of development (socio-emotional) although brings specific factors of behavioral and emotional concerns into the mix. This was something that was not seen in the other articles and could possibly narrow down specific behaviors that are affected by attending a non-parental day care full-time. The information is reliable and does not appear show any bias. This article will help shape my argument as it continues to focus on socio-emotional development although bringing specific behaviors in as variables.
Lamb, M. E. (1996). Effects of nonparental child care on child development: an update. Can J Psychiatry, 41. 320-342.
The purpose of this study was to review existing literature related to the effects of out-of-home and non-parental care have on infants, toddlers, and preschool aged children. The author conducted a simple narrative literature as the research method. There has been some controversy with determining whether or not non-parental care has detrimental effects on infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. The author described several types of attachment such as the mother-child attachment, infant-parent attachment, and relationships with non-parental child care providers. In addition, peer relationships were also examined in a comparative nature between parental care and out-of-home care. The author attempts to support his argument that non-parental child care does have some level of effect on the development of the child through the examination of existing literature.
The information in this article is useful due to it being unbiased by looking at both in-home care and out-of-home care and how each setting effects the development of children. The information itself is reliable as it is a peer-reviewed published journal article found on an academic database and not the Internet. This source is comparable to other articles being used with the difference being that the information provided holds a lot of historical research information and discusses how non-parental care can affect child development. This article will shape my paper as it gives both sides of the argument and appears to be more open-minded without restricting research to one focus area. The comparison is strong and reading about both points of view has made me more open to other factors that could affect child development.
- Belsky, J. (1988). Infant day care and socioemotional development: the United States. J Child
Psychol. Psychiat., 29(4). 397-406. - Deater-Deckard, K., Pinkerton, R., & Scarr, S. (1996). Child care quality and children’s
behavior adjustment: a four-year longitudinal study. J. Child Psychol. Psychiat., 37(8). 937-948. - Erickson, J. J. (2011). The effects of day care on the socio-emotional development of children.
FamilyFacts.org Report, 2. 1-31. - Lamb, M. E. (1996). Effects of nonparental child care on child development: an update. Can J
Psychiatry, 41. 320-342.
