The Effects of Early Child Care on Parenting and Child Development

1. The Effects of Early Child Care on Parenting and Child Development Draft Dissertation Proposal Lisa Stanley, November 2006 lisat@ucla.edu

2. Presentation Objectives • Background • Child care as an important public health and social issue • Literature on the effects of early child care on parenting and child development outcomes • Research aims • Methods • Data collection: ECLS-B • Proposed analysis • Strengths & limitations • Implications for child and family policy

3. Background: Public Health & Social Issue • Dramatic changes in the early experiences of children with unknown outcomes • Maternal employment: 37% in 1975 vs. 64% in 1998 • Use of child care: 2001, 50% of 9 month olds in child care • Literature mixed about effects on children’ socio-emotional and cognitive development • Debate about effects of child care: • Attachment theory: Detrimental particularly when it starts early and is extensive • Quality: Beneficial when it is of high quality • Maternal role satisfaction: Negative effect if mother is not comfortable with her role in life • Household economics theory: For low-income family, relative benefits of maternal employment (with child placed in child care), outweigh the costs. Not the case for high-income families.

4. Background - Literature • Found evidence mixed about whether and for whom more child care has beneficial or detrimental effects. • Studies often not comparable due to use of different outcome measures and analytic procedures. • Some outcomes yet to be studied. • Of 30 studies reviewed on effects of “quantity of child care” on parenting and child development: • 50% of the findings found interaction effects • 30% found no relationship • 25% negative main effects • 8% positive main effects

5. Research Aims • Identify the factors found in literature that predict child development, and describe the ECLS-B study population in terms of these measures. • Determine how the quantity of child care relates to the quality of parenting and whether this relationship is dependent on when child care begins, the mother’s mental health, maternal education, maternal role satisfaction, or family income? • Determine how the quantity of child care relates to child development and if this relationship is mediated or moderated by the quality of parenting?

6. Ecological Model: Effects of Early Child Care on Children and Families Demographic Characteristics • Child Care • Initiation • Quantity* • Quality • Type Child Characteristics Child Development Parenting Outcomes Family functioning and Maternal Resources Adaptation of the NICHD model (NICHD 1997a)

7. Methods: Data SourceEarly Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) Who: • Nationally representative probability sample of children born in 2001 • Registered births within primary sampling units (e.g. contiguous counties) • 14,000 births sampled yielded data on: • 10,688 children in wave 1 at 9 months of age • 9,835 children in wave 2 at 24 months of age National Center for Education Statistics - http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/

8. Methods: Data Source (ELCS-B) What domains • Children’s development and early life experiences in home, child care, preschool and kindergarten How • Multi-source: children, parents, child care providers, teachers, school administrators • Multi-method: observation, interview, phone-follow-up, self-administered questionnaires When • Longitudinal: • Follows cohort of children born in 2001 from 9 months to kindergarten entry. • Four waves of data collection:9-months, 2 years, preschool and kindergarten)

9. Methods: Analytic Measures • Independent variable: Quantity of child care • Average of the number of hours in child care per week at 9-months and 2 years • Dependent variable (for Aim #2): Quality of parenting at 2 years of age • Home learning environment: Overall score on frequency/week of reading, telling stories, and singing. • Parenting behavior: Mean sensitivity and responsiveness score • Dependent variable (for Aim #3) - Child development at 2 years of age • Mental ability score • Child behavior score

10. Methods: Analytic Measures • Control variables • Child care: Quality of child care, type of child care (only for subsample in child care) • Child characteristics: Age, race/ethnicity, infant temperament, birth order, birth weight, overall health status, gender • Mother: Depression, role satisfaction, education, employment status, physical health, country of origin • Family: Poverty status, urban/rural, geographic region, primary language, family type

11. Methods:Data Analysis • Aim #1: Describe the ECLS-B population • Univariate analysis for all analytic variables that involves estimating mean and percentage distributions, as appropriate, for both the whole sample of children and the subsample in child care • Bivariate analysis to estimate zero-order associations for all analytic measures using a correlation matrix.

12. Methods: Data Analysis • Aim #2: Main and moderating effects of quantity of child care on parenting. • Four separate hierarchical multiple regressions (HRM). • For each HRM, a series of blocks (or clusters) of variables sequentially added to the regression

13. Methods: Data Analysis • Aim #2: Continued • Example: Five blocks of variables sequentially added to model 3 (subsample regressed on home learning environment): • Block 1 - Independent variable: ParHome = β0 + β1Hours • Block 2 - Child-level factors: + β2CAge + β3CRace + β4CTemp + β5COrder + β6CLBW + β7CHealth + β8CSex • Block 3 - Maternal and family factors: + β9MDep + β10MRole + β11MEdu + β12MEmploy + β13MHealth + β14MCoun + β15FRel + β16FPov + β17FUrban + β18FGeog + β19FLang + β20FType • Block 4 - Other child care factors: + β21CCQual1 + β22CCQual2 + β23CCQual3 + β24CCType • Block 5 - Interactions terms: + β25(Hours*agentry) + β26(Hours*MDep) + β27(Hours*MRole) + 28(Hours*MEdu) + β29(Hours*FPov)

14. Methods: Data Analysis • Aim #3: Main, mediation, and moderating effects of quantity of child care on child development. • Four separate hierarchical multiple regressions (HRM). • For each HRM, 6 blocks (or clusters) of variables sequentially added to the model • .

15. Methods: Data Analysis • Aim #3: Continued • Example: Six blocks of variables sequentially added to model: • Block 1 - Independent variable • Block 2 - Child-level factors • Block 3 - Maternal and family factors • Block 4 - Other child care factors • Block 5 – Mediating variables • Block 6 - Interactions terms

16. Methods:Criteria for Assessing Main, Mediating and Moderating Effects • Main effects: • Control for (rule out) spuriousness, redundancy, alternative hypotheses and interaction effects. • The F Statistic in the final regression model is statistically significant. • Regression coefficient for X and Y is statistically significant. • Mediating Effects: • For complete mediation, the regression coefficient for X and Y is zero. • For partial mediation, the coefficient is reduced but not zero. • Moderation: • Regression coefficient for an interaction term is significant.

17. Strengths Nationally representative Longitudinal design Many domains and measures Multiple sources and methods Limitations Significance vs. meaningfulness Exclusions: Mothers under 15 Correlational data Limited ability to control for quality of child care Strengths/Limitations

18. Implications of Study • Help to resolve longstanding debate and look at some new parenting outcomes and moderating effects • Inform development of: • Family support and parenting education programs • Child care policies (Affordable, high quality care) • Family leave/flexible work policies

19. References • Belsky, J. (1990). "Parental and Nonparental Child Care and Children's Socioemotional Development: A Decade in Review." Journal of Marriage and the Family52(4): 885-903. • Bornstein, M. H. and C. S. Tamis-LeMonda (1989). "Maternal Responsiveness and Cognitive Development in Children." New Directions for Child Development(43): 49-61. • Brooks-Gunn J., H., W., Waldfogel, J. (2002). "Maternal employment and child cognitive outcomes in the first three years of life: the NICHD Study of Early Child Care." Child Dev73(4): 1052-. • Denton, K., West, J. (2004). Children born in 2001: First results from the base year of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), National Center for Education Statistics: 37. • Kelly, J., Barnard, K. (2000). Assessment of parent-child interaction: Implications for early intervention. Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention. J. Shonkoff, Meisels, S. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: 258-289. • NICHD (1999). "Child Care and Mother-Child Interaction in the First 3 Years of Life." Developmental Psychology35(6): 1399-1413. • NICHD (2000). "Nonmaternal care and family factors in early development: An overview of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care." Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology22: 457492-.of Early Child Care." Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology22: 457492-.