Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Development During Infancy and Childhood381Characteristics of High-Quality Child Care• The setting meets state and local standards and is accreditedby a professional organization, such as the NationalAssociation for the Education of Young Children.• Warm, responsive caregivers who encourage children’s playand learning.• Groups of children and adults are consistent over time,helping foster stable, positive relationships. Low staffturnover is essential.• Groups are small enough to provide the individual attentionthat very young children need.• A minimum of two adults care for no more than 8 infants,12 toddlers, or 20 four- and five-year-olds.• Caregivers are trained in principles of child developmentand learning.• Developmentally appropriate learning materials and toys areavailable that offer interesting, safe, and achievable activities.Sources: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and HumanDevelopment, 2006; National Association for the Education of Young Children,2008; National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, 2008.cause of these problems to day care itself. Why? Because developmentalproblems in the third-graders studied were also associatedwith being raised exclusively by their mothers at home.Psychologists and other child development researchers agree thatthe quality of child care is a key factor in facilitating secure attachmentin early childhood and preventing problems in later childhood(NICHD, 2003a, 2003b). Yet child care is just one aspect of thechild’s developmental environment. Sensitive parenting and thequality of caregiving in the child’s home have been found to have aneven greater influence on social, emotional, and cognitive developmentthan the quality of child care (Marshall, 2004; NICHD, 2006).Many studies have found that children who experience highqualitychild care tend to be more sociable, better adjusted, andmore academically competent than children who experiencepoor-quality care (see NICHD, 2006).For example, Swedish psychologist Bengt-Erik Andersson(1989, 1992) studied children in Sweden who had experiencedhigh-quality day care before age 1. As compared to children whohad been cared for by a parent at home or who had started daycare later in childhood, children who had started day care in infancyperformed better in school and were more socially andemotionally competent.Clearly, then, day care in itself does not necessarily lead to undesirableoutcomes. The critical factor is the quality of care(NICHD, 2006). High-quality day care can potentially benefit children,even when it begins in early infancy. In contrast, low-qualitycare can potentially contribute to social and academic problems inlater childhood (Muenchow & Marsland, 2007; Sagi & others,2002). Unfortunately, high-quality day care is not readily availablein many areas of the United States (Pope, 1997).CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS Given the positive benefits of high-quality child care, shouldthe availability of affordable, high-quality child care be anational priority? Should the American public education system be expanded sothat elementary schools are required to offer high-quality childcare and preschool to working families in that school district?Why or why not?and will greet her warmly when she returns. A securely attached baby is easily soothedby his mother (Ainsworth & others, 1978; Lamb & others, 1985).In contrast, an insecurely attached infant is less likely to explore the environment,even when her mother is present. In the Strange Situation, insecurely attachedinfants may appear either very anxious or completely indifferent. Such infants tendto ignore or avoid their mothers when they are present. Some insecurely attachedinfants become extremely distressed when their mothers leave the room. Wheninsecurely attached infants are reunited with their mothers, they are hard to sootheand may resist their mothers’ attempts to comfort them.The quality of attachment during infancy is associated with a variety of long-termeffects (Carlson & others, 2004; Malekpour, 2007). Preschoolers with a history ofbeing securely attached tend to be more prosocial, empathic, and socially competentthan are preschoolers with a history of insecure attachment (Collins & Gunnar,1990; Rydell & others, 2005). In middle childhood, children with a history of secureattachment in infancy are better adjusted and have higher levels of social andcognitive development than do children who were insecurely attached in infancy(Kerns & others, 2007; Kerns & Richardson, 2005; Stams & others, 2002). Adolescentswho were securely attached in infancy have fewer problems, do better in school,and have more successful relationships with their peers than do adolescents who wereinsecurely attached in infancy (Laible, 2007; Sroufe, 1995, 2002; Sweeney, 2007).Because attachment in infancy seems to be so important, psychologists haveextensively investigated the impact of day care on attachment. In the CriticalThinking box above, we take a close look at this issue.