EFFECTS OF DAY CARE CENTERS ON YOUNG CHILDREN

What are the effects of day care centers on young children and what variables moderate these effects? The purpose of the review of literature presented here is to provide an answer to this question.

In a comprehensive review of the literature on the effects of day care on young children, Sale (1998) noted that most of the research conducted on day care centers was relatively negative indicating that, at least for young school age children, the effects were about the same as for self-care conditions. However, it was observed that over the years, day care centers improved greatly, expanding services to include appropriate educational experiences for children, improved training and education for day care providers. According to Sale, the day care centers of the 1980s reflected strong accomplishments in professional recognition, licensing and regulation, support services for providers, the emergence of the day care center as a small business, and increased research on the effects of day care.

The improvements in day care have produced some very positive outcomes. According to Papalia and Olds (1995), there is substantial research demonstrating that the physical, social and cognitive development of children in good day care is comparable to that of children raised at home. The authors also report that day care is often associated with improvement in children's relationship with th

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rts. It has also been observed that children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds may benefit more from day care than children from middle or upper socioeconomic backgrounds. For example, in their discussion of findings associated with a Child Care Cost, Quality, and Outcomes study, Peisner-Feinberg and Burchinol (1997) found stronger positive effects of child care for children from at-risk family backgrounds. These effects include gains in IQ as well as later long-term benefits on school achievement, grade retention, placement in special education, and social adjustment. It was theorized by Peisner-Feinberg and Burchinol (1997) that these findings may be due to the fact that many of the factors producing gains in social, emotional, and psychological adjustment and development tended to be present in the homes of children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds and thus the influence of day care on this group was not as strong as upon groups whose socioeconomic status restricted their opportunities to experience variables producing such gains. It has also been observed that the effects of day care on children grow more positive when parents are involved in the day care center. In this regard, Tijus (1997) observed that the
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Approximate Word count = 1435
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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