Child Care and Parental Influence on Child Development

Child Care Use and Maternal Employment

Child care and day care institutions are very much part of family life in contemporary Western societies. Our new generation of parents, especially mothers, have been encouraged to believe that starting a family is no longer an impediment to having an enduring career that is both personally and financially rewarding. It can be an elusive goal, but work-family balance is increasingly becoming feasible, thanks to modern technology, flexible working conditions, and the availability of child care. Recent statistics show that up to 78% of previously working first-time mothers in the United States return to their jobs by the time their babies turn 12 months old, and that the majority of them use child care and family day care centers (Hann et al., 2001, in Harrison and Ungerer, 2002). "Child care" has a broad definition and is not limited to organized, center-based institutions. In fact, it includes any regular non-maternal care of ten hours or more, including care by fathers, grandparents, and other relatives, whether in the home or out of the home (Belsky et al., 2007). It also includes the use of nannies and family day care, wherein a mother cares for her own children and a few others in a home setting.

This paper addresses the important factors affecting child care use and its implications for the child's cognitive and social outcomes. Any concerned parent may find useful the theories and research data presented here in terms of knowing how to make child care work for them. The decision on whether to use child care ultimately depends on the parents' needs and circumstances. Some parents do so for financial reasons such as mortgage responsibilities and lifestyle choices. However, the most common reason for using child care is the mother's desire to return to work. Studies show that women who are first-time mothers, highly educated, and have higher socioeconomic status are more likely to return to work earlier than others (Harrison and Ungerer, 2002).

Although society in general still holds the traditional view that mothers are best placed to care for their babies and must therefore sacrifice career for family, there is strong ongoing evidence that mothers care for their children more effectively when they feel secure in whatever role they fulfill, whether as a paid employee or a homemaker. In other words, it is not working or staying at home full-time per se that matters, but the mother's attitude and feelings towards her role. Studies show that role satisfaction — whether as a paid worker or homemaker — is associated with more effective child-rearing experiences (Bronfenbrenner and Crouter, 1991, in Harrison and Ungerer, 2002), whereas role conflict is linked with stress, depression, and less positive mothering experiences (Hock and deMeis, 1990; Pistrang, 1984, in Harrison and Ungerer, 2002).

Maternal behavior is critically important since it ultimately affects the attachment behavior of her baby. In the now classic study of infant-mother attachment using the Strange Situation methodology, it was shown that infants with secure and responsive mothers tend to be securely attached, with less tendency to be distressed and are able to explore more freely in unfamiliar situations (Ainsworth, 2001). Conversely, babies who have rejecting, angry, and restrictive mothers tend to be insecure and ambivalent, or insecure and avoidant. A recent Australian study on the effect of maternal employment on infant-mother attachment security showed that mothers who are more committed to work and more comfortable about using day care tend to have babies who are also more secure and display less separation anxiety than those who are not (Harrison and Ungerer, 2002). In the same study, more than one half of babies with stay-at-home mothers were observed to be insecure-ambivalent — a puzzling finding, especially since the popular notion is that babies with full-time mothers are happier and more secure. The researchers explained that maternal behavior and well-being, such as immature coping styles, excessive infant protection, and feelings of isolation and resentment, may have contributed to such behavior among infants. These findings support Ainsworth's theory and emphasize the importance of a mother's preparedness and clear expectations when deciding whether to return to work and use child care, or to remain at home full time.

Quality and Type of Child Care

Should parents choose to place their baby in child care, the factors to consider next are the type and quality of care to use. While care by relatives, if available, would be the first choice for many parents, center-based care has some advantages over other arrangements, as will be discussed below. Empirical evidence suggests that the quality of child care has more important and far-reaching implications than the type of care per se. A landmark study by the NICHD (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) shows that experience in high-quality child care of any kind is correlated with pre-academic skills and language functioning (Belsky et al., 2007). Specifically, high-quality, center-based care predicts better language and memory skills in children approaching school entry (at approximately 4½ years of age). Furthermore, the advantages of high-quality care for both mother and infant are evident over and above factors such as the mother's sensitivity, level of education, and moral support received (NICHD, 1997a/1999, in Harrison and Ungerer, 2002). Consequently, experience in good-quality child care can potentially moderate the effects of maternal risk factors such as depression, single parenthood, and low socioeconomic status.

Once the type and quality of child care are decided upon, the next question is: When is the right time to place a baby in child care, and for how long? There is no general consensus among experts on these points. Some argue that starting early (before five months of age) is better because younger infants are less discriminating in their social responsiveness compared to older babies (Bowlby's Theory of Attachment; Bowlby, 1969, in Lamb et al., 1999). Under this view, returning to work later — once infant-mother attachment is more firmly established — results in greater anxiety for the infant (Bowlby, 1969/1978, in Harrison and Ungerer, 2002). This is supported by reports in which attachment security among babies in the early return group (before six months of age) rates higher than among babies in the late return group (Harrison and Ungerer, 2002; Benn, 1986, in Harrison and Ungerer, 2002).

Timing and Duration of Child Care

An alternative argument holds that the first four months postpartum constitute a critical stage during which reciprocal understanding between mother and child is being established. Returning to work within this period may therefore affect the mother's parenting confidence and her ability to attune to her baby (Brazelton, 1986, in Harrison and Ungerer, 2002). This view is supported by research showing that insecure-avoidant attachment was more frequent when mothers returned to work before eight months of age (Barglow et al., 1987; Winraub and Jaeger, 1991, in Harrison and Ungerer, 2002).

As with type-quality comparisons, the time spent in child care appears to be a more important factor in infant-mother attachment than the actual start date of child care use. There have been reports of increased frequency of insecure-ambivalent infants when their mothers work 30 hours or more per week compared to mothers who work less or stay at home (Scher and Mayseless, 2000, in Harrison and Ungerer, 2002). In the NICHD study, babies whose mothers had low levels of sensitivity and who spent more than ten hours a week in child care were likely to develop an insecure attachment pattern (NICHD ECCRN, 2006). This suggests that part-time employment for mothers is a good compromise, allowing them to enjoy the benefits of working while also gaining more opportunities to enhance infant-maternal attachment. Although no general agreement exists yet on the part-time work–infant attachment correlation, it has been hypothesized that more positive outcomes are achieved for children if their mothers work part-time rather than full-time (Zaslow et al., 1991, in Harrison and Ungerer, 2002). Part-time working mothers also report higher self-esteem, greater satisfaction, and less stress than those working full-time (Owen and Cox, 1988; Wolcott and Glezer, 1995, in Harrison and Ungerer, 2002), which in turn suggests more positive quality interactions with their babies.

For most families who opt to use it, child care is a long-term commitment that can stretch for up to four years if the child starts early. Even at only 20 hours per week, the cumulative time over 200 weeks is substantial. According to the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (Belsky et al., 2007), children who spent longer periods in child care tended to have higher levels of teacher-reported behavioral problems — though not academic or language difficulties — through sixth grade. This effect was more evident when care was provided by non-family members, such as in day care settings (van IJzendoorn et al., 2004, in Belsky et al., 2007). Furthermore, if child care hours increased between three and 54 months (4½ years), vocabulary scores were lower by the time children reached fifth grade (Belsky et al., 2007). This suggests that long-term child care use has important implications not only for children's socioemotional functioning but for academic achievement as well.

These findings make it all the more evident that parents cannot overlook the importance of choosing high-quality child care, if only to moderate the effects of long-term use. As noted earlier, high-quality child care predicts positive pre-academic skills. Follow-up studies on the same children show this to be a potentially enduring effect: all other factors being equal, vocabulary scores remained consistently higher through fifth and sixth grade compared to children who did not attend child care (Belsky et al., 2007). This underscores the importance of early experience for language development and has particular relevance for children from low-income or disadvantaged families who may not be exposed to rich vocabulary at home.

Early Attachment Patterns and Social Development

Parents are their children's first influence in many aspects of social functioning. From them, children learn the basic rules of social interaction and develop an internal working model of relationships. Since social behavior is invariably linked to psychological functioning and concurrently affects cognitive development, the impact of parent-child relationships on child development cannot be overstated. Among all possible predictors of child psychosocial behavior, none has more profound and enduring effects than the quality of maternal caregiving received during the early childhood years. This is represented by many theories of child development and supported by extensive empirical evidence, including the landmark NICHD Study of Early Child Care (SECC).

Maternal caregiving quality is instrumental in shaping infant-mother attachment. Experts have identified different patterns of adaptation among infants based on this interaction, drawn from the now-classic Strange Situation experiments pioneered in the 1970s. These patterns are identified as secure, avoidant, anxious-resistant, and disorganized, with the latter three grouped under insecure attachment. In general, securely attached babies are confident, able to express and regulate their emotions, and adapt creatively to new circumstances — traits that stem from a caregiver or mother who responds appropriately to their needs (Ainsworth, 1978). These traits are thought to help them form healthy and stable peer relationships during preschool and early childhood (Carlson and Sroufe, 1995, in NICHD ECCRN, 2006).

Insecurely attached babies, by contrast, usually have primary caregivers who either ignored and rejected them or were inconsistently available and responsive to their needs (Ainsworth, 1978). Children with insecure attachment patterns tend to score lower in social interactions than those with secure attachment histories. In the case of babies who were constantly ignored or rejected, they are usually emotionally inhibited and find it difficult to control their anger (avoidant pattern). They are also at risk for developing behavioral problems such as aggression and difficulties in forming friendships later in life (Carlson and Sroufe, 1995; Cassidy and Kobak, 1988; Kobak and Sceery, 1988, in NICHD ECCRN, 2006).

Infants whose caregivers were inconsistent in their availability and responsiveness are likely to be attention-seeking and easily distressed (anxious-resistant pattern; Carlson and Sroufe, 1995, in NICHD ECCRN, 2006). They are likely to withdraw in unfamiliar settings, have heightened personal fears, and can be inappropriately aggressive or excessively passive (Carlson and Sroufe, 1995, in NICHD ECCRN, 2006). Studies show that in preschool and early childhood, these children may be overly anxious, unable to cope with distress, easily frustrated, and prone to feelings of unworthiness (Bowlby, 1980, in NICHD ECCRN, 2006). Insecure-resistant types are also likely to demonstrate less self-control and assertiveness among peers (McElwain et al., 2003, in NICHD ECCRN, 2006) compared to securely attached children.

A third pattern among insecurely attached infants has been identified as "disorganized," so named because of the unclear organization of the attachment strategy itself. This appears to be the least understood of the three and is characterized by contradictory and disoriented behavior during the Strange Situation (Cassidy and Mohr, 2001, in NICHD ECCRN, 2006). Unlike other insecurely attached infants, those with disorganized attachment are at greater risk for psychopathology, aggression, and defiant disorder in childhood (Greenberg, 1999; Lyons-Ruth and Jacobvitz, 1999; van IJzendoorn, Schuengel, and Bakerman-Kranenburg, 1999, in NICHD ECCRN, 2006).