Non-Parental Child Care: An International Perspective on Behavioral and Academic Outcomes

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Non-parental child care is an integral part of children’s experiences throughout most high- and middle-income countries, and a policy priority highlighted by international policy institutions like the World Bank and the OECD. While the research literature on effects of non-parental care, and early education programs in particular, is constantly expanding, there are lingering questions. These concern fade-out effects after children enter formal schooling and the mechanisms causing or preventing this, effects for children from high-risk families, and potential adverse consequences of high quantities of care. In this symposium, we take an international perspective on addressing each of these issues.

In the first presentation, there are no within-child associations between changes in child care quantity and externalizing problems, and no socio-economic differences in this association, examined in seven datasets from five different countries. In the second presentation, third grade cognitive outcomes of early group care among children of high-risk mothers in the US is examined. Group care was associated with higher standardized test scores in third grade, with the effect being mediated by school-entry skills. The third presentation, using the ALSPAC sample from the UK, finds higher achievement scores at age 16 among children attending non-parental child care, and more so for children of low-educated mothers, also indication long-run economic benefits.

The discussant will address the coherence of findings across the three presentations as well as the differential international child care policy contexts.

Sub Unit

• School Readiness/Childcare

Chair

• Henrik D. Zachrisson, University of Oslo

Discussant

• Ann Easterbrooks, Tufts University

Individual Presentations

• Does Child Care Quantity Cause Externalizing Problems? An International Comparison Using Seven Longitudinal Studies - Presenting Author: Catalina Rey-Guerra, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Henrik D. Zachrisson, University of Oslo; Non-Presenting Author: Eric Dearing, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Daniel Berry, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities; Non-Presenting Author: Susanne Kruger, Deutsches Jugendinstitut; Non-Presenting Author: Margaret Burchinal, University of Virginia - Charlottesville; Non-Presenting Author: Ane Nærde, The Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development; Non-Presenting Author: Thomas van Huizen, Utrecht University; Non-Presenting Author: Sylvana M Côté, Université de Montréal (UdeM)

• Long-Term Implications of Early Child Care Systems on Children’s Educational Functioning through Mother- and Child-Level Mechanisms - Presenting Author: Rachel C Katz, Start Early; Non-Presenting Author: Lauren E Stargel, American Institutes for Research - Illinois; Non-Presenting Author: Ann Easterbrooks, Tufts University

• Group-Based Early Childhood Education and Daycare Reduces the Intergenerational Transmission of Low Academic Achievement - Presenting Author: Marie-Pier Larose, University of Turku; Non-Presenting Author: Catherine Haeck, Université du Québec à Montréal; Non-Presenting Author: Isabelle Ouellet-Morin, Université de Montréal; Non-Presenting Author: Edward D Barker, King’s College London; Non-Presenting Author: Sylvana M Côté, Université de Montréal (UdeM)