 Quality Makes Big Difference to
Child Care
WASHINGTON — Children
who receive "high quality'' care, with plenty of attention, are better behaved than
children who don't, regardless of whether they get that care at home, a researcher said
Friday.
Attention was really the key to children's
behavior, said Marion O'Brien, a developmental psychologist at the University of Kansas
who conducted the study.
O'Brien stressed that home life was the single most
important factor. But the care a child got — whether from a parent, nanny or at an
institution — had a major impact.
"It's the quality of the care provider that
makes the most difference,'' O'Brien said in a telephone interview.
"If they are in high quality child care, their
providers report fewer behavioral problems — things like temper tantrums, whining,
hitting other children.''
O'Brien said such behavior was not only annoying,
but could indicate more serious problems later in life.
So what constitutes quality care?
"The behavior of the person,'' said O'Brien,
who will present her findings Saturday to the American Academy of Pediatrics meeting in
Atlanta.
"Whether the person who is providing care is
involved with the child, is child-centered, really focuses their time and attention on the
child. When the child is happy, they are happy,'' she said.
O'Brien added: "Poor quality in these terms
has to do with a care provider who is uninvolved, who is emotionally not involved with the
children.''
O'Brien, whose team carefully studied 1,300
families with children up to age three, found something surprising — one-on-one care
did not always get the best results in terms of behavior.
"Children who were cared for where there were
groups of children — at least three other children — showed some benefits,'' she
said. "They were more cooperative with their care provider. It appears that having a
group of children is a very positive factor in child development.''
O'Brien's team interpreted the term "group''
loosely — anything involving four or more children was a group.
The study was conducted over the past seven years
and is continuing.
"What we did was recruit 1,300-plus families
in 10 different locations in 1991 and we have been following these families,'' she said.
"We followed those children into whatever type
of child care their parents chose for them.''
Quality was measured by trained observers who
watched the child and the carer for two half-hour periods at a time.
Concerned parents should do the same thing, she
advised.
"I would really recommend that parents observe
the care provider that they are thinking of placing their child with and actually see what
that care provider does with children,'' she said.
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