Impact of early childcare arrangements and the home-learning environment on child development (ViVAplus)

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The very first years in the life of a child set the course for further development as well as educational opportunities and success. Social disparities in various domains of development already become apparent when children are merely 3 years of age. Viewed from the perspective of a bioecological model of development, developmental progress is influenced by the characteristics of different learning environments and the (developing) child characteristics and competencies. While the home context is the central learning environment in early childhood, it is supplemented increasingly (though differently with respect to time point, extent, and format) by external day care environments. Whereas some longitudinal studies have addressed the interaction between early child characteristics, the home-learning environment (HLE), and early institutional and family childcare and education (ECEC) in Germany, less is known about these interactions in the very early phases of development and how they impact on later developments. Conclusions from existing international studies have to be drawn with caution, because maternal leave and day-care regulations differ widely across countries and are accompanied by differences in the use and arrangements of HLE and ECEC. Moreover, the few existing representative large-scale studies in Germany are cross-sectional and, in addition, partially outdated, because day-care regulations for children under the age of 3, have changed fundamentally.Data from the infant cohort study (SC1) of the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) make it possible to close this gap. This large-scale longitudinal study started in 2012 with 3500 7-month-old children. Thus, it includes the first cohort of children and their parents exposed to the changed day care situation in Germany. Within the upcoming 2-year funding phase of the SPP (3rd phase), longitudinal data covering 6 panel waves of the SC1 will be available that encompass early infancy and childhood up to the age of 5 years. Throughout the waves, information on HLE, ECEC, and various child characteristics are assessed and provided. The still running SPP-ViVA project validates NEPS assessments and enriches the Scientific Use File (SUF) with a special focus on early precursors of domain-specific competencies, interaction behavior, and the quality of HLE and ECEC. The follow-up project ViVAplus will draw on data from the NEPS SC1 and the ViVA project with a focus on longitudinal analyses across early childhood up to Wave 6 when children are approaching the transition to school. The main aims of the ViVAplus project are: (1) to describe the actual care arrangements of the representative sample; (2) to generate comprehensive indicators that set the stage for the analyses to be conducted in ViVAplus (these will be provided in the SUF); (3) to investigate the impact of HLE and ECEC on child development; and (4) to study the interactions between HLE, ECEC, and child characteristics.