EFFECTS OF HOME AND OUT-OF-HOME CARE IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT

该项目涉及在哥德堡（瑞典）进行的研究。

This project involves research in Goteborg (Sweden) and Berlin (Germany). The longitudinal study in Sweden was designed to elucidate the effects of early child care on the development of 145 children recruited in 1982 at an average of 16 months of age. Initial analyses indicated that the quality of home care and the quality of alternative care had substantial effects on the children=s verbal abilities, social skills, and personal maturity. Subsequent analyses showed that family day care had modest but significant negative effects on both verbal abilities and personal maturity, whereas center-based care had beneficial effects in both domains by the time children began school. The effects of the quality of home and alternative care appeared to diminish over time. The psychological status and educational histories of these children at 15 years of age are currently being analyzed. In Berlin, infants were more likely to establish secure attachments to their careproviders after reunification in the city, when care providers shifted their focus to the styles and needs of individual infants. Observations of the everyday experiences of toddlers who either did or did not receive regular out-of-home care showed different diurnal patterns of adult attention, stimulation, and emotional exchange, but the total amount of social interaction experienced over the course of the day did not differ depending on whether or not toddlers spent time in day care. In a longitudinal study, researchers are assessing the effects of prior individual differences in emotional reactivity and infant-mother attachment on the adaptation to out-of-home center care. Preliminary analysis indicate that the quality of infant-careprovider attachment is affected by the quality of their interaction rather than by the quality of the prior infant-mother attachments. The quality of infant-careprovider relations, along with the infants= temperaments, appear to shape the adaptation to day care.