Publication year
2015
Citation Title
Is sensitive caregiving in child care associated with children’s effortful control skills? An exploration of linear and threshold effects.
Journal Name
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
Journal Volume
31
Issue Number
2nd Quarter
Page Numbers
125-134
DOI
10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.12.007
Summary
Children's cognitive and socio-emotional development is usually related to the quality of child care they receive. The relationship between sensitive caregiving in child care and preschoolers' effortful control skills were examined in the study. Results revealed that preschools' effortful control was significantly related to the thresholds of caregivers' sensitivity and responsiveness.
Key Findings
Caregiver sensitivity that children experienced at age four was positively associated with their effortful control skills at age five only in settings with high child care quality.
The positive associations were found for both parent-reported and laboratory-assessed measures of preschoolers’ effortful control.
However, in low or medium quality settings, the relationship between caregiver sensitivity and preschoolers’ effortful control skills was not significant.
Implications for Military Professionals
Receive training on military culture, deployment issues, and unique challenges faced by military children
Communicate proactively and frequently with military parents about their children’s development
Implications for Program Leaders
Design professional development curricula for early childhood educators on the importance of sensitivity and responsiveness in interacting with preschoolers
Offer classes and workshops on how to raise children with high effortful control skills to military parents with small children
Implications for Policy Makers
Increase awareness about the importance of high quality child care to increase military children’s optimal development
Recommend professional development for early childhood professionals working with military families
Methods
The sample was part of a larger longitudinal study that aimed to examine the development of temperamentally reactive infants.
Caregiver sensitivity and responsiveness were assessed when the children were four years old, and children’s effortful control skills were measured when they were five years old both by parental report and laboratory assessment.
The linear and non-linear relationship between caregiver sensitivity and children’s effortful control skills were analyzed.
Participants
Participants were 154 preschoolers who were enrolled in child care; 80 of them were female.
The average age of the preschoolers was 4.35 years (SD = 0.20 years).
The majority of the children were White (68%), and most of the mothers received at least a college education (82%).
Limitations
The sample was over-represented by preschoolers from relatively advantaged homes with college-educated mothers, therefore results of the study may be hard to generalize to preschoolers from less advantaged homes.
The preschoolers in the study were also oversampled for high-temperamental reactivity as infants, therefore the results may be specific to children with that specific temperament.
The cross-sectional design of the study does not allow researchers to draw causal conclusions.
Avenues for Future Research
Recruit preschoolers from diverse socio-economic backgrounds
Design randomized controlled experiments to examine the potential causal relationship between caregiver sensitivity and children’s effortful control skills
Expand the scope of the study to examine other important aspects of child care quality that may contribute to children’s self-regulatory competencies
Focus
Civilian
Target Population
Population Focus
Abstract
This study examined associations between caregiver sensitivity and responsiveness in child care experienced at age 4 and children's effortful control skills at age 5, among 154 preschoolers who attended community-based child care settings. Sensitive caregiving was measured using a modified version of the Observational Ratings of the Caregiving Environment and children's effortful control skills were assessed using both a parent questionnaire and a laboratory assessment. Results suggest that effortful control is sensitive to thresholds of caregiver sensitivity. Specifically, positive associations between caregiver sensitivity and effortful control skills a year later were observed only for children in settings with relatively high-quality caregiver sensitivity. These findings suggest that supporting the development of children's effortful control skills may require exposure to child care that exceeds typical levels of caregiving quality experienced by young children in the United States.
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