LT15 Key Issue

Question 1

What is our key issue

Answer 1

Are the effects of day care on children’s development positive or negative?

Question 2

Describe the key issue

Answer 2

A controversial topic in psychology concerns the effects of using daycare in the form of nurseries or childminders on children’s development. The issue is whether or not placing children in day care has harmful, beneficial or no effects. Bowlhy argued that daycare is a form of prolonged separation similar to the maternal deprivation which would harm the child social development, particularly the attachment bond with his or her mother. Research has shown that children who have been in data from under the age of 12 months for more than 20 hours a week can have a social and emotional development problems. However other studies show that daycare children are more sociable and cognitively advanced than home cared children and these effects continue into later life. The general conclusion is that under certain conditions such as well-trained staff, not too many hours per week and not to starting to early in life, daycare can be beneficial.

Question 3

What are three areas that research into daycare focus on

Answer 3

1. Social development of the child, relationships and interactions with other people and the ability to form healthy attachments.
2. Emotional development of the child-feelings we have about ourselves and others, including learning to cope, being confident and not self-conscious and learning to become independent.
3. Cognitive development of the child – development of cognitive skills, such as processing, perceptual skill, language learning and general development of the brain

Question 4

What are some positive social effects of daycare

Answer 4

Daycare encourages self confidence because they mix with other children away from their parents. Daycare children are more sociable and better relationship than non-daycare children for example they are better at sharing. Daycare provides opportunities for children to form multiple attachments to other caregivers developed their social skills

Question 5

What are some positive cognitive effects of data

Answer 5

Daycare children tend to have higher IQs and language abilities later in life than children who have not been in daycare due to the stimulating environments they are exposed to. Daycare children are given opportunities to engage in structured play aimed at developing their cognitive abilities, organised by train staff. Daycare children from low income house hold have been found to be more likely to continue into further education, and are more likely to have good jobs and similar children who do not experience daycare.

Question 6

What are some negative social effects of daycare

Answer 6

Daycare children Who are separated from their mothers for more than 10 hours a week early in life are more aggressive than non daycare children. Bowlby argued that daycare is a form of prolonged separation similar to maternal deprivation. He thought it would harm the child social development, particularly the attachment bond with his or her mother. Daycare children have been found to behave more antisocially than non daycare children, Who were found to demonstrate more pro social behaviour.

Question 7

What are some negative cognitive effects of daycare

Answer 7

The language abilities of 3 to 4-year-olds is poorer if their mothers worked during the Childs first year. 5 to 6-year-olds appear to have poor reading and maths skills if the mothers worked when the child was under three. Research has found a negative correlation between a Childs exam results and how much of the mother worked when the child was under five.

Question 8

What was the aims of the EP PE projects and who conducted it

Answer 8

The aim was to look at the impact of preschool provision on the child’s intellectual and social development conducted by Sylva et al in the UK

Question 9

What was the procedure of the EPPEa project

Answer 9

It was a longitudinal study which followed the development of 3000 children between the ages of 3 to 7 from various social backgrounds between 1997 to 2003. Two main groups of children – children in some type of daycare and children who stayed at home. The Homecare children acted as a control group and 144 centres took part in the study. Observations and interviews with parents, staff and practitioners were carried out as well as a collection of exam results in order to create a developmentalof the children each year. Measured parental occupation, qualifications, social backgrounds and birthweight as factors that could affect development

Question 10

What were the findings from the EPPE project

Answer 10

High quality daycare improved social, intellectual and behavioural development particularly if the child started for the age of three. The earlier the child started to daycare, The bigger the improvement on intellectual development. Children who have been in daycare longer also had a better sociability, concentration and independence. Full time attendance lead to no better gains than part-time attendance. Disadvantaged children were significantly better off in the good quality daycare centre.

Question 11

What was the conclusion from the EPPE project

Answer 11

Good quality data produced a short term advantages in social development and longer term advantages in cognitive development

Question 12

What did Belsky and Rovine carry out

Answer 12

Structured observation using the strange situation to investigate the effects of day care on attachments

Question 13

What was the aim of Belsky and Rovines study

Answer 13

The aim was to investigate how going to daycare during the first year of life can influence mother-child and farther-child attachments

Question 14

What is the procedure for the Belsky and Rovine study

Answer 14

They used 464 children between the ages of 12 and 13 months, some in daycare and some homecare situations. Those who were in daycare have received during the first year of life. The strange situation procedure was used to classify attachment types

Question 15

What were the findings from the Belsky and Rovine study

Answer 15

a higher percentage of children in daycare had insecure attachments than in home care situations although the percentage difference was not significant. 43% in daycare had avoidant attachments to their mothers if they had experience intensive Daycare and were under 12 months. Boys, who experienced full time daycare, had more insecure attachments with the father than did other boys.

Question 16

What was the conclusion from the Belsky and Rovine study

Answer 16

The researchers concluded that intensive and early daycare can have negative effects on children’s emotional development. This is particularly the case if onset is during the first year of life and more than 20 hours per week.

Question 17

What did NICHD do in a longitudinal study

Answer 17

NICHD conducted their study of early childcare and youth development, with the aim to investigate the effects of childcare on children. The longitudinal study involved gathering data from many different methods including observations, interviews and surveys. There were 1200 infants studied from birth, until they started school.

Question 18

What were the conclusions from NICHD on factors affecting children in daycare

Answer 18

Quality of daycare - Low quality daycare was particularly bad for children whose mothers lacked sensitivity, and high-quality daycare improved cognitive development. Length of time in day care – those who spent early, continuous an intensive time in daycare were more likely to have behavioural problems later on then those who started daycare later, for shorter periods of time. Type of data – nursery type of data improved language and cognitive development, but also increased behavioural problems such as aggression and disobedience, as opposed to care in someone’s home, which had the opposite effect

Question 19

What did Andersson find about data

Answer 19

Studied over 100 Swedish children and found that those who had been in daycare since before the age of one had high IQs at eight and 13 than those who have not been in daycare

Question 20

What did Bryant find about data

Answer 20

Found that children who are being childminded in Oxfordshire were more likely to have poor speech as childminders tended to focus on children’s physical care rather than stimulating them mentally

Question 21

What are two strengths of the EPPE project

Answer 21

Longitudinal design was used, following the children during the course of the study and their initial assessments were directly compared to the later assessments. Other factors that could have affected development were controlled such as birth weight.
The researchers were able to check for validity of the results. This is because a range of measurements, including interviews with parents and school reports, are used to measure social and cognitive development. This allowed for triangulation to be achieved and for the results to be verified.

Question 22

What is a weakness of the EP PE project

Answer 22

Opposing evidence from Belsky and Rovine suggests that daycare can have negative effects on the child emotional development particularly if the onset is during the year of life

Question 23

What is a strength of the Belsky and Rovine study

Answer 23

Are used the strange situation as a method for measuring attachment types which has high reliability. This is because it uses standardise procedures such as the 8 x 3 minute timed episodes giving replicable findings.

Question 24

What is a weakness of the Belsky and Rovine study

Answer 24

The strange situation is not a valid measurement attachment in children Who experience extensive data and are used to separation. These children are familiar with been left by the parents with strange people so are unlikely to respond with the distress.

Question 25

Evaluate data research to do with control

Answer 25

Studies into daycare have been able to control for a number of factors that affect a Childs experience of daycare eg social background of the family, how long the child is in day care for, how stimulating environment tears and the quality of staff child interactions. This shows the Studies have been carefully planned and controlled to draw strong conclusions which can be used to improve the quality and experience of data. However, factors such as the child’s temperament The position of the child and family and cultural issues can also be very important for development and can have an affect on the outcomes of the study. It is very difficult to take into account all the relevant factors when investigating the issue of data as a result the conclusions may not be valid.

Question 26

Evaluate research into data in terms of samples

Answer 26

Studies have used large and carefully chosen samples in order to avoid bias and it extraneous variables affecting the results for example Sylva had a sample of 3000 children with 144 daycare centres used, making the study is more generalisable to the population data users.

Question 27

Evaluate research into data in terms of cultural bias

Answer 27

Studies often carried out within one culture or one country. Cross-cultural studies on other areas suggest that differences in culture affects the findings about child development, so it might not be legitimate to generalise findings from one culture to another

Question 28

What is a piece of advice about reducing the negative effects of data on children in terms of time

Answer 28

Reduced the time spent in daycare so that the attachment with the main caregiver is less disrupted. Belsky and Rovine recommend less than 20 hours for young children allowing the child and caregiver to maintain a relationship

Question 29

What are some advice to help you reduce the effects of data on children in terms of the start date

Answer 29

Delay the start of data to allow for early attachments for the primary caregiver to be formed before separation occurs. Belsky argues that commencement of Data is more positive for the child started later, recommended after the age of two years.

Question 30

What is the piece of advice about reducing the negative effects of data in terms of qualified staff

Answer 30

It’s important to her staff who are trained to provide high-quality substitute care and stimulating environment for the children. The Swedish data in Anderson’s study highlights the importance of Quality as they found positive effects on children

Question 31

What is daycare

Answer 31

This is when a child is cared for by someone other than its parents or family member for some parts of the day. Daycare can take place for a short time, such as a crèche or every day of the week as in full-time nursery or childminder. In the UK daycare can be privately run or government run, but all types of daycare on now subject to government inspection as well as government curriculum ruled