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1.
The central question in this study is whether individual variability in children's cortisol levels and wellbeing at childcare can be explained by indices of quality of care and child characteristics. Participants were 71 children from childcare homes and 45 children from childcare centers in the age range of 20–40 months. In both types of settings equivalent measures and procedures were used. In home-based childcare, children experienced higher caregiver sensitivity, lower noise levels, and showed higher wellbeing compared to children in childcare centers. Caregiver sensitivity in home-based childcare – but not in center care – was positively associated with children's wellbeing. Additionally, children displayed higher cortisol levels at childcare than at home, irrespective of type of care. In home-based childcare, lower caregiver sensitivity was associated with higher total production of salivary cortisol during the day. In center-based childcare, lower global quality of care was associated with a rise in cortisol between 11 AM and 3 PM during the day. Quality of care is an important factor in young children's wellbeing and HPA stress reactivity.  相似文献   

2.
This paper offers a discussion of the literature of an under-developed area of early years research—the exploration of childminding or home-based childcare and the contribution which this form of provision makes for children and families. Despite growing interest in childminding at the policy level and some international research on understanding home-based childcare settings and practices, there remains a relative dearth of studies conceptualising and reviewing the extant literature. This paper addresses this gap by presenting the findings of a comprehensive database search for literature and a review of published international work from 1990 to 2013. It offers a conceptual analysis of the notion of “home-based childcare”, with a focus on understanding caregivers’ practices, and the key issues and debates that characterise the field. The paper argues that home-based childcare not only offers a specialist type of service as family support, especially for vulnerable families, but that it provides a form of pedagogical approach to children’s developmental and educational outcomes that is distinct from any other types of early years care.  相似文献   

3.
The present study examined whether stress in professional caregivers – as reflected in salivary cortisol levels – is related to the quality of their caregiving behavior. The 221 professional female caregivers in 64 child care centers were observed in three different situations and saliva samples were taken three times during the morning. Results showed that higher levels of cortisol, particularly at the beginning of the workday, predicted lower-quality caregiver behavior beyond the contribution of three other predictors, namely a higher self-reported physical workload, more children under age two in the care group, and lower caregiver age. Contrary to the expectation, higher cortisol levels did not mediate the relation between higher self-reported physical workload and more children under age two on the one hand and lower-quality caregiving behavior on the other.  相似文献   

4.
A review of studies published between 1980 and 2005 shows a significant positive effect of specialized training on the competency of caregivers in childcare (d = 0.45, S.E. = 0.10). Experimental results from the meta-analysis were significantly smaller for settings with no fixed curriculum content, delivery of the training at multiple sites and large-scale programs. Results were also smaller when tests were used that did not align closely with the content of the training. Furthermore, experimental results were smaller for the skills domain, compared to the knowledge and attitude domain. A subset of experiments with both caregiver and child data also showed a positive effect, supporting the causal link between caregiver training, caregiver competencies and child behavior in childcare, although this effect was not significant due to the small number of studies (d = 0.55, S.E. = 0.30). Based on these findings, we advocate the inclusion of instruction related to teacher–child interaction in the curriculum of vocational training for caregivers.  相似文献   

5.
The present study investigated the cultural childrearing beliefs of 116 caregivers from different cultural communities in the Netherlands (Dutch, Caribbean-Dutch, and Mediterranean-Dutch), working with 2–4-year-olds in daycare centers. Cultural childrearing beliefs were assessed with standard questionnaires, focusing on general and daycare-specific individualistic and collectivistic childrearing beliefs. Cultural differences were evident regarding general individualistic and collectivistic beliefs. Both immigrant groups agreed more with collectivistic ideas and less with individualistic ideas than Dutch caregivers. Regarding caregivers’ daycare-specific beliefs, much smaller cultural differences were found. This indicates consensus among caregivers from different ethnic/cultural backgrounds on core issues of childrearing in daycare settings. Results further showed that caregivers’ individualistic ideas were best predicted by their cultural community, whereas collectivistic ideas were also predicted by the diversity of caregivers’ close colleagues and their years of experience. These findings demonstrate that caregivers’ childrearing belief systems are in part determined through a prolonged socialization process by the belief systems of their cultural and religious communities, and in part by their professional experience and their colleagues. Discussing childrearing beliefs should therefore become customary both in daycare centers as in caregivers’ professional preparation, to make caregivers more aware of their own and their colleagues’ cultural beliefs. Once aware of their childrearing beliefs, caregivers can make a start in actively discussing pedagogical guidelines, in order to reach a shared approach to childrearing.  相似文献   

6.
Research Findings: This study evaluated the effectiveness of 2 professional development interventions aimed at improving the quality of care provided by caregivers in ordinary infant–toddler child care settings, both center- and home-based. In all, 183 participants in a community college course on infant–toddler theory and practice, an in-service community model of a 48-hr course plus various levels of 1-on-1 coaching (participants were randomly assigned to 0, 5, or 15 hr), or a no-intervention comparison group were compared on their changes across 3 time points in their job-related self-efficacy, their knowledge of best practices, and the quality of their interactions with children as assessed by objective observers. Results indicated that the group with the most intensive intervention (course plus 15 hr of coaching) displayed the most consistent pattern of improvements, which met multiple analytical criteria for substantiveness. Furthermore, these findings were most apparent in the quality of interactions outcomes, and these were further still concentrated in the area of support for language and learning, the domain that showed the greatest need for improvement in infant–toddler caregivers in this sample as well as in previous research. Practice or Policy: Implications of the study results for systemic improvements to infant–toddler care are discussed, such as the importance of individual-level professional development, minimum dosage of coaching, and in-service supports to prevent declines in the quality of teacher–child interactions.  相似文献   

7.
In 2008, the federal government allotted $7 billion in child care subsidies to low-income families through the state-administered Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), now the government's largest child care program (US DHHS, 2008). Although subsidies reduce costs for families and facilitate parental employment, it is unclear how they impact the quality of care families purchase. This study investigates the impact of government subsidization on parents’ selection of child care quality using multivariate regression and propensity score matching approaches to account for differential selection into subsidy receipt and care arrangements. Data were drawn from the Child Care Supplement to the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (CCS-FFCWS), conducted in 2002 and 2003 in 14 of the 20 FFCWS cities when focal children were 3 years old (N = 456). Our results indicate that families who used subsidies chose higher quality care than comparable mothers who did not use subsidies, but only because subsidy recipients were more likely to use center-based care. Subgroup analyses revealed that families using subsidies purchased higher-quality home-based care but lower-quality center-based care than comparable non-recipients. Findings suggest that child care subsidies may serve as more than a work support for low-income families by enhancing the quality of nonmaternal care children experience but that this effect is largely attributable to recipients’ using formal child care arrangements (versus kith and kin care) more often than non-recipients.  相似文献   

8.
This study focuses on the association of noise levels and noise variability with children's wellbeing in home-based childcare. The sample contained 103 toddlers with their caregivers. Wellbeing was observed by independent researchers during three 8-minute episodes of regular childcare activity. Noise levels in decibels were measured during these observation episodes. Average noise level and noise variability (i.e., the average standard deviation of noise level across observation episodes) were related to child wellbeing, over and above child and childcare characteristics. Both relations were nonlinear: only when observed scores rose above a critical threshold, noise and noise variability were negatively related to wellbeing. We found no interaction effects for child gender, age, and temperament. Results indicate that noise variability as well as average noise level matters for child wellbeing in home-based childcare.  相似文献   

9.
Child care arrangements change as children age; in general, hours in home-based child care decrease as hours in center-based settings increase. This sequence of child care type may correspond with children's developmental needs; the small peer groups and low child–adult ratios typical of home-based care may allow for more individual child–adult time for infants and toddlers, whereas the social stimulation found in center-based care during the preschool years may prepare children for kindergarten. This study examined associations between school readiness and the timing of child care type among children in NICHD's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1349). Findings suggest that children who experience home-based care during the infant–toddler period and center care during the preschool period display the improved cognitive outcomes, but not the increased behavioral problems, generally associated with sustained center care attendance. Continuous home-based care was associated with higher social status at school entry partially through smaller peer groups during the preschool period. These patterns did not differ by child or family characteristics. Implications for policy and research are discussed.  相似文献   

10.
Preschool children from economically disadvantaged families often experience difficulties in developing prosocial behavior. Risk associated with depressive symptomatology in caregivers (parents and guardians) may further compound these difficulties. The overall objective of the present study was to examine the compensatory effect of Head Start classroom environments on the development of prosocial behavior among children with caregivers high in depressive symptomatology. We initially examined the association between caregiver depressive symptoms and children's starting levels of prosocial behavior and then tested classroom emotional support as a moderator of the relation between caregivers’ depressive symptoms and children's prosocial behavior development during the school year. The sample of 194 Head Start preschoolers in 28 classrooms was part of a larger study designed to test the effects of an emotion-based prevention program. As expected, caregivers’ levels of depressive symptoms predicted lower starting levels of prosocial behavior. However, classroom emotional support promoted improvements in prosocial behavior for the children of the caregivers high in depressive symptomatology. The implications of these findings for the development of preventive interventions are discussed.  相似文献   

11.
Child care quality: centers and home settings that serve poor families   总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2  
The effects of center-based care on early development, outside of carefully controlled demonstration programs, appear to be positive yet often modest for children from low-income families. But little is known about variation in the quality of centers and preschools found among low-income neighborhoods. Evidence also remains scarce on the observed quality of home-based care, the settings that most children attend and into which large infusions of federal dollars are now directed. This paper reports on the observed quality of 166 centers and 187 nonparental home settings (including family child care homes and kith or kin providers) serving children in five cities situated in California, Connecticut, or Florida. Centers displayed higher mean quality as gauged by provider education and the intensity of structured learning activities, compared to home-based settings, but did not consistently display more positive child–provider interactions. Great variability among centers and home-based settings was observed, including between-city differences. Second, we found that contextual neighborhood attributes accounted for the quality of providers selected more strongly than family-level selection factors. Mothers with stronger verbal abilities (PPVT scores) did select higher quality centers; those employed longer hours each week relied on kith and kin providers with lower education levels. Interrelationships among different quality measures are detailed. The policy implications of such wide disparities in center and home-based care quality are discussed, including how states could more carefully strengthen regulatory or quality improvement efforts.  相似文献   

12.
This study examined the effects of a 120-hour preschool training course on caregivers’ behavior and children’s development in early-years settings. Sixteen caregivers attending this training course and 17 comparison caregivers were assessed on a measure of caregiver sensitivity in the child-care centers in which they were employed. Sixty-eight children, two from each center, were assessed for social and cognitive competence. Both the training and comparison caregivers and children were observed before and after the former group attended the training course. Caregivers who received training made significant gains in positive relationship and decreased in levels of detachment. The children in their care made significant gains in complex social and cognitive play from pre- to post-training. The comparison group adults and children showed no significant improvements from pre- to post-test times.  相似文献   

13.
Cappa C  Khan SM 《Child abuse & neglect》2011,35(12):1009-1021

Objectives

This article presents findings on caregivers’ attitudes towards physical punishment of children from 34 household surveys conducted in low- and middle-income countries in 2005 and 2006. The article analyzes the variability in attitudes by background characteristics of the respondents to examine whether various factors at the individual and family levels correlate with the caregivers’ beliefs in the need for violent discipline. The article also examines to what extent attitudes influence behaviors and compares groups of respondents to see how attitudes relate to disciplinary practices across caregivers of different socio-economic backgrounds.

Methods

The analysis is based on nationally representative data from 33 MICS and 1 DHS surveys. Questions on child discipline were addressed to the mother (or primary caregiver) of one randomly selected child aged 2–14 years in each household. The questionnaire asked whether any member of the household had used various violent and non-violent disciplinary practices with that child during the past month. Additionally, the interviewers asked the respondent if she believed that, in order to bring up that child properly, physical punishment was necessary. The sample included 166,635 mothers/primary caregivers.

Results

The analysis shows that, in most countries, the majority of mothers/primary caregivers did not think there was a need for physical punishment. Overall, characteristics such as household wealth and size, educational level and age, as well as place of residence were significantly associated with caregivers’ attitudes. The analysis confirms that beliefs influence disciplinary practices to a large degree: in all the countries but two, children were significantly more likely to experience physical punishment if their mothers/primary caregivers thought such punishment was needed. However, large proportions of children were found to be subject to physical punishment even if their mothers/primary caregivers did not consider this method necessary. This discrepancy between attitudes and behaviors is observed, although to different extents, in all the countries and across groups of mothers/primary caregivers with different levels of education and wealth.

Conclusions

The data presented in this article are among the few resources available to help develop a more global understanding of caregivers’ motivation in using violent discipline across a multitude of low- and middle-income countries. As such, the analysis of these data provides important insights for the development of effective strategies that will promote positive parenting practices. However, further data collection and analysis are needed to fully understand the reasons why physical punishment is used – even when caregivers do not think such method is necessary – opening the door for an even sharper programmatic response to change the practice.  相似文献   

14.
Although employer-sponsored child care programs have become more common, there is little empirical research on whether these programs affect employees’ satisfaction with child care or their work-life balance, and if effects vary across employee characteristics. In this exploratory study, we administered a survey to employees with children at one large university to gather information on their child care arrangements and experience with their employer's child care voucher program (N = 776). Satisfaction with child care varied with employee and child care characteristics, but not with voucher receipt. Families with preschool children, White families, and those using paid home-based care were more satisfied with their child care arrangements than those with school-age children, minority families, and those using center-based or before/afterschool care. Nearly half of voucher recipients (47%) reported benefits in work-life balance as a result of the voucher. Although demand-side vouchers appear to be a promising employer approach to address child care challenges, these results suggest that attention must also be given to the structure of child care supply as satisfaction and work-family stress are affected by more factors than child care cost only.  相似文献   

15.
The purpose of this research is to explore the dynamics of cortisol regulation in the context of center-based child care by examining the impact of social context (large classroom vs. small group) and relationship quality with caregivers (conflict with mothers and teachers). We extend the research on children's physiologic stress system functioning in center-based child care by focusing on morning cortisol levels among young children living in poverty. While in high-quality center-based child care, children's cortisol levels decreased over the course of the morning—a result that contrasts with findings in previous research with middle-class children, for whom cortisol typically increased over the course of the day while attending center-based child care. Cortisol levels were further reduced when children were moved from a large classroom environment to a small group context. Relationship conflict with mothers and teachers moderated these effects. Children who had high conflict with their mother exhibited cortisol levels that remained higher (decreased less) over the course of the morning, and children who had high conflict with their teacher exhibited cortisol levels that remained higher (decreased less) in response to the small group context. These results indicate that high-quality child care has the potential to support reduced stress among children living in poverty, at least as indicated by adrenocortical activity.  相似文献   

16.
17.
Responding adequately to parental priorities for child care is important for shaping children’s early experiences and development, and for facilitating parenting at the nexus of work and caregiving roles. Although much research on child care choice has relied on variable-centered approaches that treat parental priorities as distinct and isolated, this article aims to understand parents’ care choices from a person-centered, holistic perspective. Using data from the National Household Education Survey of Early Childhood Program Participation of 2005 (n = 4570), we conduct latent class and multinomial logistic regression analyses, identifying four empirically and substantively distinctive classes of parents based on their scores on seven indicators of child care priority. Class 1 parents (35%) rank all seven indicators as very important. Class 2 parents (18%) prioritize practicality factors. Class 3 parents (9%) do not, on average, rank any of the indicators as highly important. Class 4 parents (37%) emphasize learning and quality-focused factors. Class membership is associated with child’s age, race/ethnicity, and parent respondent’s gender, age, employment status, and socio-economic status. After controlling for socio-demographic factors, parents in the learning-focused class are more likely to choose center-based cares whereas practicality-focused parents prefer home-based relative or non-relative care arrangements.  相似文献   

18.
Accumulating evidence suggests children enrolled in full-time child care often display afternoon elevations of the hormone cortisol, which is an indicator of stress. Recent advances in immunoassays allow for measurement of activity in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and the autonomic sympathetic nervous system from saliva, and measurement of both systems provides a more complete understanding of activity in the stress response system. This study is the first to examine both cortisol and alpha-amylase in children attending child care and focuses on the influences of specific indicators of classroom process quality. A diverse sample of 63 preschool children nested in 14 classrooms of varying quality participated in this study; child salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase were collected at six times over 2 days. Results indicate that children in classrooms with higher Emotional Support displayed a greater decline in cortisol from morning to afternoon. Further, children in classrooms with higher Emotional Support exhibited lower total alpha-amylase output while attending child care. Implications for professional development for early childhood teachers and measurement of classroom quality are discussed.  相似文献   

19.
Early care and education (ECE) settings are important developmental contexts for young children, with nearly half of all U.S. children experiencing non-parental care during infancy and toddlerhood. However, there is little research examining patterns and predictors of ECE selection among immigrant families even though children of immigrants represent the fastest growing population in the U.S. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (N ≈ 10,700), including a diverse group of children with immigrant parents (N ≈ 2950), this study aims to fill gaps in the literature by examining predictors of the type of ECE (parent, relative, home-based, or center-based) children experience during infancy and toddlerhood (children aged 7–38 months). It examines how immigrant, family, child, and contextual characteristics predict ECE selection within immigrant families and whether these correlates of ECE selection differ across native and immigrant families. Results show distinct patterns of infant and toddler ECE related to immigrant status, particularly when it came to socioeconomic advantage predicting increased relative care for children of immigrants but not native families. Furthermore, several immigrant-specific characteristics, including region of origin, English proficiency, and availability of non-English ECE options, were associated with immigrant families’ ECE choices for their infants and toddlers.  相似文献   

20.
Errors are often perceived by students as self-threatening and not as learning opportunities. The present work focuses on contextual influences on reactions to errors and learning processes. Based on prior research, a conceptualization of perceived error climate in the classroom with eight subdimensions and one superordinate uniform factor is proposed and a newly developed student questionnaire for its assessment is presented. Results of a study with N = 1116 students from 56 mathematics classrooms in German secondary schools indicated the validity of the error climate conceptualization and the suitability of the questionnaire. Moreover, the results showed that perceived error climate in the classroom predicted the adaptivity of students’ individual reactions to errors above and beyond perceived classroom goal structures and personal achievement motivation (academic self-concept, mastery goal orientation). In addition, the study provided evidence that perceived error climate affects – partially mediated through students’ individual reactions to errors – the quantity and self-regulation of students’ effort.  相似文献   

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