How Does Day Care Affect Children

Traditional attachment research told us about the implications of day-care and how it might affect children. Hodges and Tizard (1989) carried out a natural longitudal study, to investigate the effect of institutional upbringing on later attachments. They concluded from their study, that Bowlby was correct to emphasise the importance of the early years. Indeed, loving relationships and high quality care are necessary to reverse privation effects. They encourage children to form attachments to key workers. This suggests a low adult to child ratio to ensure each child can receive plenty of adult attention and stimulation (according to Campbell et al). The recommended ratio depends on the age of the child. As the younger children need more care, they should have more carers. Once children have formed their first attachment, they are likely to respond to separation from their attachment figure with a behaviour pattern, often referred to as P.D.D. The child will protest angrily, which will turn to despair (refusing comfort attempts) and detachment (anger towards caregiver). Therefore shorter days are better.
At age 5, the study found that the more time a child spent in day care – no matter what kind or quality of day care – the more they were rated as disobedient and aggressive. Children in full time day care were almost three times more likely to show behavioural problems, than those cared for at home – behaviour problems, included temper tantrums, lying and hitting. Belsky (2007) analysed data from the study as children neared the end of their primary education, he still found a link between day care and increased aggressiveness. Therefore, the study found that there was a positive correlation between time spent in day care and amount of aggressive behaviour, suggesting they are