The long-term consequences of infant day-care and mother-infant attachment.
The aim of this study was to explore the within-group effects of mother-infant attachment and day-care on children's social and emotional adaptation at 42 months and in the early school years. For this high-risk sample, the effects of day-care depended on the quality of mother-infant attachment. Day-care appeared to have a negative effect for secure children but had a positive influence for insecure children. For the secure group, children in day-care were more negative and avoidant at 42 months, and they were more externalizing and aggressive in kindergarten compared to the home-reared group. In contrast, day-care children who were insecurely attached were less withdrawn and more agentic. Overall, day-care children were rated higher on externalizing behavior in kindergarten than home-reared children, but no differences were found in the later school years. The sequelae of attachment indicated that security of attachment during infancy differentially predicted later adaptation for day-care and home-reared children. Attachment was related to later adaptation for home-reared children but did not predict later adaptation for day-care children.
Egeland
B
B
University of Minnesota, Institute of Child Development, Minneapolis 55455, USA.
Hiester
M
M
D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010553:Personality Development; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012919:Social Behavior