title: Center-based care for young children: examining predictors of quality.
abstract: The authors collected information from caregivers, trained observers, and parents to investigate quality elements in child-care programs designed for young children in center-based settings. Participants were 75 parents of children aged 15 to 36 months and their caregivers from 13 child-care centers in a southeastern state. Observers collected indicators of program quality and process and structural quality indicators, including adult-child ratio, group size, use of planned activities, use of child-designated space, housekeeping activities, and caregiver-child interactions. Participants responded to questions regarding their child-rearing beliefs, social support networks, perceived stress levels, and demographic characteristics. The best predictors of higher quality care and sensitive caregiver-child interaction in centers were specialized caregiver training, higher adult-child ratios, use of planned activities, and less perceived stress by caregivers. Implications of these findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Florida Children's Forum, USA.
authors.forename: Alisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghazvini
authors.forename: Ronald L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Mullis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019985:Benchmarking; D017028:Caregivers; D002656:Child Day Care Centers / Q000592:standards*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D004777:Environment; D005431:Florida; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D012044:Regression Analysis