Research that Benefits Children and Families – Option 1

The NICHD Study of Early Child Care (SECC) is an ambitious longitudinal study initiated by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). A team of 32 researchers has provided different perspectives on the topic of child care. They studied about the relationship between child care and children’s development. They follow a diverse group of more than one thousand children and families, in ten cities across the country, from children’s birth in 1991 through their adolescence.

Children’s development and their experiences in home and in child care settings have been measured through a wide range of tests at frequent intervals throughout the study. Factors such as child’s age at entry into care, quantity of care, stability of care, such as provider’s education and training, adult-to-child ratio, group size, safety and health issues, have also been included.

The large number of children and the sophisticated method use in the study has confirmed the importance of quality in child care. In particular, it has validated the findings of many other studies that quality of child care is important, both in that high quality can enhance development and poor quality can be harmful to young children. Higher quality of care, especially positive care giving, is related to higher developmental scores (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2000b). Quality of child care continues to exert influence. The quality of care is related to children’s functioning later in school (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network & Duncan, 2003b). Positive care giving was more likely to occur when child-to-adult ratios and group sizes were smaller, caregivers were more educated , held more child-centered beliefs about child rearing, and had more experience in child care, and environments were safer and more stimulating (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2000a). Such findings reaffirm many other studies.

On the other hand, they also found that the more time children spend in child care, the more problem behaviors, for instance, aggression, disobedience and conflict with adults, occur (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2003a). NICHD continues to collect and analyze information about the relationship of young children’s development and their experiences today. With this study, we gain greater understanding the importance of our role as caregivers and teachers and the importance of those early experiences (http://www.nichd.nih.gov).

Reference:

NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2000a). Characteristics and quality of child care for toddlers and preschoolers. Applied Developmental Science, 4, 116-135.   

NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2000b). The relation of child care to cognitive and language development. Child Development, 71, 960-980.

NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2003a). Does amount of time spent in child care predict socioemotional adjustment during the transition to kindergarten? Child Development, 74, 976-1005.

My Personal Research Journey - Building Research Competencies- 6163-6

Economic necessity forces many families to rely on two pay checks because one simply does not for all their financial needs. In other families, both parents work because of the desire for personal and professional development rather than from economic need. Whatever their reasons maybe, many families are facing innumerable struggles and stress leaving their children in the care of relatives, friends and caregivers.

The increasing demand for U.S. Military presence in our country and abroad, many military families and children have to face the challenges of being separated-some temporarily and the others permanently. The numbers of children having challenging behaviors after their parent or parents were deployed have increased.  I chose this topic because I would like to know the effects of deployment on children’s social and emotional development. By understanding their situation hopefully, I will be able to help our families and children in creating programs which will support their child’s growth and development while they were deployed.

This week, we were able to build on our research simulation and learn about identifying websites that adhere to guidelines and or standard of quality research. Although I am fearful for the next weeks to come, I am also hopeful to finish my journey with all of you.

“Doing anything for the first time is a challenge, and starting off in research can be a daunting prospect. But along the uncertainty and some trepidation, there are often feelings of curiosity     and exciting and excitement about the journey of discoveries that lies ahead. Once underway, experience, knowledge and confidence build” (Rolfe & Macnaughton, 2010).

Reference:

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.