NIH Study Finds that Home Life More Important in Child Development Than Child Care Centers

Findings from a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and released to the public on October 3^rd reveal that a child’s family life has more influence on a child’s development through age 4½ than a child’s experience in child care.




Since many families rely on child care, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) began collecting data in 1991 to understand how, or if, differences in child care experiences might impact a child’s development.  The data collection was maintained until January of this year and consisted of data from more than 1,000 healthy infants that were enrolled in the study at birth and were subsequently followed at 1 of 10 sites around the country.  According to an accompanying NIH press release, the study included children from “ethnically diverse and economically disadvantaged households” with 80% coming from “two-parent families.”




The children spent an average of 27 hours per week from birth through age 4½, the “cut off” age of the first data analysis.  Among the findings in today’s online publication of The NICHD Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development include:




Those receiving “higher quality” child care were better able to think, respond, and interact with the world around them—and had somewhat better reading and math skills—than those receiving “lower quality” child care.









Children spending 30 or more hours in child care each week demonstrated more problem behavior in child care and in kindergarten (but not at home)









Children who attended child care centers had somewhat better language and social skills and better pre-academic skills involving letters and numbers, but showed somewhat more problem behavior when they first entered school.




That parent and family features were 2 to 3 times more strongly linked to child development than was child care during the preschool years.