Prolonged time spent in childcare could be detrimental to toddlers� development, according to new research commissioned by the Scottish Government.
Prolonged time spent in childcare could be detrimental to toddlers' development, according to new research commissioned by the Scottish Government.
The study by the Scottish Centre for Social Research indicates that for children approaching their fifth birthday, more than 40 hours of childcare or nursery per week could be damaging, particularly for girls and children with young mothers.
The Growing up in Scotland report, published yesterday, found that overall there was a significant benefit of non-parental care on children's development, but that for some children it could be harmful and make them anti-social.
The findings are expected to fuel the debate about what is best for the upbringing of young children as growing numbers of parents go out to work.
"Childcare is generally beneficial but we found that for some children who experience long durations of care, and quite often group childcare, from a young age, it could have a detrimental effect," said Paul Bradshaw, research director at the Scottish Centre for Social Research.
"They could be more anti-social and have less positive peer relationships. This may have been as much to do with the environments and quality of their care as the actual time spent there.
"It may be that we need to look at allowing parents longer maternity leave so they don't go into childcare until they are slightly older or that we need to ensure that sufficient affordable childcare is available."
The study of more than 4200 families with children aged just under three years and 2300 families with children just under five years old across Scotland found that most toddlers attended more than one type of childcare.
They researchers conclude that there is some cause for concern in this, but overall found parents were satisfied with provision.
The study states: "The analysis showed that after controlling for key family characteristics such as parental education levels and parental employment, experiencing 40 hours or more of care per week at age 34 months was detrimental to children's behavioural outcomes as they approached their fifth birthday. Further analysis suggested this relationship was significant particularly for girls and for children whose mothers were under 25 at the child's birth.
"We found a small but statistically significant benefit of childcare on children's cognitive development, based on assessments measuring knowledge of vocabulary and problem solving ability, although the simple analysis carried out did not fully control for other family characteristics."
A spokesman for the Scottish Government: "How to balance work, family and childcare depends on the circumstances of each family but this kind of research helps parents make informed choices about what is best for their child."
Study findings
- At age 0-1, 27% of families using childcare used two providers and 4% used three or more.
- At age 2-3, 32% of families using childcare used two providers and 7% used three or more. These figures rose to 39% and 20% respectively at age 3-4.
- The peak use of multiple provision of childcare coincided with the child's attendance at their statutory pre-school place at age 3-4.
