ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604220057
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-13 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PROVIDENCE, R.I.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
The largest, longest and most comprehensive study yet of the effects of child care on infants' development has shown no significant correlation between nonmaternal care and the emotional attachment infants feel for their mothers.
However, the study sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Development cautioned Saturday that low-quality child care, more than 10 hours per week in care and multiple-care arrangements do adversely affect infant attachment when combined with maternal insensitivity.
The findings of the NICHD survey of early child care were termed ``tentatively promising'' by Pennsylvania State University child development specialist Jay Belsky, who nine years ago unleashed a controversy with his theory that children who spend more than 20 hours a week in day care have a higher risk of insecure attachment in infancy and elevated rates of aggression as children.
Joining with NICHD researchers from the 10 sites where the study of 1,300 children was conducted, Belsky on Saturday presented the first portion of what is expected to be a long-term study to those attending an international conference on infant studies.
The study was launched by NICHD, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, in 1991 - in part as a response to Belsky's gloomy research several years before. Children from diverse ethnic, economic and geographic backgrounds were enrolled at birth and will be followed through age 7. The findings announced Saturday apply to children at 15 months.
Child-care arrangements evaluated in relationship to attachment security included father care, grandparent care, care by a nonrelative in the child's home, family day care and center-based care. The study's results were based on several research tools, including direct and videotaped observation of the children and questioning of parents and care providers.
Dr. Eleanor Maccoby of Stanford University, a renowned scholar on early childhood development, said the survey will continue to provide valuable information as the country adjusts to the steadily increasing presence of mothers in the work force. For now, demonstrating that nonmaternal care is not in and of itself a risk factor for young children as they form key attachments to their mothers is ``quite a remarkable occasion,'' she said.
``There are enormous policy implications here,'' Maccoby said. ``To say nothing of how mothers feel about themselves, and wonder, if they go to work, how it affects their children when they send them off to day care.''
LENGTH: Medium: 53 linesby CNB