Misbehavior Found in Day Care Children

Mar 27, 08:30 PM

Current Headlines: By Lisa Rapaport

Children who spend more time in day care centers are more likely to display minor bad behavior, including aggression and disobedience, than youngsters tended to at home by nannies or relatives, a study says.

The behavioral effects of day care centers, including stronger tendencies to hit others and be disobedient and argumentative in class, last at least through sixth grade, according to the study that followed 1,364 U.S. children from birth through age 12.

The proportion of children enrolled in preschool and day care centers outside the home climbed to 24 percent in 2002 from about 21 percent in the late 1990s, according to the U.S. Census. Many working parents chose day care over home care for preschool-age children because they believed that being with other children would better prepare then for school.

Though the enduring effects of the findings may be disputed, "We regard them as noteworthy because of the large number of children in America who experience extensive and/or low-quality child care before school entry," wrote the study's authors, led by Jay Belsky, director of the Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Social Issues at London's Birkbeck University.

Children who had high-quality care from engaged, responsive adults in a nurturing setting, whether from relatives, nannies or day care centers, had more advanced vocabularies by fifth grade than children who got poor care, according to the study, published in the March-April issue of the journal Child Development.

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