K Alison Clarke-Stewart - US grants

In keeping with the aims of NICHD-RFA (88-HD-08), "Effects of Non-Parental Infant Day Care on Child Development," the proposed study is an attempt to assess and evaluate the effects of infant day care on children's emotional, social, and cognitive development. It follows the psychological and physical progress of 150 children from birth to 3 1/2 years, taking into account and weighing the relative contributions to that progress of the children's constitutional characteristics, their family contexts, and their day-care experiences. It attempts to identify the conditions under which maternal employment in the first year of an infant's life helps or hinders the infant's development. To do so, it draws on a wide range of assessment methods and measures, including observations at home and in the day-care setting, interviews and questionnaires given to the mothers, fathers and other caregivers, and standard assessments of the children's behavior in semi-structured laboratory situations. In addition, children and their parents are observed and interviewed by trained clinical practitioners. The study also relies on multivariate statistical analyses and the unique advantage of a national collaborative sample.

In keeping with the aims of NICHD-RFA (88-HD-08), "Effects of Non-Parental Infant Day Care on Child Development," the proposed study is an attempt to assess and evaluate the effects of infant day care on children's emotional, social, and cognitive development. It follows the psychological and physical progress of 150 children from birth to 3 1/2 years, taking into account and weighing the relative contributions to that progress of the children's constitutional characteristics, their family contexts, and their day-care experiences. It attempts to identify the conditions under which maternal employment in the first year of an infant's life helps or hinders the infant's development. To do so, it draws on a wide range of assessment methods and measures, including observations at home and in the day-care setting, interviews and questionnaires given to the mothers, fathers and other caregivers, and standard assessments of the children's behavior in semi-structured laboratory situations. In addition, children and their parents are observed and interviewed by trained clinical practitioners. The study also relies on multivariate statistical analyses and the unique advantage of a national collaborative sample.

DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from the applicant's description) The goal of Phase II of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care is to extend a collaborative (10-site) prospective longitudinal study of a cohort of 1247 children and their families, first enrolled at one month of age and studied intensively through age 3 (Phase I). The investigators propose to follow these subjects through first grade in order to investigate: (a) the effects of early alternate care (defined in terms of quality, quantity, type, onset age, and stability) on children's development during the preschool years and the transition to school; (b) the ways in which the effects of early alternate care are moderated by child characteristics and by experiences in the family and in school; and (c) the mediating processes linking early alternate care experiences with later outcomes. The Phase II design involves intensive study of children and their parents at 4 1/2 years and in first grade in their homes, the laboratory, alternate care setting, and school (first grade). Additionally, data will be collected by mailed questionnaires and phone interviews during kindergarten. Child outcome assessments will focus on (a) social-emotional development, including the quality of children's relationships with their parents, friends, and teachers, emotional adjustment, social competence, behavior problems, and self- perceptions; (b) cognitive development, including general intellectual functioning, academic achievement, cognitive processes, and language; and (c) health status, including physical growth. Context assessments will focus on (a) the alternate-care environment, including quality, quantity, type, onset age, and stability; (b) the home/family environment, including quality of home life, and parent and structural characteristics; and (c) school environment, including school climate, curricular features, and the teacher's behavior. The investigators plan to evaluate four models pertaining to the ways in which early alternate-care experiences may affect development: (a) cumulative effects that increase gradually over time or exposure; (b) durable effects of early alternate-care experience that continue even after changes in care; (c) lagged or sleeper effects that are not evident concurrently, but appear at a later point in time; and (d) transient effects of early alternate care that fade over time. Concurrent effects of alternate care also will be examined.

DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from applicant's description) The goal of Phase III of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care is to extend a collaborative, prospective, longitudinal study of a cohort of 1103 children and their families, first enrolled at one month of age and studied intensively through first grade (age 7) in Phases I and II of this cooperative agreement. These participants will be studied through middle childhood (fifth grade) in order to investigate how important contexts contribute to trajectories of development from birth through middle childhood within the broader social ecology of work and family. The design of Phase III involves intensive study of the children and their parents at third and fifth grades (home visits, school observations, and laboratory assessments) as well as regularly scheduled (at least one per year) phone-call interviews with the children and mothers. In addition, questionnaires will be gathered from teachers in second through fifth grades. Structural and process features of key contexts (home/family, school, out-of- school settings, neighborhood/community, parents' work, and socioeconomic/cultural niches) will be examined in relation to trajectories in three principal domains of child development (achievement/cognition, social/emotional, and health), as well as the domain of parental well-being. Through multivariate modeling of longitudinal relations among features of multiple contexts and developmental trajectories, work in Phase III will be organized by four central research issues: a) the interplay between early and concurrent experience in varied contexts and developmental trajectories from birth through middle childhood; b) the extent to which different processes account for development trajectories across children and/or families that differ with regard to cultural, social, or economic niche; c) the ways in which experiences in familial and extrafamilial contexts contribute to risk and resilience; and d) the relations between parents' work and family life and the consequences of work-family relations for parents' well-being and that of their children.

DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from applicant's description) The goal of Phase III of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care is to extend a collaborative, prospective, longitudinal study of a cohort of 1103 children and their families, first enrolled at one month of age and studied intensively through first grade (age 7) in Phases I and II of this cooperative agreement. These participants will be studied through middle childhood (fifth grade) in order to investigate how important contexts contribute to trajectories of development from birth through middle childhood within the broader social ecology of work and family. The design of Phase III involves intensive study of the children and their parents at third and fifth grades (home visits, school observations, and laboratory assessments) as well as regularly scheduled (at least one per year) phone-call interviews with the children and mothers. In addition, questionnaires will be gathered from teachers in second through fifth grades. Structural and process features of key contexts (home/family, school, out-of- school settings, neighborhood/community, parents' work, and socioeconomic/cultural niches) will be examined in relation to trajectories in three principal domains of child development (achievement/cognition, social/emotional, and health), as well as the domain of parental well-being. Through multivariate modeling of longitudinal relations among features of multiple contexts and developmental trajectories, work in Phase III will be organized by four central research issues: a) the interplay between early and concurrent experience in varied contexts and developmental trajectories from birth through middle childhood; b) the extent to which different processes account for development trajectories across children and/or families that differ with regard to cultural, social, or economic niche; c) the ways in which experiences in familial and extrafamilial contexts contribute to risk and resilience; and d) the relations between parents' work and family life and the consequences of work-family relations for parents' well-being and that of their children.

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is an application to extend the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) into its fourth phase. The SECCYD is a collaborative, prospective, longitudinal study of a cohort of 1,073 adolescents and their families, first enrolled at one month of age and studied intensively through sixth grade in Phase lll of this cooperative agreement. The primary study aims of Phase IV are (1) to investigate how earlier functioning and experiences, in concert with contextual and maturational factors in adolescence, influence social relationships, health, adjustment, and intellectual and academic development during middle adolescence; and (2) to extend into middle adolescence an intensive and extensive study of patterns of health and human development from infancy onward, which can be used by the broader scientific community to study a wide range of basic and applied questions. Primary data collection in Phase IV occurs when the adolescents are 15 years old, and again, at 16. At 15, a home visit occurs in which parent-adolescent interactions are videotaped and the adolescents and their parents (or parental figures) complete questionnaires and structured interviews. During lab visits at ages 15 and 16, adolescents' achievement is assessed and adolescents complete self-report measures. The age 15 data collection also includes an extensive assessment of the adolescent's cognitive functioning, cortisol reactivity, and physical activity. In addition, yearly examinations of pubertal status and health are conducted. Finally school personnel complete questionnaires and adolescents' school transcripts are coded at the end of middle school and Grade 10. These data, in concert with data from earlier Phases, will be used to test four models of developmental processes. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]