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1.
Full-day center-based child care has been repeatedly associated with rising cortisol across the child care day. This study addressed the potential buffering role of attachment to mothers and lead teachers in 110 preschoolers while at child care. Using multi-level modeling and controlling for a number of child, family, and child care factors, children with more secure attachments to teachers were more likely to show falling cortisol across the child care day. Attachment to mothers interacted with child care quality, with buffering effects found for children with secure attachments attending higher quality child care. Implications for early childhood educators are discussed.  相似文献   

2.
Teacher–child relationships were examined as predictors of cortisol change in preschool children. Saliva for assays was collected from one hundred and ninety‐one 4‐year‐olds (101 boys) in the mornings and afternoons on 2 days at child care, and before and after a series of challenging tasks and a teacher–child interaction session outside the classroom. Parents reported on children’s temperament, teachers and children reported on teacher–child relationship quality, and observers rated group‐level teacher insensitivity. Teacher‐reported relationship conflict predicted cortisol increases during teacher–child interaction and teacher‐reported overdependence predicted cortisol increases from morning to afternoon, even after controlling for individual teacher, child, and classroom characteristics. The findings extend earlier work by suggesting that cortisol change across the child‐care day is influenced by teacher–child relationship characteristics.  相似文献   

3.
Accumulating evidence suggests children enrolled in full-time child care often display afternoon elevations of the hormone cortisol, which is an indicator of stress. Recent advances in immunoassays allow for measurement of activity in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and the autonomic sympathetic nervous system from saliva, and measurement of both systems provides a more complete understanding of activity in the stress response system. This study is the first to examine both cortisol and alpha-amylase in children attending child care and focuses on the influences of specific indicators of classroom process quality. A diverse sample of 63 preschool children nested in 14 classrooms of varying quality participated in this study; child salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase were collected at six times over 2 days. Results indicate that children in classrooms with higher Emotional Support displayed a greater decline in cortisol from morning to afternoon. Further, children in classrooms with higher Emotional Support exhibited lower total alpha-amylase output while attending child care. Implications for professional development for early childhood teachers and measurement of classroom quality are discussed.  相似文献   

4.
Research Findings: Data from a national sample of Portuguese preschool centers were used to examine the relationship between age of start and number of hours in child care and levels of externalizing and prosocial behaviors with peers. Participants were both parents and teachers of 543 children (mean age = 4.5 years, 50.6% girls). Children started child care between 3 and 64 months and were attending child care 1–9 hr per day. The child care centers’ classrooms had adult–child ratios between 5 and 8.7 and group sizes between 15 and 26 children. Externalizing and prosocial behavior with peers was assessed with the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale–Short Form completed by the 3 adult informants. Control variables included family sociodemographics and education level, maternal parenting style assessed with the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire, and maternal stress assessed with the Parenting Experiences questionnaire. Practice or Policy: Both the number of hours per week in child care and an earlier start of center-based child care had modest but significant associations with dimensional scores from teachers’ reports of externalizing behavior but not with mothers’ or fathers’ reports, suggesting that externalizing behavior with peers could be regarded as context specific to peer relationships in group child care. There was no evidence that the quantity of exposure to child care per se could be a substantial risk factor for severe levels of externalizing behavior. Prosocial behavior with peers was not significantly associated with the number of hours in child care or with the age of entry into group child care.  相似文献   

5.
This paper presents a qualitative investigation of the work–family support roles of a sample of 29 child care providers serving low-income families in the Chicago area (16 family, friend, and neighbor providers (FFN), 7 licensed family child care providers (FCC), and 6 center-based teachers). Providers report offering low-income parents substantial logistical (flexible hours, help with routines) and economic help (flexible fees, help with subsidies) managing work and family, in addition to their care of children. For FFN providers, support was often provided in the context of significant stress and burden. FCC providers and center-based teachers were often constrained in their help-giving by ambivalence regarding professional guidelines and institutional constraints. Findings from this study may inform future research on the effects of child care on children and parents, and models of child care quality.  相似文献   

6.
Developmental evaluations of the current wave of welfare reform programs present challenges with regard to (1) assessing child outcomes; (2) accounting for heterogeneity among low-income families in both baseline characteristics and involvement in self-sufficiency activities and supports, and (3) development of alternatives to experimental approaches to causal inference. This study (N = 1,079) addresses these challenges by examining effects on 4- to 6-year-old children of different patterns of child care, self-sufficiency activities, and other service utilization indicators among experimental-group mothers in a 16-site welfare reform program. Outcomes in areas of cognitive ability and behavior problems were investigated. The study identified seven subgroups of participants engaging in different patterns of service utilization and activity involvement. A two-stage simultaneous equation methodology was used to account for selection, and effects on child cognitive ability of participation in specific patterns of services and activities were found. For example, children of mothers characterized by high levels of involvement in center-based child care, education, and job training showed higher levels of cognitive ability than children of mothers in groups characterized by high involvement in center-based care and education, or center-based care and job training. In addition, children of mothers in groups with high levels of involvement in any of these activities showed higher levels of cognitive ability than those with low levels of involvement. The bulk of selection effects occurred through site-level differences, rather than family-level socio-economic status or maternal depression indicators. Implications for welfare reform program and policy concerns are discussed.  相似文献   

7.
Seventy 15-month-old infants were studied at home before starting child care, during adaptation (mothers present) and separation (first 9 days without mothers) phases, and 5 months later. Security of infant-mother attachment was assessed before and 3 months after child care began. In the separation phase, salivary cortisol rose over the first 60 min following the mothers' departures to levels that were 75% to 100% higher than at home. Compared with insecure infants, secure infants had markedly lower cortisol levels during the adaptation phase and higher fuss and cry levels during the separation phase, and their fuss and cry levels were significantly correlated with their cortisol levels. Attachments remained secure or became secure if mothers spent more days adapting their children to child care.  相似文献   

8.
Young children in poor communities are spending more hours in nonparental care because of policy reforms and expansion of early childhood programs. Studies show positive effects of high-quality center-based care on children's cognitive growth. Yet, little is known about the effects of center care typically available in poor communities or the effects of home-based care. Using a sample of children who were between 12 and 42 months when their mothers entered welfare-to-work programs, this paper finds positive cognitive effects for children in center care. Children also display stronger cognitive growth when caregivers are more sensitive and responsive, and stronger social development when providers have education beyond high school. Children in family child care homes show more behavioral problems but no cognitive differences.  相似文献   

9.
Research Findings: The teacher–child relationship can provide an important support to young children who exhibit developmental risk. This research studied the contribution of children's language skills, temperamentally based attributes (shyness, anger), and gender to closeness and conflict in the teacher–child relationship for 133 preschoolers attending programs serving at-risk children. The results showed that both language comprehension (positive predictor) and shyness (negative predictor) were significantly linked to closeness in the teacher–child relationship. An additional result was that children who displayed greater anger within the classroom had relationships with their teachers characterized by higher levels of conflict, and both gender and language expression served as moderators for the relationship between anger and teacher–child conflict. Practice or Policy: These findings are important for considering how various skills and attributes of preschool children may contribute to their formation of trusting and secure relationships with their classroom teachers.  相似文献   

10.
We describe the process of relationship-based intervention and associated changes in children and teachers' relationships and behaviors within center-based child care and examine the circumstances under which changes were most likely to occur. The relationship-based intervention had three components: research partners in each participating classroom, focus groups, and feedback sessions. Twenty-eight teachers and seventy children from 10 programs participated in the research. Approximately half of the children and one-third of the teachers were Latino, and almost half of the teachers and one-third of the children African-American. We used five distinct procedures: (1) participant observation; (2) naturalistic observations using a time sampling procedure; (3) global ratings; (4) clinical interviews and (5) case studies. There were significant main effects for change over time in children's attachment security, complexity of play with peers, and their experiences of teacher responsive involvement. Teachers with BA degrees were more engaged in the intervention than teachers with less formal education. When we held BA degrees constant, children who had teachers engaged in the intervention experienced the greatest changes in classroom climate, teacher responsivity, and in their relationships with the teacher.  相似文献   

11.
High-quality child care is related to children's positive developmental outcomes. One way to increase quality of care is to provide training to child care providers. This study used assessment-based training to determine if overall quality of care in center-based preschools could be enhanced. Participants were recruited from six center-based child care programs serving preschool-age children and included program administrators, teachers, teacher aides, and enrolled children. Program administrators (N?=?6) were assessed with the Program Administration Scale (Talan & Bloom, 2004), classrooms (N?=?14) with the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale Revised (ECERS-R; Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2005) and the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation—Research Edition (ELLCO; Smith & Dickinson, 2002), teachers (N?=?24) with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2007), and children (N?=?135) with an author-created measurement designed to assess typical skills across five child domains. Assessments were administered at two time points and individualized targeted training was provided in between. Results demonstrated that after 7 months of intervention, the largest effect sizes were seen at the program administration and classroom levels and that smaller effect sizes were found at the teacher and child levels.  相似文献   

12.
We describe the process of relationship-based intervention and associated changes in children and teachers' relationships and behaviors within center-based child care and examine the circumstances under which changes were most likely to occur. The relationship-based intervention had three components: research partners in each participating classroom, focus groups, and feedback sessions. Twenty-eight teachers and seventy children from 10 programs participated in the research. Approximately half of the children and one-third of the teachers were Latino, and almost half of the teachers and one-third of the children African-American. We used five distinct procedures: (1) participant observation; (2) naturalistic observations using a time sampling procedure; (3) global ratings; (4) clinical interviews and (5) case studies. There were significant main effects for change over time in children's attachment security, complexity of play with peers, and their experiences of teacher responsive involvement. Teachers with BA degrees were more engaged in the intervention than teachers with less formal education. When we held BA degrees constant, children who had teachers engaged in the intervention experienced the greatest changes in classroom climate, teacher responsivity, and in their relationships with the teacher.  相似文献   

13.
Research Findings: The purpose of this article is to examine how dimensions of the preschool instructional context predict child–teacher relationship quality. A total of 118 low-income, predominantly Latino/a children and their teachers participated in this study. Children were observed in their 1st preschool classroom. Measures of instructional context included the classroom instructional climate and teacher instructional strategies with individual children. Measures of child–teacher relationships included both observed and teacher-perceived child–teacher relationship quality. Our findings suggest that aspects of classroom instructional context do influence child–teacher relationships. Children are more likely to have secure, positive relationships with teachers who are more skilled at setting up appropriate classroom environments and giving children high-quality feedback to stretch their emerging knowledge and skills. Practice or Policy: These data provide preliminary support for the notion that high-quality early education can and should develop children's academic skills in a context that is deeply rooted in positive and supportive social interactions.  相似文献   

14.
Research Findings: Recent research has explored relations between classroom quality and child executive function (EF), but little is known about how teachers’ well-being, including stress, relates to child EF—a crucial component of self-regulation. We hypothesized that teacher stress is negatively or curvilinearly related to child EF and classroom quality may be one mechanism explaining this relation. Furthermore, as working with young, low-income children may be particularly stressful, we tested the extent to which the relation between teacher stress and child EF varies by school-level poverty. Two-level hierarchical linear models using a sample of 171 kindergarten children and 33 teachers revealed a marginally significant linear relation between teacher stress and child EF (spring) controlling for baseline child EF (fall); there was no evidence for mediation by classroom quality. School-level poverty moderated the relation between teacher stress and child EF: Children attending low-poverty schools demonstrated smaller gains in EF when their teachers reported higher stress levels. However, in high-poverty schools high levels of teacher stress were not a risk factor for child EF. Practice or Policy: These novel findings are a first step to understanding how teachers’ well-being relates to child EF across schools and have implications for supporting teachers.  相似文献   

15.
The present study describes the early life histories of a large sample of three-year-old children from different ethnic backgrounds living in three levels of family income—poverty, near-poverty, and above-poverty. The study examined the developmental characteristics of children in the three groups and related them to family characteristics and experiences in child care. To no one's surprise, significant differences associated with income were found for most of the family measures. Poverty and near-poverty families were more likely to have mothers with lower education, less sensitivity, more depression, and lower HOME scores. Correlatively, for the child development measures, there was an upward progression associated with income. Poverty children consistently showed the greatest deviation from established norms for cognitive and social behavior. A striking finding, however, was the considerable variability found on all the measures—a pattern not sufficiently stressed in related research. This finding has major implications for curriculum planning in Head Start programs. The analysis also showed that child care experience cannot be disregarded as a significant aspect of the history of a prospective enrollee in Head Start or other intervention programs geared to low-income children. Fewer of these children are likely to have a child care history, as families that used at least 10 hours of child care per week were less likely to be either poor or near-poor and thus eligible for enrollment. While this may reflect selection factors associated with child care usage, it also indicates that availability of child care is essential for borderline families that try to stay out of poverty. Number of hours of care per week and age of enrollment did not predict developmental level when the full income sample was considered. However, when only poor and near-poor children in care for at least 20 hours a week were used in the analysis, higher quality of care was associated with more favorable developmental outcomes in the children.  相似文献   

16.
The present study describes the early life histories of a large sample of three-year-old children from different ethnic backgrounds living in three levels of family income—poverty, near-poverty, and above-poverty. The study examined the developmental characteristics of children in the three groups and related them to family characteristics and experiences in child care. To no one's surprise, significant differences associated with income were found for most of the family measures. Poverty and near-poverty families were more likely to have mothers with lower education, less sensitivity, more depression, and lower HOME scores. Correlatively, for the child development measures, there was an upward progression associated with income. Poverty children consistently showed the greatest deviation from established norms for cognitive and social behavior. A striking finding, however, was the considerable variability found on all the measures—a pattern not sufficiently stressed in related research. This finding has major implications for curriculum planning in Head Start programs. The analysis also showed that child care experience cannot be disregarded as a significant aspect of the history of a prospective enrollee in Head Start or other intervention programs geared to low-income children. Fewer of these children are likely to have a child care history, as families that used at least 10 hours of child care per week were less likely to be either poor or near-poor and thus eligible for enrollment. While this may reflect selection factors associated with child care usage, it also indicates that availability of child care is essential for borderline families that try to stay out of poverty. Number of hours of care per week and age of enrollment did not predict developmental level when the full income sample was considered. However, when only poor and near-poor children in care for at least 20 hours a week were used in the analysis, higher quality of care was associated with more favorable developmental outcomes in the children.  相似文献   

17.
Many very young children attend early care and education programs, but current information about the quality of center-based care for toddlers is scarce. Using 2 observation instruments, the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale–Revised (ITERS-R) and the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, Toddler Version (CLASS-Toddler), 93 child care classrooms for toddlers across the state of North Carolina, representing a range of quality, were assessed to determine overall quality, and associations between observed quality and teachers' ratings of child behavior problems and competence outcomes using the Brief Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment. Research Findings: Findings indicated that overall, toddler classrooms were rated as being of moderate quality. Associations between observed quality and teacher-reported child behavior problems and competence outcomes indicated that CLASS-Toddler ratings were positively associated with fewer behavior problems; specifically, children in classrooms with higher levels on the CLASS-Toddler domains of Emotional and Behavioral Support as well as Engaged Support for Learning were reported to have fewer behavior problems. Similarly, the ITERS-R subscales of Interaction and Listening and Talking were positively related to fewer reported behavior problems. Regression models showed that the CLASS-Toddler Emotional and Behavioral Support domain predicted differences in child behavior problems. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest the need for additional research related to very young children's experiences in center-based child care to examine associations between quality and child experiences and outcomes. Children's experiences over time need to be examined to understand how these early child care experiences are related to children's later school adjustment and performance. On a related note, professional development for teachers in toddler classrooms needs to be addressed in terms of preparing effective teachers for young children during the toddler developmental period.  相似文献   

18.
Eight hundred forty children (435 girls) enrolled in full-time, center-based child care participated in the study. Children ranged in age from 10 to 70 months. Sixty-six percent of the children were European American, the remainder African American. Children's play activities and cognitive activities as well as their relationships with caregivers were observed within the child care setting. The study tested the prediction that variation in children's cognitive activities could be directly and indirectly explained by child care quality, positive social interaction with teachers, and children's play activities and attachment security with their child care teachers. The prediction was examined and at least partially supported in eight subsamples of infant-toddler and preschool age European American and African American children in subsidized and nonsubsidized child care. Specifically, in seven of the eight subsamples, 15 to 30% of the variability in children's cognitive activities could be predicted from positive social interaction with teachers, attachment security, and participation in creative play activities.  相似文献   

19.
The current study investigated how teachers would intervene in hypothetical conflicts experienced by students in the classroom and how informal labeling of students and affect relate to teachers' hypothetical interventions. Thirty-one teachers from various early childhood learning centers were recruited for participation. Teachers were presented with 3 hypothetical situations depicting children involved in peer conflicts. They were asked to rate the child who had initiated the conflict according to lists of positive and negative characteristics, as well as to rate how much positive and negative affect was elicited from the situation. Next, teachers recorded how they would intervene in each conflict, with responses coded as either mediation or cessation. Results suggested that teachers tended to use more cessation than mediation in dealing with classroom conflict and that interventions varied depending on the described behavioral background of the child presented. Labeling and affect also varied among the 3 different child characterizations of easy, difficult, and ambiguous. Findings lend support to a relationship between both labeling and affect with teachers' negotiation interventions. Understanding the implications of this study in the context of its limitations is highlighted.  相似文献   

20.
Use of metacognitive language by child care center staff in classrooms that serve preschool-aged children was examined. Staff's use of mental-state talk, perspective-taking talk, and activity-relevant questioning with children were coded in a series of 20-s snapshots taken over the course of one full morning per classroom. A total of 3401 snapshots were observed for 393 teachers in 103 classrooms. Staff used mental-state talk in 22% of the snapshots, activity-relevant questions in 12%, and perspective-taking talk in 3%. Structural and process predictors of staff's metacognitive language were examined for full-time staff (n = 148 in 95 classrooms) using multilevel modeling and ordinary least squares regression. Caregiver positive interaction style predicted caregivers’ engagement in all three types of language. Caregiver punitive interaction style was also a positive predictor of caregivers’ talk about others’ perspectives. In general, structural characteristics of the classroom were not significant predictors of staff's language. However, the proportion of children receiving a child care subsidy in the center negatively predicted perspective-taking discourse. Results indicate the importance of caregiver relational style in providing a more discourse-rich child care context.  相似文献   

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