ࡱ> ac`q` f!bjbjqPqP .0::W||||H H H H T , GGGgiiiiii$hX@G|| {R|R  gg" 0]TWhH #40TW4TT GvTDU|GGGGGGDH H ||||||  Institute for the Study of 鱨վ, Families and Social IssuesProfessor Jay Belsky, Director7 Bedford SquareLondon WC1B 3RATelephone 020 7079 0835Fax 020 7323 4735Email j.belsky@bbk.ac.ukWeb www.bbk.ac.uk THE POLITICIZED SCIENCE OF CHILD CARE Jay Belsky The NICHD Study of Early Child Care was launched at the beginning of the last decade by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to illuminate how Americas growing reliance upon nonmaternal child care, especially that beginning in the first year of life, might affect children and families. More than a 1,000 children living in 10 urban, suburban and rural communities across the USA are being followed to find out, among other things, whether spending lots of time in child care carries developmental risks, as has been controversially claimed. Previously published findings suggest that this may be the case, as more time in care, irrespective of its quality, predicted more behaviour problems in two-year olds, less harmonious patterns of mother-child interaction across the first three years of life, and higher rates of attachment insecurity in the second and third year if mothers parenting was relatively insensitive. The latest report published today in the most prestigious journal devoted to the science of child development extends this evidentiary pattern, as more time spent in child-care across the first 4 years of life now forecasts higher levels of aggression, disobedience, and conflict with adults when children are 54 months of age and in kindergarten. And once again such findings emerge even when children experience high quality child care. Yet were one to read the press release issued by the NICHD on the latest study findings or hear them discussed by many, one would hardly know--in a society in which more than 20-30 hours per week of nonmaternal child care, typically beginning in the first year of life and continuing until school entry, has become virtually the normthat such experiences are associated with increased problem behaviour when children enter school. It is no wonder, then, that many in and out of the press will make it sound as if nothing very important has been discovered, thereby continuing a pattern of sometimes inadvertent and sometimes intentional misrepresentation of evidence that is simply not politically correct. After all, many of those denying, dismissing, or minimizing the most recent results have argued for years that if the quality of child care is good, everything will be fine and dandy. Because child care is here to stay, so the argument goes, only the improvement of its quality is importantand anyone highlighting disconcerting evidence is simply against child care. By the same logic, of course, the weatherman reporting that it is going to rain is against sunshine! What will surelyand rightfully--be highlighted by those inclined to minimize the latest results is that the adverse effects of lots of time spent in nonmaternal child care are rather modest in magnitude. What they will surely fail to point out, however, is that the same is true of good-news findings which they always herald linking higher quality child care with somewhat enhanced cognitive-linguistic development. Whether considering good- or bad-news findings about child care, what needs to be appreciated is that even small or modest effects on individual children may have larger consequences for schools, communities and the society at large when the phenomenon under consideration is as widespread as are long hours in child care beginning early in life or limited quality child care. Just consider in this regard how dramatically different teaching and learning experiences might be when many vs. few children in a classroom are somewhat more aggressive and disobedient than others due to having spent long days, months and years in child care. One must wonder why, after the government invested tens of millions of dollars and developmental scientists spent so much time and effort seeking to determine whether lots of time spent in child care beginning early in life is related to increased levels of aggression and disobedience, so many are bending over backward making it sound like the NICHD Study did not find that which it clearly found. Ultimately, it is this tendency of all too many to deny, dismiss or minimize findings they do not like while embracing, if not playing up, those which they do that gives social science a bad nameas ideology masquerading as science. Perhaps the most convincing argument that something is most assuredly awry in the public dissemination and discussion of scientific findings regarding the NICHD Study are the obvious answers to the following rhetorical questions: Would much of what is being said to deny, dismiss or minimize the most recent findings linking lots of time in child care with aggressive and disobedient behavior be asserted if comparable findings emerged linking more time spent in poverty or in low quality child care with somewhat higher levels of aggression and disobedience? Would not those discovering even modest adverse effects of poverty or of low quality child care be calling for policies to prevent such developmental experiences from undermining child well being? Why, then, should the same reasoned analysis not apply to children spending 30, 40 and even 50 hours per week, beginning in the first year of life, in nonmaternal child care arrangements in a society in which economic forces coerce all-too-many parents to make childrearing decisions which they would rather not? What those who deny, dismiss or minimize the latest findings continually fail to appreciate is that they hold no monopoly on wisdom or caring, nor even necessarily speak in the best interests of many American children and families. Rather, they spin developmental science in support of their political agendas, failing to realize the disservice they do to Americans, to say nothing of the scientific enterprise itself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jay Belsky is Director of the Institute for the Study of 鱨վ, Families and Social Issues, Birkbeck University of London, and has been a collaborating investigator on the NICHD Study of Early Child Care since its inception in 1989. Embargoed by Journal Hold for Release July 16, 2003 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time EF!b!f! hhkCJ$ hhkCJjhhkCJU hhk5CJ%jhhk5CJUmHnHsH uhhkjhhkU DEefwx d$If2kdP$$Ifll-'  4 la d$If2kd}P$$Ifll-'  4 la $If^$a$!e!wx]2kdQ$$Ifll-'  4 la2kdgQ$$Ifll-'  4 la d$If2kdQ$$Ifll-'  4 la  ][VVV$a$2kdR$$Ifll-'  4 la2kdQR$$Ifll-'  4 la d$If2kdR$$Ifll-'  4 la   &'JK !!!!!!!!! ! ! ! ! !!!`$a$!!+!gAMA|Q pHYs\A\AF>O"IDATx^}y6o0 t+\A "Wtr*R T )_pHP f^ ^ . 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