Child Care

Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD)
What is the NICHD child care study?
The NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD), also known as the Child Care Study or the Day Care Study, is a large, comprehensive study of children and the many environments in which they develop.
The study began in 1991 and has collected information about different non-maternal child care arrangements, and about families who use child care as well as those who do not.
For the purpose of the study, child care included any care provided on a regular basis by someone other than the child’s mother. This description did not include occasional babysitting or any type of care for fewer than 10 hours per week.
What are the goals of the study?
The major goal of the study is to examine how differences in child care experiences relate to children's social, emotional, intellectual, and language development, and to their physical growth and health. You can also learn about other study goals in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development booklet.
The study collected detailed information on the features of child care and the experiences children have in different non-maternal child care settings. The study also collected specifics on the families of the children and on the children themselves.
Researchers collected data at 10 sites around the country. The study population was diverse and included children who were born healthy into a variety of backgrounds.
What aspects of child development did the study measure?
The features studied included (among others):
Cognitive and language development
Social behavior
Emotional development and relationships with parents
Health and physical growth
You can review a complete list of the features the study measured.
What are the major findings of the study?
The study examined how quality, quantity, and type of child care setting affected children's development. Specific findings include:
Higher quality care was associated with better outcomes. Children in higher quality child care had somewhat better language and cognitive development during the first 4½ years of life than those in lower quality care. They were also somewhat more cooperative than those who experienced lower quality care during the first 3 years of life.
Parents and caregivers can help measure the quality of their child's care using the Positive Caregiving Checklist. This checklist is similar to the one used in the study and can help families determine what type of care their children are getting.
For more information on indicators of quality care, see the What is quality child care? section of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development booklet.
Amount of time in care mattered to some degree. Children with higher quantity (total combined number of hours) of experience in child care showed somewhat more behavior problems while in child care and in kindergarten classrooms than those who had experienced fewer hours in care.
For more information on quantity of child care, see the What is quantity of child care? section of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development booklet.
The impact of child care type or setting was different for children of different ages. Center-based child care is associated with both positive and negative effects. This type of care is linked to better cognitive development through age 4½ and to more positive social behaviors through age 3. But children who attended child care centers also showed somewhat more behavior problems just before and just after school entry than children who experienced other non-maternal child care arrangements.
For more information on quantity of child care, see the Child Care Type section of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development booklet.
Parent and family characteristics were more strongly linked to child development than any aspect of child care. Researchers studied the quality of the family environment, parental attitudes, maternal psychological adjustment, and mother's sensitivity. The following characteristics predicted children's cognitive/language and social development: parents' education, family income, and two-parent family compared to single-parent family; mothers' psychological adjustment and sensitivity; and the social and cognitive quality of home environment.