According to a Swiss study, children who are not cared for at home are more likely to exhibit problematic behavior. This situation could be resolved at the end of primary school.
- Parents surveyed say primary children, who were placed in day care before entering school, were more likely to be aggressive, exhibit symptoms of a common neurodevelopmental disorder, suffer from anxiety and depression.
When parents cannot look after their sons or daughters, they entrust them to friends, leaders or early childhood professionals who will take care of them and welcome them to a place other than their home. According to scientists from the University of Zurich in Switzerland, this care away from home can have an impact on the behavior of children. To achieve this discovery, they made work published in the journal PLOS One March 9.
A study of students, parents and teachers
To carry out their study, the researchers interviewed 1,300 Swiss students aged 7 to 20, their parents and their teachers. Their aim was to examine the influence of out-of-home care on children’s development into early adulthood. “Development included externalizing behavior, internalizing problems, delinquency, and substance use,” can we read in the searches.
About 67% of the children surveyed had been cared for in a place other than their home before going to kindergarten. According to the data, 32% of these children attended a crèche and 22% a daycare. In addition, 22% were cared for by an outside family member, 3% by acquaintances or neighbors and 12% by other mothers.
Behavioral problems have been observed in children
According to the results, time spent away from home was linked to an increase in externalizing and internalizing problems until at least age 11. “He was not associated with delinquency”, the authors said. They found that spending about three days a week in a crèche or daycare center was linked to an increase in problem behaviors.
Scientists noted that time spent in daycare was associated with fewer externalizing problems but more internalizing problems and substance use for children from vulnerable backgrounds. This association with substance use lasted until the age of 20.
Disappearance of problematic behaviors over time
“It is possible that external custody of children decreases the strength of attachment and interaction between the child and his parents,” explained Margit Averdijk, lead author of the work, in a statement. But, according to the team, it is also possible that children copy the problematic behaviors of their peers and sometimes use them to attract the attention of their caregivers.
“Although we cannot directly verify which of these mechanisms is the most likely explanation for our results, both support our conclusions,” said the researcher. According to the study, the problematic behaviors observed in children decrease as children get older and mostly disappear by the age of 13.
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