Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Quality child care limits depression, study finds...
Young adults from poor families who were in full-time early educational child care from infancy to age 5 reported fewer symptoms of depression than their peers who were not in this type of care, according to a new report.
The early care also appears to have protected the children to some extent against negative effects in their homes.
The report, from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, uses data from the Abecedarian Project, a longitudinal study begun in 1972 in which 111 high-risk children were randomly assigned to early educational child care from infancy to age 5 or to a control group that received various other forms of child care.
The study is published in the May-June 2007 issue of the journal Child Development.
Research has shown a relationship between poverty in early childhood and an increased risk for mental health problems in adulthood. A number of early intervention programs have been found to enhance the cognitive development and academic outcomes of children living in poverty, but less is known about the long-term effects of these programs on children's mental health.
Quality child care limits depression, study finds
Young adults from poor families who were in full-time early educational child care from infancy to age 5 reported fewer symptoms of depression than their peers who were not in this type of care, according to a new report.
The early care also appears to have protected the children to some extent against negative effects in their homes.
The report, from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, uses data from the Abecedarian Project, a longitudinal study begun in 1972 in which 111 high-risk children were randomly assigned to early educational child care from infancy to age 5 or to a control group that received various other forms of child care.
The study is published in the May-June 2007 issue of the journal Child Development.
Research has shown a relationship between poverty in early childhood and an increased risk for mental health problems in adulthood. A number of early intervention programs have been found to enhance the cognitive development and academic outcomes of children living in poverty, but less is known about the long-term effects of these programs on children's mental health.
Quality child care limits depression, study finds
// posted by Tammy Wachter @ 7:16 PM 
