Citation

Rosenthal MK. Early Child Res. Q. 1991; 6(2): 263-283.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0885-2006(91)90012-A

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines the relationship of the caregiver's beliefs and behavior to her personal and professional background, as well as to her work environment. Caregivers in 41 sponsored family day care homes were studied. The quality of care was analyzed in terms of two dimensions of the caregiver's behavior, which were found empirically to be independent of each other: (a) the quality of the interaction between caregiver and child; (b) the quality of the educational program she provided. Results showed that the former was related to the frequency of supervision and degree of autonomy, whereas the latter was related to the mean age and social background of the children in the group. The caregiver's beliefs explored the nature of her role perception and her beliefs about child development. The data suggest that even caregivers with little training and education, working in their own homes, held beliefs that were typical of "professional educators." Most caregivers attributed more influence over the child's development to themselves than to his/her parents, especially in the social domain. They expected earlier competence in social and cognitive development than in "independence" and believed in the greater effectiveness of permissive and authoritative methods of control over authoritarian methods. With the exception of the attribution of influence, caregivers' beliefs were not related to their background or to their work environment. The two dimensions of quality of care were differentially associated with the caregiver's beliefs.