Citation

Lamb ME, Sternberg KJ. J. Appl. Dev. Psychol. 1990; 11(3): 351-379.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Heated controversy persists concerning the effects of nonparental care on child development, particularly when the children enter day care in infancy. Noting that the majority of children in the U.S. now experience regular nonmaternal care, we show that day care-including infant day care-does not appear to have harmful effects on infant-parent relationships. This conclusions is qualified, however, because the association between day care and attachment in infancy has only been examined using a single procedure whose validity can be questioned. Effects on all aspects of development vary depending on the quality of care received, but this issue has never been evaluated systematically in studies of infant day care, and has only recently been investigated in studies of older children with contrasting care histories.