Research carried out for the Welsh Government has found that children who have been in childcare were more likely to come from higher-income households, and to have parents with higher education qualifications. It also showed differences in children’s emotional behaviour, depending on the type of childcare they’d received.
The report, Research examining the relationship between children’s development at ages five and eight and the use of childcare at earlier ages using Understanding Society data, by Julia Diniz at Cardiff University says:
- using childcare was less likely “in households placed at the bottom 25% of the gross monthly income distribution”
- “children who did not attend childcare were less likely to have parents who both work in full-time employment, or at least one in full-time employment while the other is in full-time education”
- “formal individual settings”, such as a nanny, au pair or childminder in the family home, were more likely to be found in families where both parents were working.
Using Understanding Society’s data on children’s emotional behaviour and wellbeing (from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, or SDQ), the research showed no differences in average SDQ scores at ages 5 and 8 between children who did and did not attend childcare when younger (even when isolating this relationship and allowing for the interaction between childcare use and household income).
However, there were differences in average SDQ scores between children who had been in different types of childcare settings. Those in formal individual settings “had a significantly higher average in the emotional symptoms score”, compared to those who had been in informal childcare (where a friend, family member, or neighbour looks after a child) or ‘formal group settings’ (such as a nursery). Julia Diniz says this “may reflect several factors, including the more limited interactions with peers and family members that children in formal individual care may have experienced … compromising the child’s secure attachment later in life”.
The research was commissioned by the Welsh Government to examine “the relationship between children’s development at ages five and eight years, and the use of childcare at earlier ages”, because “childcare is recognised by policy makers as an important policy driver of both parental employment and of ensuring that children have the best opportunities to develop”.
The Welsh Government, the report says, “invests around £100 million per year in childcare”, and announced plans in 2022 for increased funding and “steps towards the creation of a single system of early childhood education and care”.
This research used Understanding Society Waves 6-13
Family and householdsFindings and impactInforming Policy
