DOI: 10.3886/icpsr22361
title: NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development: Phase IV, 2005-2007 [United States]
title: Archival Version

description: The overall purpose of this study was to examine the influence of variations in early childcare histories on the psychological development of infants and toddlers from a variety of family backgrounds. This general objective was addressed through a prospective, longitudinal study of the experiences of 1,364 children and their families, which took into account the complex interactions among child characteristics and those of the human and physical environments in which the children were reared. Research Goals The specific research aims were as follows: Examining the relationship between infants' childcare arrangements (defined in terms of hours, type, quality, and stability of care and the age at which the child entered care) and children's concurrent and long-term development. Specifically, the study investigated the association between children's experiences in childcare and their social, emotional, language, and cognitive development. The social-emotional assessments included measures of attachment, independence, compliance, behavior problems, prosocial and antisocial behavior, and general competence in interacting with peers. Cognitive variables include general developmental level and problem solving skills. Language assessments incorporated measures of children's expressive and receptive communicative competence. Examining whether the social ecology of the home moderates the effects of childcare, i.e., whether children from different home environments are differentially affected by similar childcare experiences. The study examined the moderating effects of parents' values and attitudes, psychological adjustment and mental health, stress and social support, child-rearing practices, time use, interactions with the child, the marital relationship, and family demographics. Examining whether individual differences among children moderate the effects of infant care on child development. The study examined the moderating effects of such child characteristics as age, sex, health, birth order, and temperament. Identify demographic and family characteristics associated with families' childcare decisions. The study examined whether specific childcare arrangements are related to the parents' social class, marital status, psychological adjustment and personality, child-rearing values and attitudes, parenting practices, stress, social support, marital relationship, and the availability of childcare in the community. Provide a natural history of infant care in the 1990s, and help establish a baseline of data pertaining to the kinds of care being used by families. Whereas other national databases, such as those provided by the United States Census Bureau, provide static estimates of the number of children in different types of childcare, this network study supplements that knowledge with longitudinal data on successive enrollments into day care at various ages, patterns of arrangements used concurrently and over time, and the stability of arrangements during the first three years of life. One of the most valuable aspects of the collaborative study is the opportunity it provides to obtain a more complete and accurate picture of patterns of infant care used by families today. Census surveys use only gross categories of care (e.g., center vs. in-home). In this study, more fine-grained information regarding the types of centers and home-care facilities was gathered. Examine the consequences for families of maternal employment and childcare choices. Family relationships, parental mental health, family stress, and so on, are not just inputs to child development or moderators of childcare effects, they are also outcomes. High-quality childcare may alleviate family stress and enhance parental adjustment. Low-quality childcare may add to the stress parents experience. Although the main focus in the study was on the effect of childcare on the child, the study also examined the effect of childcare on the family. Identify demographic characteristics of childcare associated with childcare quality. Of interest to policy makers is another aspect of the study, the investigation of those regulatory characteristics that predict care of higher quality. These characteristics included the level and type of caregiver training, the size of the childcare group, the auspices of the childcare program (public/private, profit/nonprofit, independent/chain, employer-sponsored/church-based), whether the facility was licensed or unlicensed, the level of payment and fees, and whether the caregiver was a relative of the family. Data File Organization 158 data files were compiled for this study and are organized into 4 main groups: Analytical Data Sets (ADS)-- The raw data were examined and composites defined by small groups of individual principal investigators according to the demographic, family, childcare, and child outcome content of the data. The psychometric and distributional qualities of the variables along with site differences were examined. A set of variables that was psychometrically and distributionally acceptable to be used in analytic analyses was designed to test the study hypotheses. These data files comprise Parts 1-19 of the study data material. Supplemental Data Sets -- New and revised analysis variables as well as across-time mean scores and primary composites were produced as supplements to the original Analytical Data Sets. These data files are Parts 20-26 of the study data material. Raw Census-Related Data Sets -- Files were produced using geocoded addresses for survey respondents to match block group-level data from the 1990 and 2000 Censuses for investigators to create additional measures of interest from the geocoded addresses. These data files comprise Parts 27-30 of the study data material. Raw Data Sets -- The raw data were made available and comprise Parts 31-158 of the study data material. Included in this phase of the study are the output of several third-party software programs that were used during Phases II, III and IV to collect data for specific tasks or activities. These programs produced one output data file per subject, which were combined to produce some of the raw data files for those studies. The original program output is included as expanded documentation in this phase of the study. Training Workshop A three-day summer training workshop on the SECCYD was put on by NICHD at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2010. The binder from that workshop, which includes the Powerpoint slides used during presentations, are freely available to the public as part of the study documentation.
description: The principal purpose of Phase IV of the NICHD-SECCYD was to investigate how earlier functioning and experiences in concert with contextual and maturational factors in adolescence, influence social relationships, health, adjustment, and intellectual and academic development during middle adolescence.
description: The SECCYD is a multi-site, prospective, longitudinal study of the experiences of 1,364 children and their families (1,056 children and families were enrolled for Phase IV). Respondents were sampled from a catchment of some 6,189 children. Children's development was assessed via trained observers, interviewers, questionnaires, and direct testing. Measures were taken on many facets of children's development, such as social, emotional, intellectual, and language development, behavioral problems and adjustment, and physical health. A wide range of adolescent outcomes and contextual features were assessed in one laboratory and one home visit at age 15. Additional information was collected from health and pubertal maturation examinations at ages 13.5, 14.5, and 15.5, from monitored physical activity at age 15, from analyses of middle school and high school transcripts, and from surveys of middle school and high school personnel.
description: The 19 Analytical Data Sets (ADS) contain composite variables, created from the raw data by Quantitative Systems Laboratory (QSL) at Vanderbilt University, to be psychometrically and distributionally acceptable for analytical analysis of the study hypotheses. The 7 Supplemental Data Sets were produced by Research Triangle Institute (RTI) and contain new and revised analysis variables, across-time mean scores, and primary composites. The 4 Raw Census-Related Data Sets were produced using geocoded addresses for survey respondents to match block group-level data from the 2000 Census for investigators to create additional measures of interest from the geocoded addresses. The CENS2000 raw dataset contains 1,423 block group variables for 2,891 address records with end dates after December 31, 1995, for 1,159 study children. The 128 Raw Data Sets contain the direct item-level data collected per instrument.
description: Response Rates: During Phase I of the study (1991-1994), a cohort of 1,364 children and their families were recruited at 1 month of age and studied intensively through age 3. Phase IV of the study (2005-2007) followed a cohort of 1,056 enrolled children and families.
description: Presence of Common Scales: H.O.M.E Inventory Scoring Child-Parent Rel. Scale: Short Form Social Skills Rating System Child Behavior Checklist Woodcock-Johnson Cognitive and Achievement Test Hooked on Nicotine Checklist
description: Participants were selected in accordance with a conditionally random sampling plan, which was designed to ensure that the recruited families (a) included mothers who planned to work or to go to school full-time (60 percent) or part-time (20 percent) in the child's first year, as well as some who planned to stay at home with the child (20 percent), and (b) reflected the demographic diversity (economic, educational, and ethnic) of the sites. Both two-parent and single-parent families were included. The major exclusionary criteria used were (a) mothers younger than 18 years of age at the time of the child's birth, (b) families who did not anticipate remaining in the catchment area for at least 3 years, (c) children with obvious disabilities at birth or who remained in the hospital more than 7 days postpartum, and (d) mothers not sufficiently conversant in English. Analyses have indicated that the data do reflect the natural distributions of these factors in the catchment. Therefore, inferences from this data can be made directly to the catchment without back-weighting for the sampling factors. In addition, analyses have shown that the NICHD data reflect to large degree the natural distributions of certain factors measured in the 1990 Census data. However, the NICHD data are not representative in the statistical sense, and therefore inference to the nation as a whole is not possible. Comparisons to other databases, national or otherwise, should be made with extreme caution.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: ADS4-DEMOG7 DS2: ADS4-HPAG7 DS3: ADS4-SCHG7 DS4: ADS4-HPAG8 DS5: ADS4-SCHG8 DS6: ADS4-DEMOX4 DS7: ADS4-HPAX4 DS8: ADS4-SCHX4 DS9: ADS4-HPAG9 DS10: ADS4-SCHG9 DS11: ADS4-ASCHX5 DS12: ADS4-COUTX5 DS13: ADS4-DEMOX5 DS14: ADS4-FAMX5 DS15: ADS4-HPAX5 DS16: ADS4-SCHX5 DS17: ADS4-BMIHIST DS18: ADS4-RESHIST DS19: ADS4-SCHHIST DS20: SUPPL4-LNGPBRTY DS21: SUPPL4-BMIGRIDA DS22: SUPPL4-FPA07X5B DS23: SUPPL4-HOME06X5 DS24: SUPPL4-REVPAMX5 DS25: SUPPL4-RISKBEH DS26: SUPPL4-URBNRURL DS27: RCENSUS4-ACTV1MX5 DS28: RCENSUS4-BLKGRPS DS29: RCENSUS4-CENS2000 DS30: RCENSUS4-RESGRID DS31: RAW4-FG7FA DS32: RAW4-FPD01G7 DS33: RAW4-FPD02G7 DS34: RAW4-FPD03G7 DS35: RAW4-FPD04G7 DS36: RAW4-FPD05G7 DS37: RAW4-FPD06G7 DS38: RAW4-FPD08G7 DS39: RAW4-FPD11G7 DS40: RAW4-HH7F_A DS41: RAW4-JB7F_A DS42: RAW4-FPD01G8 DS43: RAW4-FPD02G8 DS44: RAW4-FPD03G8 DS45: RAW4-FPD04G8 DS46: RAW4-FPD05G8 DS47: RAW4-FPD06G8 DS48: RAW4-FPD08G8 DS49: RAW4-FPD11G8 DS50: RAW4-FSV01G8 DS51: RAW4-FSV02G8 DS52: RAW4-FX4A DS53: RAW4-HHX4_A DS54: RAW4-FPD01G9 DS55: RAW4-FPD02G9 DS56: RAW4-FPD03G9 DS57: RAW4-FPD04G9 DS58: RAW4-FPD05G9 DS59: RAW4-FPD06G9 DS60: RAW4-FPD08G9 DS61: RAW4-FPD11G9 DS62: RAW4-FSV01X5 DS63: RAW4-FSV02X5A DS64: RAW4-FHV01X5 DS65: RAW4-FHV02X5 DS66: RAW4-FHV03X5 DS67: RAW4-FHV04X5 DS68: RAW4-FHV05X5 DS69: RAW4-FHV06X5 DS70: RAW4-FHV07X5 DS71: RAW4-FHV08X5 DS72: RAW4-FHV09X5 DS73: RAW4-FHV10X5 DS74: RAW4-FHV11X5 DS75: RAW4-FHV12X5 DS76: RAW4-FHV13X5 DS77: RAW4-FHV14X5 DS78: RAW4-FHV15X5 DS79: RAW4-FHV16X5 DS80: RAW4-FHV17X5 DS81: RAW4-FHV18X5 DS82: RAW4-FHV19X5 DS83: RAW4-FHV20X5 DS84: RAW4-FHV21X5 DS85: RAW4-FHV22X5 DS86: RAW4-FHV23X5 DS87: RAW4-FHV24X5 DS88: RAW4-FHV25X5 DS89: RAW4-FHV26X5 DS90: RAW4-FHV27X5 DS91: RAW4-FHV28X5 DS92: RAW4-FHV29X5A DS93: RAW4-FHV30X5 DS94: RAW4-FHV31X5 DS95: RAW4-FHV32X5A DS96: RAW4-FHV33X5 DS97: RAW4-FHV34X5 DS98: RAW4-FHV35X5 DS99: RAW4-FHV36X5 DS100: RAW4-FHV37X5 DS101: RAW4-FHV38X5 DS102: RAW4-FHV39X5 DS103: RAW4-FHV40X5 DS104: RAW4-FHV41X5 DS105: RAW4-FHV42X5A DS106: RAW4-FHV43X5A DS107: RAW4-FHV44X5 DS108: RAW4-FHV45X5A DS109: RAW4-FHV46X5A DS110: RAW4-FHV47X5M DS111: RAW4-FHV47X5S DS112: RAW4-FHV48X5B DS113: RAW4-FHV50X5 DS114: RAW4-FHV51X5A DS115: RAW4-FLV01X5 DS116: RAW4-FLV02X5 DS117: RAW4-FLV03X5 DS118: RAW4-FLV04X5 DS119: RAW4-FLV05X5 DS120: RAW4-FLV06X5 DS121: RAW4-FLV07X5 DS122: RAW4-FLV08X5A DS123: RAW4-FLV09X5A DS124: RAW4-FLV10X5 DS125: RAW4-FLV11X5 DS126: RAW4-FLV12X5 DS127: RAW4-FLV13X5 DS128: RAW4-FLV14X5A DS129: RAW4-FLV16X5 DS130: RAW4-FLV17X5 DS131: RAW4-FLV18X5 DS132: RAW4-FLV19X5 DS133: RAW4-FLV20X5 DS134: RAW4-FLV21X5 DS135: RAW4-FLV22X5 DS136: RAW4-FLV26X5 DS137: RAW4-FLV28X5A DS138: RAW4-FLV29X5A DS139: RAW4-FLV30X5A DS140: RAW4-FLV31X5A DS141: RAW4-FLV32X5A DS142: RAW4-FLV33X5 DS143: RAW4-FPA01X5 DS144: RAW4-FPA06X5 DS145: RAW4-FPA07X5A DS146: RAW4-FPD01X5 DS147: RAW4-FPD02X5 DS148: RAW4-FPD03X5 DS149: RAW4-FPD04X5 DS150: RAW4-FPD05X5 DS151: RAW4-FPD06X5 DS152: RAW4-FPD08X5 DS153: RAW4-FX5A DS154: RAW4-HHX5_A DS155: RAW4-BMIGRID DS156: RAW4-NCES9606 DS157: RAW4-SCKFX5_A DS158: RAW4-PH4RECRT
description: Full-term, healthy newborns of mothers giving birth in hospitals at 10 locations throughout the United States during designated 24-hour periods between January and November 1991.
description: computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI); computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI); coded on-site observation; cognitive assessment test; face-to-face interview; mail questionnaire; self-enumerated questionnaire; on-site questionnaire; telephone interviewData are available for the other phases of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD). See: SECCYD Phase I, 1991-1994 (ICPSR 21940), SECCYD Phase II, 1995-1999 (ICPSR 21941), and SECCYD Phase III, 2000-2004 (ICPSR 21942).The NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development was conducted by a network of investigators called the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. The network was led and managed by a steering committee that included an independent chairperson, one representative from each of the grantee sites, one representative from the data center, and one representative from NICHD. The steering committee established policies and procedures that governed the operations of the network. The progress of the study was monitored by NICHD and by the steering committee with guidance from an advisory board which was nominated by the director of NICHD.