Child-care usage and mother-infant quality time

Mothers' time-use patterns were compared in families in which infants spent more than 30 hours per week in child care (In-Care group; n = 143) versus 0 hours per week (At-Home group; n = 183) from birth to 6 months of age. In-Care group mothers spent about 12 fewer hours per week interacting with their infants, for about 32% less time; fathers of these infants were more involved in caregiving. The groups did not differ in the quality of mother-infant interaction. In the In-Care group, quantity of in teraction was related to greater separation anxiety and concerns about effects of maternal employment. Time-use data were not related to child outcomes at 15 months of age. Results suggest that the effect of extensive time spent apart on the quantity and quality of mother-infant interaction may be smaller than anticipated. Key Words: child care, mother-infant interaction, time use. Dramatic increases in the labor force participation of women with young children in the United States have led to a concomitant increase in the use of early and extensive nonmaternal child care, usually beginning in the early months of life (Hofferth, Brayfield, Deich, & Holcomb, 1991). The increasing use of extensive child care in early infancy has generated scientific debate about the effects of child care on children's development and the mother-child relationship (see Lamb, 1998). One of the chief concerns is that early entry into child care may have a negative impact on the ability of the mother and infant to develop a synchronous relationship. That is, long hours spent apart may provide insufficient time for the mother to learn about her infant's cues and biological rhythms (Brazelton, 1986), and her appropriate and sensitive responses to these cues are vital for fostering the infant's optimal development (see Kelly & Barnard, 2000). A particular area of concern is the infant's attachment security to the mother. According to attachment theory, the degree of mother-infant sensitivity and responsivity forms the basis for the development of the infant's secure (or insecure) attachment to her (see De Wolff & van Ijzendoorn, 1997). The security of this attachment, in turn, is important because it predicts children's subsequent peer relations, affect regulation, selfesteem, ego resiliency, and behavior problems (see Thompson, 1998). Thus, to the extent that maternal sensitivity and responsivity decrease when the mother and infant spend long hours apart, then we would expect an increase in the risk of insecure attachment and other less optimal outcomes. Infants form important and independent attachments to their fathers and other caregivers as well. However, a comparison of the relative influence of infant-mother and infant-father attachment on child outcomes has indicated that the infant-mother relationship is a stronger predictor (Thompson, 1998). These results, coupled with concerns about the effects on children of large increases in maternal employment hours, have led to a focus on the early mother-child, rather than father-child, relationship within the child-care and employment literature. Within the child-care literature, several studies focusing on early infancy have supported the hypothesis of a negative association between the amount of child care and the quality of motherinfant interaction, but the majority of researchers have not (see National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network [NICHD ECCRN], 1999, for a review). Analyses from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care are especially relevant in this regard, because a subset of these data were used in the present report. Longitudinal analyses of the main data set indicated that greater hours per week in child care were related to somewhat less maternal sensitivity and child engagement in mother-child interaction in the first 3 years of life (NICHD ECCRN, 1999). However, this relatively small decrease in the quality of mother-child interaction did not appear to have an impact on the infants' attachment security to their mothers, except when mothers were highly insensitive (NICHD ECCRN, 1997). …