Browsing by Author "Koponen, Johannes"

The aim of the study: The aim of the study: The amount of day care used and research related to it have increased over the past few decades in Western countries, although the majority of the research has been done in the United States. Generalizing the results to Europe can be problematic because it is known that the day care system and sosiodemographics vary by country. Even though there has been some research in Europe as well, the association between day care and socioemotional development of children needs additional research. This study seeks to answer this need by examining the association of the type of childcare (day care, home care) at the age of 24 months and children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms at the age of five. Individual differences in susceptibility to environmental influences are also taken into account by including the temperament in the study, assessed at 24 months. Methods: This study utilizes the Child-Sleep data, which consist of a birth cohort collected in the Pirkanmaa Hospital district (n=1674). The type of childcare was asked when the children were at the age of 24 months. Parents were asked to assess the child’s temperament at the age o 24 months by using the CBQ questionnaire (Children’s Behaviour Questionnaire), and the child’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms at the age of five by using the VIIVI questionnaire (questionnaire for parents about their 5‒15 -year old child’s development and behaviour). The study population was reduced to 514 children for whom the information on the variables used in this study was attainable. The results of the temperament questionnaire were received from 250 children. Child’s gender, the amount of children in the family, mother’s education and mother’s depression were controlled for. In the statistical analyses, logistic regression models were used, by which the amount of internalizing and externalizing symptoms exceeding 75 of 90 percentage cutoffs were predicted. In subsequent analyses, the different temperament traits (negative emotionality, extroversion, effortful control) were added as moderating variables. Results and conclusions: No difference was found in the amount of later externalizing between the children in day care and home care. Children in day care had a little higher probability for internalizing than those in home care. However, mother’s current depression was a stronger predictor for explaining the symptoms. Out of the temperament traits, negative emotionality increased the probablity for internalizing symptoms for children in day care, and effortful control for externalizing symptoms in home care. The results are preliminary due to the small sample size. The results point to acknowledging children’s individual differences when studying the effects of day care, paying more attention to children’s internalizing symptoms in a day care environment and supporting parents mental health.