Rescuing the Baby From the Bathwater: How Gender and Temperament (May) Influence How Child Care Affects Child Development

Abstract

Children's temperament and gender, combined with type, quality, and amount of care, likely influence differences in development and should not be overlooked in studies of child care effects. Research is consistent with this view, although definitive studies have not been carried out. Most notable, children's stress responses to full‐time, center‐based child care differ, and these differences are associated with emotional tendencies that may precede their entry into care. Changes in full time, center‐based child care are needed to reduce stress experienced by some children and their providers, using information about what is happening at home and in family day care settings, where typically cortisol‐linked stress does not increase during the day, to guide efforts.