AGGRESSION AND NONCOMPLIANCE AMONG SWEDISH CHILDREN IN CENTER-BASED CARE, FAMILY DAY-CARE, AND HOME CARE

The relations between individual, family, and child care characteristi cs and children's aggressive and noncompliant behaviours were examined in this study of 140 first-born Swedish children assessed at 16, 28, 40, and 80 months of age. All of the parents involved in the study had attempted to enrol their children in centre-based day care, but some were accepted instead into family day care settings, while others rema ined in the exclusive care of their parents. Composite measures of agg ression and noncompliance were constructed using data obtained from mu ltiple sources (i.e. mothers, teachers, observers). Child care arrange ments and histories were not associated with levels of aggression or n oncompliance. Multiple regression analyses suggested that the quality of home care was the best predictor of both aggressive and noncomplian t behaviour. Boys were more aggressive than girls, and children with m ore controlling parents were more noncompliant. Individual differences in aggression (but not noncompliance) were moderately stable over tim e.