PERSONALITY-DEVELOPMENT BETWEEN 1 AND 8 YEARS OF AGE IN SWEDISH CHILDREN WITH VARYING CHILD-CARE EXPERIENCES

In this longitudinal study, 122 Swedish children were followed from an initial assessment at 16 months until they were 8.5 years of age. Par ental ratings of field independence, ego-resilience, and ego-control w ere obtained using the California Child Q-set when the children averag ed 28, 40, 80, and 101 months of age. These assessments of personality were then examined in the context of contrasting child care experienc es. There was virtually no difference between the developmental trajec tories of the children in home care and in centre-based day care. In c ontrast, ego-undercontrol decreased less, whereas ego-resilience and f ield independence increased less, in children who attended family day care than in the children in either centre care or exclusive parental care. The quality of home and out-of-home care, as well as socioeconom ic status and family background, did not moderate or qualify these eff ects of the type of care experienced. The results are discussed in rel ation to previous work on the effects of early out-of-home care on chi ld development.