ENRICHMENT

Question 1

What is the relation between maternal sensitivity and non-maternal care?

Answer 1

Mother sensitivity 1: The more hours children spent in non-maternal care, the less sensitive, engaged, and affectionate were mothers
-Effects significant but small

Mother sensitivity 2:
Maternal contacts may improve maternal psychological functioning and parenting skills
-Mothers who live in poverty, and who have infants in full-time care, interact more positively with children than mothers raising children at home or using lower-quality nurseries.

Question 2

Under what circumstances and what might nurseries and non-maternal care be good for development?

Answer 2

Non maternal care can enhance math skills and verbal abilities in Sweden, where care is very good as well as social abilities and linguistic skills, Good care includes: high teacher to child ratio, trained staff, curriculum geared toward cognitive development rather than behavioral control
-Organization of space that allows creative constructive play
nurseries: When a child is in stress (e.g. depressed mother) and/or poverty:
 Any high-quality, secure relationship buffers children from negative effects of stress or
poverty
 Children who are insecurely attached to mother, but securely attached to nursery worker are
more competent with peers than children insecurely attached to both
 Benefits even for 3-month olds
 Quality of care is positively related to children’s social competence
 Children at university nurseries outscore home-reared children on IQ tests at 18 and 36
months of age

Question 3

Describe the neural and general benefits that ensue from non maternal care

Answer 3

in the test by Jaffee(2011), non maternal care vs no maternal care.
Children who had been in non-maternal care;
(a) Did slightly better on cognitive tasks at 11-13 years( math and reading )
(b) had slightly lower levels of ADHD problems
So non-maternal care leads to small differences(slight advantages) or no differences(when comparing within families)

Question 4

When are nurseries not good for development and when are they particularly good
for development?

Answer 4

Not good: when there are frequent nursery changes, and when it is poor quality. Good:when a child is in stress and or poverty

Question 5

Describe evidence that nutrition is important for brain health in early life. What are
the long-lasting benefits of good early nutrition?

Answer 5

Participants: Guatemalan toddlers (birth-2yrs) were given either “atole” (protein-rich) or “fresco”
(sugar-rich)
 At age 32, the “atole” group scored higher on reading comprehension and tests of fluid IQ, effect on cognition, and mental health. In Raine’s study on the enrichment program, children who were in the enrichment program that lower scores for conduct disorder, motor excess and cognitive disorganisation, non-malnourished enrichment children had higher scores for schizotypal personality and interpersonal deficits
-In Stein’s study of protein supplements: at age 32, the participants in the protein rich group(also known as atole) scored higher on reading comprehension and tests of fluid IQ than sugar rich group(also known as fresco)

Question 6

What is the result of Perry Preschool program?

Answer 6

Fewer social services needs(only 7% arrested for drug dealing by age 27 compared to 25% in controls)

Question 7

What happens when there are frequent nursery changes for a child?

Answer 7

-insecure attachment to the parent
-Less competent peer interaction as toddlers
-More withdrawal and aggression in preschool
-Worse school adjustment in the second year

Question 8

Why do frequent nursery changes affect children negatively

Answer 8

-Children become attached to the nursery worker over time
-Children show more attachment behaviours to long term staff(over 3 months)
-Long term staff soothe children better

Question 9

What factors determine the quality of nursery care?

Answer 9

Group size, caregiver/child ratio, caregiver qualifications