Sierra Brown

Defense Date

7-9-2015

Graduation Date

2015

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Counseling, Psychology, & Special Education

School

School of Education

Committee Chair

Kara McGoey

Committee Member

Scott Graves

Committee Member

James Schreiber

Keywords

disruptive behavior disorders, preschool, quality, social-emotional development

Abstract

Childcare research has examined effects of center-based childcare on the cognitive, behavioral, and social development for young children, often finding mixed results and short-term benefits. Many studies focus on at-risk populations, specifically children from low-income backgrounds who are often enrolled in programs, such as Head Start that have a specific focus on fostering all areas of child development. However, there is minimal research showing the impact of childcare attendance for children with disabilities such as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, are at-risk for delayed school readiness due to deficits in social-emotional development. Using multiple regression, data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study- Birth Cohort was be analyzed to examine whether childcare programs differed significantly in quality and have a significant impact on the social-emotional development of children diagnosed with a disruptive behavior disorder. Results indicated significant differences across childcare types in regards to childcare quality such that public prekindergarten programs in general possessed more indicators of quality. In relation to the type of childcare program and predicting social-emotional development in kindergarten, results of the current study indicated that children enrolled in preschool programs predicted higher prosocial skills, children enrolled in private programs predicted lower problematic behaviors and school readiness skills. However, the study was unable to examine the relationship between disruptive behavior disorders and quality childcare programs due to the constraints on the data. The importance of these findings, as well as limitations are discussed in the current study, as well as directions for future research.

Format

PDF

Language

English

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