The impact of childcare-group situational age composition on caregiver-child interactions
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Authors
Author (Corporation)
Publication date
29.11.2019
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Type
01A - Journal article
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Parent work
European Journal of Developmental Psychology
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Volume
17
Issue / Number
4
Pages / Duration
598-615
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Publisher / Publishing institution
Taylor & Francis
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Abstract
The present study investigated the role of situational age composition in the quality of caregiving. We specifically examined the impact of age range, the number of children present younger than 18 months, and median age, on the caregiver-child interaction quality under unique conditions of flexible and age-heterogeneous childcare. Caregiver-child interactions in nine childcare groups were observed over four mornings (N observation cycles = 144). The results from multilevel structural equation modelling showed that wide age range and a higher number of very young children present were related to lower quality of observed behavioural, emotional and learning support. Most importantly, the findings suggest that the effects of age range can be explained by the number of children less than 18 months old. Implications for further research and mixed-age programmes’ practice and policy are discussed.
Keywords
Childcare, age composition, age range, number of infants, caregiver-child interactions
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ISBN
ISSN
1740-5610
1740-5629
1740-5629
Language
English
Created during FHNW affiliation
No
Strategic action fields FHNW
Publication status
Published
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Peer review of the complete publication
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Closed
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Citation
Diebold, T., & Perren, S. (2019). The impact of childcare-group situational age composition on caregiver-child interactions. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 17(4), 598–615. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2019.1699050