”Non-cognitive child outcomes and universal high-quality child care”.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether being in child care compared with being cared for at home has an impact on three-year-olds, measured in terms of non-cognitive benefits for the child. Furthermore, studies examines whether the number of hours a child is in care has an impact.

The study finds that being in care outside their homes compared to being cared for by parents does not affect three-year-old children in terms of non-cognitive benefits. However, the study finds the following differences in the effects of being cared for in day nurseries and care in private homes: Boys of mothers with a lower level of education appear generally to develop their non-cognitive skills more poorly if they have been cared for in private homes, compared to similar boys who have been cared for in a day nursery. Additionally, the study finds that being at a daycare centre for more than 30 hours a week can have a negative impact on the non-cognitive skills of a child.

This study is based on data from the Danish Longitudinal Survey of Children (DASCL) that followed approx. 6,000 children born from 15 September to 31 October 1995. The data is used to create a pseudo experiment where the variation in municipal offers of a guaranteed place at either daycare centres or in private homecare is used as the experimental variable.

Datta Gupta, N. og Simonsen, M. (2010). ”Non-cognitive child outcomes and universal high-quality child care”. Journal of Public Economics, 94(1-2), 30-43.