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On
February 8, 2002, at Benesse Corporation's Tokyo Head Office, Dr. Sarah
L. Friedman and Dr. Aletha C. Huston, researchers from the United States,
delivered presentations on the findings of their studies on different
issues in child development. Dr. Friedman's research, entitled "Early
Child Care and Children's Development Prior to School Entry" was conducted
by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
in the US. The aim of this study was to understand the effects of child
care on children, focusing on quality, quantity, and type of care as variables.
Dr. Huston's study, "Effects of Early Childhood Media Use" was conducted
in collaboration with her husband, Dr. John C. Wright, through the Center
for Research on Interactive Technology, Television and Children (CRITC)
at the University of Texas at Austin. Its goal was to study television
viewing by children at early ages and its effect on children's cognitive
abilities and attention spans. A discussion session followed the presentations,
involving audience members, Dr. Friedman, Dr. Huston, and CRN director
Dr. Noburu Kobayashi.
The relevance of Dr. Friedman's research is demonstrated by the fact that
child care is an ever-growing component of children's experiences. "Child
care" in this study refers to what has been called "nonmaternal" care,
care provided by someone who is not a parent in a child care center or
in the home. Particularly as the number of working mothers increases,
more and more parents are choosing some degree of child care for their
children. This study explored the questions of whether the effects of
child care are positive or negative for children and whether these effects
are meaningful relative to the effects of other sources of influence on
children's development. Looking at families from a variety of social backgrounds
across the United States, and comparing differences in child care quality,
quantity, and type, the study found that there is indeed a correlation
between child care and a child's cognitive development and social behavior.
For example, children who received higher quality child care displayed
better pre-academic and language skills. Children who had more experience
in child care centers also displayed better language and memory skills.
However, children who had larger amounts of child care evidenced more
behavioral problems. Thus, early child care was found to be associated
with potential benefits as well as potential risks to a child's development.
This study can be a resource that parents may reflect on when deciding
how to provide care for their children. The study's findings would seem
to suggest that it would be beneficial for parents not to automatically
reject nor rely exclusively on child care, but to consider its potential
risks and benefits for a child's cognitive and social development and
to decide what sort of balance, if any, between child care and parenting
they feel is appropriate for their child. That child care and parenting
appear to strengthen different areas of a child's development seems to
indicate that these different influences could perhaps complement each
other to the betterment of the child. This could lead us to reflect on
the possible benefit of incorporating varied influences in other areas
of a child's life-for example, education styles, types of play, and methods
of communication. Various influences may each have something to add to
a child's development. It is important that parents, who are ultimately
responsible for their children's upbringing, play an active role in deciding
what influences their children should be exposed to. The study also found
that the difference in cognitive performance between children who received
high-quality parenting and those who received low-quality parenting was
greater than the difference in cognitive performance between children
who received high-quality child care and those who received low-quality
child care. Though the reverse was true for the effect on behavior problems,
this emphasizes the tremendously important role of parents in their children's
care and development and the importance of parents' presence and involvement
in their children's lives.
Dr. Huston's study explored another influence that has significant potential
for both positive and negative impacts on children's development-television.
Her study addressed the much-debated questions of if and how television
viewing affects children's early development and whether effects are positive
or negative. Children from low-income families, chosen because they may
be likely to watch television more often and may be more likely to have
trouble when entering school, were studied in two areas of the United
States. The children's television-viewing habits in the early years of
ages three to five were observed and tests were given to assess the children's
abilities in areas such as school readiness, reading, and math. The children's
academic performance was again evaluated at the later ages of 15-19 years.
The study found that children who viewed educational and informative children's
programs at early ages exhibited greater school readiness and skills in
areas such as reading and math, which increased until about the age of
five. They did better in high school, had a better self-concept, and attributed
more value to achievement in areas such as math and science. The study
also found that television viewing did not lower children's attention
spans or dissuade them from doing things that require greater and longer
concentration, such as reading books. Rather, children who watched the
educational American show "Sesame Street", for example, read more books
and did better in school than those who did not watch. Thus, the study
concluded that television does not lower children's attention spans and
that educational television can teach cognitive skills and contribute
to creativity in children. Dr. Huston expressed the belief that television
viewing is an active process-that children think as they watch and make
judgments about what to watch and what to pay attention to. She also especially
stressed that the content of television is what is critical, that it is
not the medium of television that affects the child but the message of
its programs. Through the message, television viewing can have a positive
or a negative effect on children.
Television viewing, Dr. Huston says, can enrich lives. People need not
be forced to make an exclusive choice between television or something
else; rather, television can be part of an enriched life. In
the same way, parents need not feel forced to exclusively reject or embrace
"child care", but such care may be part of a variety of influences contributing
to a child's development. Child care, says Dr. Friedman, "is a human invention,
an invention of human creativity and resourcefulness . . . It is not in
and of itself either good or bad." The same can be said of television.
As Dr. Kobayashi emphasized in his closing remarks, phenomena such as
child care and television are not of themselves good or bad-what is important,
and what can negatively or positively affect children, is how these phenomena
are used, what we as humans do with them. Parents have a tremendously
important role to play in this process, and their judgment and involvement
in their children's lives is fundamental to children's development. Yet
all of society has a role to play and a responsibility in contributing
to the positive development of children, and thus to a positive future
for the world.
Readers interested in learning more about these studies are invited to
visit http://public.rti.org/secc
(NICHD's website) and http://www.utex.edu/research/critic
(CRITC's website)
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