FRIDAY, May 26, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- There's no need to worry, mom -- your child isn't likely to forge a stronger bond with her day-care provider than with you.
That's the finding from a new study by British and German researchers who analyzed data from 40 studies involving nearly 3,000 children, averaging 2.5 years of age.
They found that while the relationships between a child and parent and child and his care provider do share some important associations, children are much more likely to develop secure attachments to their mothers than to their day-care providers.
The researchers found that:
The findings appear in the May/June issue of Child Development.
"Given the growing evidence that relationships with care providers have an important impact on children's development, this study's findings help pinpoint the features of those relationships most likely to affect children's later behavioral and socio-emotional functioning in the most positive ways," lead researcher Lieselotte Ahnert, a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Applied Science in Magdeburg-Stendal and Free University of Berlin, said in a prepared statement.
"In contrast to earlier concepts on child-care providers' functions, however, we should not see care providers in public care as mother substitutes, dealing sensitively with individual kids, but understand how they regulate groups of kids while providing a harmonic climate to play and learn," Ahnert said.
More information
The American Academy of Pediatrics offers advice on preparing your child for child care.