As increasing numbers of women return to work in their child's first year of life, research and policy interest in the effects of non-maternal care has increased. To date, most attention has focused on group care, where evidence suggests some enhancement of aspects of children's cognitive development, but also (for some children at least) some increased risk of aggressive and disobedient behaviours.

Although a significant minority of very young children are cared for in group settings, in practice informal care from family and friends is much more common. In the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), for example, although approaching a quarter of the babies of working mothers were in group care at 9 months of age, approaching 60% were receiving 'informal' care. Of these, by far the largest group (35% of all children of working mothers) were looked after by grandparents (Hansen & Hawkes, 2009). Followed at age 3, children cared for by grandparents in infancy showed superior vocabulary development by comparison with children in other non-maternal care settings, but higher levels of difficulties in relationships with peers (Hansen & Hawkes, 2009).

In a previous study (Fergusson et al, 2008) we used the extensive data available on child care arrangements in ALSPAC to identify children cared for by grandparents at 8, 15 and 24 months of age. As in MCS, we found that this pattern was common: 44% of ALSPAC children were regularly cared for by their grandparents at each age. We identified family and maternal characteristics associated with the use of grandparent care, and traced its associations with risk for emotional/behavioural difficulties (as assessed by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) at age 4. Children cared for by grandparents had somewhat elevated rates of both hyperactivity and peer difficulties, though these variations seemed at least partly attributable to variations in the types of families using grandparent care.

There has been some work looking at the longer-term outcomes of different types and quantities of early childcare (Belsky et al, 2007). In theUS, for example, there may be an association between extensive non-relative care and problem behaviours at 8 and 11 years. So far as we are aware, however, no studies have yet tracked the impact of early grandparent care beyond the preschool years. This study is designed to fill that gap. Specifically, we propose to examine (i) indicators of behavioural adjustment/psychiatric disorder across childhood and early adolescence; and (ii) indicators of early language development (not examined in our previous study), and later cognitive abilities and school progress. We will contrast children who did and did not receive early grandparent care on this range of outcomes, controlling for previously identified confounders/selection effects, and assess the extent to which early grandparent care is associated with long-term risks or advantages for children's development.

References

Belsky, J., Lowe Vandell, D., Burchinal, M., Clarke-Stewart, K.A., McCartney, K., & Tresch Owen, M. Are there long-term effects of early child care? Child Development, 78, 681 - 701

Fergusson, E., Maughan, B. & Golding, J. (2008). Which children receive grandparental care and what effect does it have? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 49, 161-169

Hansen, K., & Hawkes, D. (2009). Early childcare and child development. Journal of Social Policy 38, 211-239