1. Effects of Day Care
Social Development
-Aggression
-Peer relations
A temporary form of child-care
that is not provided by parents.
Only takes place during the day,
no overnight stays e.g. Nursery,
childminder, nannies

2. Impact of Day Care
What impact do you think day care has on
a child’s levels of aggression and their
peer relationships?
Day care has been found to impact both
positively and negatively on an infant’s
social development

3. Impact on Aggression
Aggression – Definition
Range of behaviours that can result in both physical and
psychological harm to oneself/objects or others.
If you’re answering a question on
day care affecting aggression you
would discuss research
demonstrating an increase and
research demonstrating a decrease

4. Day care – increase in aggression
A – investigate the effects of day care on infant’s
aggressive behaviour
P – NICHD conducted a longitudinal study in America
looking at 1000 children and their parents from diverse
families from 10 locations
F – By 5, more time in day care rated more disobedient
by adults
- Children in FT day care were 3 times more likely to
show behaviour problems

5. Day care – decrease in aggression
A – investigate the effects of day care on infant’s
aggressive behaviour
P – Shea (1981) conducted naturalistic observation,
videotaping 3&4 year olds looking at 4 behaviours
1. Aggression 2. freq of peer interactions 3. distance from teacher
4. distance from nearest child
F – 1. Decrease in levels of aggression
2. Increase in frequency of peer interactions
3. Increase in distance from teacher
4. Decrease in distance from nearest child

6. Day care on aggression – A02
The research has high
ecological validity For example, both the
research by Shea and the
NICHD were conducted in
real life settings
investigating real life
behaviourThis is a strength because
the findings can be
generalised beyond the
research to real life day
care

7. Day care on aggression – A02
The research into day
care and aggression is
contradictory
For example, some
research demonstrates
that day care increases
aggression whereas others
report that it decreases
aggressionThis is a weakness
because the relationship
between day care and
aggression is inconclusive
and our knowledge remains
limited

8. Day care on aggression – A02
The relationship between
day care and aggression
is complex
For example, there are
other variables that could
affect the impact of day
care, such as the
staff:child ratio,
attachment type, mother
sensitivity etc…
This is a weakness
because the research
ignores such variables
which could provide an
insight into the
relationship between day
care and aggression

9. Day care on aggression – A02
The research is
correlational For example, the link
between day care and
aggression may be indirect
with other influencing
factors
(e.g. ____)This is a weakness
because you can’t
establish cause and effect
and say that day care
directly increases or
decreases aggression

10. Glossary additions
• Institutional Care
• Day care
• Social development (refers to
aggressive behaviour & peer relations)
• Peer relations (social interactions with
others of a similar age)

11. Impact on Peer relations
Sociability – Definition
Child relating to another
child, learning skills and
behaviours appropriate to
society
If you’re answering a question on
day care affecting sociability you
would discuss research
demonstrating an increase and
research demonstrating a decrease
Peer relations –
Definition
The way a child interacts
with other children of a
similar age

12. Day care – increase in peer
relations
A – investigate the effects of day care on infant’s peer
relations
P – Shea (1981) conducted naturalistic observation,
videotaping 3&4 year olds looking at 4 behaviours
1. Aggression 2. freq of peer interactions 3. distance from teacher 4.
distance from nearest child
F – 1. Decrease in levels of aggression
2. Increase in frequency of peer interactions
3. Increase in distance from teacher
4. Decrease in distance from nearest child

13. Day care – decrease in peer
relations
A – investigate the effects of day care on peer
relations and sociability
P – DiLalla (1988) quantitatively measure amount of
time children spent in care and their levels of pro-social
behaviour
F – There was a negative correlation between the 2
variables.
Suggesting that the more time spent in day care the
less sociable the children were

14. Day care on peer relations– A02
The research has high
ecological validity For example, both the
research by Shea and the
DiLalla were conducted in
real life settings
investigating real life
behaviourThis is a strength because
the findings can be
generalised beyond the
research to real life day
care

15. Day care on peer relations– A02
The research into day
care and aggression is
contradictory
For example, some
research demonstrates
that day care in creases
peer relations whereas
others report that it
decreases peer relationsThis is a weakness
because the relationship
between day care and peer
relations is inconclusive
and our knowledge remains
limited

16. Day care on peer relations– A02
The relationship between
day care and peer
relations is complex
For example, there are
other variables that could
affect the impact of day
care, such as the
staff:child ratio,
attachment type, mother
sensitivity etc…
This is a weakness
because the research
ignores such variables
which could provide an
insight into the
relationship between day
care and peer relations

17. Day care on peer relations– A02
The research is
correlational (DiLalla) For example, the link
between day care and
aggression may be indirect
with other influencing
factors
(e.g. ____)This is a weakness
because you can’t
establish cause and effect
and say that day care
directly increases or
decreases peer relations