Does center based child care improve development in disadvantaged children?

The objectives of this project are to gain knowledge about whether development in disadvantaged children at 3, 5 and 8 years of age is improved by early (1-3 years) center based child care. Further, we will examine to what extent the increased coverage an d reduced cost of early center based child care over the last 8 years increases utilization among disadvantaged children. Finally, we will estimate the effect of increased use of center based child care on child development on a population level. Findings will inform child care policy, and be of relevance for the scientific community. Growing up in families suffering from poverty, exclusion from the work force, or maternal mental illness is associated with developmental disadvantage. Children in these fa milies experience lack of stimulation, family stress, and insensitive care, increasing the risk for adverse language, social-, and behavioral-emotional development. Efforts to promote development in disadvantaged children are most likely to succeed when i mplemented at an early age. Center based child care [barnehage] has been considered, by researchers and policy makers alike, as a potential arena for improving the development of disadvantaged children. The Norwegian Government aims at full coverage of center based child care in a major welfare reform. An explicit purpose is to promote development in disadvantaged children, and thereby reducing social inequality in the next generation. Longitudinal population based research to inform decision makers is however scarce. Norway has a comparative advantage for such studies, with quality child care centers available for a large part of the population, and with national longitudinal health surveys which can be linked with public registries. This project will utilize this advantage in combining data from The Norwegian Mother and Child Study on child development and child care, FD-trygd on family disadvantage, and KOSTRA on county level child care.