Differences in Children’s Social Development: How Migration Background Impacts the Effect of Early Institutional Childcare Upon Children’s Prosocial Behavior and Peer Problems

This article focuses on the early years of children from immigrant families in Germany. Research has documented disparities in young children’s development correlating with their family background (e.g., immigrant or ethnic minority status), making clear the importance of early intervention. Institu...

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Main Authors: Kira Konrad-Ristau, Lars Burghardt
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-02-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.614844/full
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spelling doaj-da66b5951f014bda9530ea525931091c2021-02-16T05:59:29ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-02-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.614844614844Differences in Children’s Social Development: How Migration Background Impacts the Effect of Early Institutional Childcare Upon Children’s Prosocial Behavior and Peer ProblemsKira Konrad-Ristau0Lars Burghardt1Psychology I – Developmental Psychology, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, GermanyChair of Early Childhood Education, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, GermanyThis article focuses on the early years of children from immigrant families in Germany. Research has documented disparities in young children’s development correlating with their family background (e.g., immigrant or ethnic minority status), making clear the importance of early intervention. Institutional childcare—as an early intervention for children at risk—plays an important role in Germany, as 34.3% of children below the age of three and 93% of children above that age are in external childcare. This paper focuses on the extent to which children from families with a background of migration differ in their social development when considering their age of entry into early external childcare (and thus its duration). Data from the infant cohort study of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS, N = 1,846) is used to analyze the impact of early institutional childcare before the age of 3 years on children’s social competence at the age of 5 years, controlling for gender, siblings, temperament, home learning activities, and socioeconomic status. Results show the effects of duration of early external childcare on peer problems for children from families with a background of migration, in such a way that children who attend early external childcare for more than 1 year before the age of three show less problem behavior with peers than those who attend for less than a year. These findings have equity implications for children with a migration background living in Germany, especially as the proportion of these children is trending upwards.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.614844/fullmigration backgroundearly childhood education and care (ECEC)children’s social developmentdisadvantaged childrenprosocial behaviorpeer problems
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Kira Konrad-Ristau
Lars Burghardt
spellingShingle Kira Konrad-Ristau
Lars Burghardt
Differences in Children’s Social Development: How Migration Background Impacts the Effect of Early Institutional Childcare Upon Children’s Prosocial Behavior and Peer Problems
Frontiers in Psychology
migration background
early childhood education and care (ECEC)
children’s social development
disadvantaged children
prosocial behavior
peer problems
author_facet Kira Konrad-Ristau
Lars Burghardt
author_sort Kira Konrad-Ristau
title Differences in Children’s Social Development: How Migration Background Impacts the Effect of Early Institutional Childcare Upon Children’s Prosocial Behavior and Peer Problems
title_short Differences in Children’s Social Development: How Migration Background Impacts the Effect of Early Institutional Childcare Upon Children’s Prosocial Behavior and Peer Problems
title_full Differences in Children’s Social Development: How Migration Background Impacts the Effect of Early Institutional Childcare Upon Children’s Prosocial Behavior and Peer Problems
title_fullStr Differences in Children’s Social Development: How Migration Background Impacts the Effect of Early Institutional Childcare Upon Children’s Prosocial Behavior and Peer Problems
title_full_unstemmed Differences in Children’s Social Development: How Migration Background Impacts the Effect of Early Institutional Childcare Upon Children’s Prosocial Behavior and Peer Problems
title_sort differences in children’s social development: how migration background impacts the effect of early institutional childcare upon children’s prosocial behavior and peer problems
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
series Frontiers in Psychology
issn 1664-1078
publishDate 2021-02-01
description This article focuses on the early years of children from immigrant families in Germany. Research has documented disparities in young children’s development correlating with their family background (e.g., immigrant or ethnic minority status), making clear the importance of early intervention. Institutional childcare—as an early intervention for children at risk—plays an important role in Germany, as 34.3% of children below the age of three and 93% of children above that age are in external childcare. This paper focuses on the extent to which children from families with a background of migration differ in their social development when considering their age of entry into early external childcare (and thus its duration). Data from the infant cohort study of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS, N = 1,846) is used to analyze the impact of early institutional childcare before the age of 3 years on children’s social competence at the age of 5 years, controlling for gender, siblings, temperament, home learning activities, and socioeconomic status. Results show the effects of duration of early external childcare on peer problems for children from families with a background of migration, in such a way that children who attend early external childcare for more than 1 year before the age of three show less problem behavior with peers than those who attend for less than a year. These findings have equity implications for children with a migration background living in Germany, especially as the proportion of these children is trending upwards.
topic migration background
early childhood education and care (ECEC)
children’s social development
disadvantaged children
prosocial behavior
peer problems
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.614844/full
work_keys_str_mv AT kirakonradristau differencesinchildrenssocialdevelopmenthowmigrationbackgroundimpactstheeffectofearlyinstitutionalchildcareuponchildrensprosocialbehaviorandpeerproblems
AT larsburghardt differencesinchildrenssocialdevelopmenthowmigrationbackgroundimpactstheeffectofearlyinstitutionalchildcareuponchildrensprosocialbehaviorandpeerproblems
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