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Children at Play: The Role of Peers in Understanding the Effects of Child Care
Author(s) -
Fabes Richard A.,
Hanish Laura D.,
Martin Carol Lynn
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8624.00586
Subject(s) - affect (linguistics) , child care , psychology , child health , developmental psychology , child development , health care , medicine , nursing , pediatrics , political science , communication , law
Although the studies of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network (this issue) and of Watamura, Donzella, Alwin, and Gunnar (this issue) identify the potential of child care to affect children's adjustment, how these effects are produced remains unclear. In this commentary, it is argued that there is a need to expand child care research by considering one of the most important, but unrecognized, contributors to child care effects—peers. Research is reviewed that suggests that children's interactions in same‐sex peer groups at child care affect their short‐ and long‐term adjustment. We consider how research on early peer influences can inform the findings of the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network and Watamura et al. studies, as well as contribute to the next generation of child care research.