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Age of Peers and Early Childhood Development
Author(s) -
Bailey Donald B.,
Burchinal Margaret R.,
McWilliam R. A.
Publication year - 1993
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/j.1467-8624.1993.tb02947.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , cognitive development , age groups , child development , motor skill , cognition , developmental age , linear growth , demography , mathematics , neuroscience , sociology
We examined the developmental trajectories of 59 children between 21 and 67 months of age randomly assigned to sameage or mixed‐age child care groups. Children were assessed at 6‐month intervals with the Battelle Developmental Inventory. Using a hierarchical linear model for analysis, we computed individual and group growth curves for overall development and development within 5 domains: communication, cognitive, motor, adaptive, and personal‐social. Group assignment affected the developmental trajectories for communication, cognitive, motor, and overall development, with mixed‐age children showing a quadratic trajectory and same‐age children a linear trajectory. For adaptive and personal‐social development, however, the trajectories were similar. Across all domains, the mixed‐age children tended to score higher than the same‐age children at the younger ages, but these average differences decreased over time and had disappeared by age 5 years.