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SHORT TERM DIFFERENCES OF INFANT DEVELOPMENT IN NURSERY HOMES AND IN PRIVATE FAMILIES
Author(s) -
HANSEN A. BJERRING
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1971.tb06992.x
Subject(s) - medicine , population , pediatrics , demography , developmental psychology , environmental health , psychology , sociology
Summary The investigation was done to determine the degree to which infant homes designed to be modern and humanized are successful in rearing infants when compared to private families. Twenty‐two nursery children and twenty‐two family children were given the Hetzer‐Bühler developmental tests at ages 6 and 8 months. The two samples were controlled for health, age, sex, and social background. Characterization of the social environment was made on the basis of participant observation, home visits, and informal interviews, A remarkable similarity was found in the living environment for all the babies. There were only two marked differences between the life situation in the nurseries as compared to the private families. The emotional bonds between infant and parental figure appeared less intense, and there was a lack of continuity of the relationship. At 6 months the probability was greater than 0.5 that the two groups belonged to the same population. The nursery group showed a considerable relative retardation in the 2 months thereafter. It is suggested that the 6 first months of an infant's stay in a nursery be sufficient for arrangement of adoption or sufficient improvement in parent(s) life situation for them to take care of the child.