ABSTRACT
Since the 1980s, dramatic increases in the number of working mothers have resulted in marked increases in the number of children who experience regular nonparental care. Today, maternal employment rates range from about 50% for mothers of infants to more than 75% for mothers of school-age children. Correspondingly, the majority of infants and more than 66% of pre-schoolers in the United States are cared for on a regular basis by someone other than the parent (Lamb, 1998). This increase in the use of nonparental care represents a major societal change in how young children are raised in the United States and has provoked a major controversy among professionals about the impact of early group care on young children’s development (Scarr & Eisenberg, 1993). These controversies have, to some extent, shaped the empirical research to date (see Lamb, 1998 for a comprehensive review of these controversies and empirical results).
