A recent study on a universal child care program in Quebec, Canada, grabbed some attention last week. Implemented in the late 1990s, the program offered very low cost child care to all Quebec families and resulted in a shift away from parental care. Following the full implementation, 75% of young children (age 1-4) in Quebec were in non-parental care, compared to 45% prior to implementation and 50% of children in the rest of Canada. (For comparison, about 62% of children under age 5 in the United States are in non-parental care).
The program increased labor force participation among mothers, but also negatively affected behavioral outcomes, mostly among boys. From the study when children were in their teens:
We find that the Quebec policy had a lasting negative impact on the non-cognitive skills of exposed children, but no consistent impact on their cognitive skills. At older ages, program exposure is associated with worsened health and life satisfaction, and increased rates of criminal activity. Increases in aggression and hyperactivity are concentrated in boys, as is the rise in the crime rates.
A family on the Plains of Abraham, near the Chateau Frontenac, Quebec, Canada. Shutterstock.
These results are concerning and deserve serious consideration in policy discussions around universal child care in the United States. But these findings do not necessarily mean that child care in general, and preschool programs for low-income children in particular, are harmful for children, as some headlines suggest.
As the study author’s note:
To summarize, the literature on child care and preschool seems to indicate that high quality interventions for low-income populations deliver both short and long-run benefits. But broader child care expansions [the Quebec program, as well as programs in Europe and in the US] do not appear to provide short-term benefits, with mixed evidence on long-term effects.
Broader child care expansions, such as universal pre-kindergarten, are popular policy proposals right now. This study suggests that they may not lead to positive benefits for all children, and could have some negative behavioral aspects that persist long-term. But other research specific to the United States finds that high quality child care improves academic achievement and reduces problem behaviors among children across income groups and that these positive benefits persist.
This means that short-term positive or negative effects that might result from specific child care interventions tend to persist later in life. The implication is that policy makers in the United States must hold publically-funded child care programs accountable for achieving positive results with children. If administered effectively, these programs could have profound benefits for children later in life. But if not effective, they could harm children in the long-term.
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