Le rôle de la garde non-maternelle sur le développement cognitif et la sécrétion cortisolaire des enfants : investigations longitudinales populationnelles et méta-analytiques
Abstract  The present doctoral thesis aims at determining under which conditions child-care experiences may be associated (positively or negatively) with children’s stress levels and cognitive development. It comprises one literature review and three empirical studies.  The first study is a literature review (meta-analysis type) which summarizes the studies on child-care experiences and children’s stress (as indexed by cortisol) in order to identify individual and environmental conditions under which child-care is associated with elevated cortisol concentrations. Findings suggest that child-care may be more stressful, as reflected in higher salivary cortisol concentrations, for children who are less socially competent or who received low quality child-care services. However, some pieces of evidence suggest that cortisol elevations in child-care are transient and fade out as children grow older The second study uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth [NLSCY]; (n=3093). The goal is to determine whether the association between non-maternal care and receptive vocabulary skills depend upon children’s home environment. Results show that children from low socioeconomic status who received full-time (< 25 hours/week) child-care services in their first year of life obtain higher scores on a measure of receptive vocabulary at 4 ½ years than those who were cared for by their mothers (d=0.58).  The goal of the third study is to document further the longer-term benefits of early child-care attendance on disadvantaged children’s school readiness and school achievement. This study uses data from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development [QLSCD]; (n=2120). Findings reveal that child-care services produce benefits over maternal care for children from low educated mothers on a measure of receptive vocabulary (d=0.30) and cognitive school readiness (d=0.56) in kindergarten, and number knowledge in first grade (d=0.43). Overall, child-care services produce no advantage or disadvantage for children who do not experience risks in their home.  The objective of the fourth study is to identify key family factors associated with low child-care services utilization, using the QLSCD sample. Results show that maternal unemployment during pregnancy, low levels of maternal education; insufficient household income, having more than two siblings, high levels of maternal overprotection, and low levels of cognitive stimulation are associated with lower child-care services use (30.7% of the Quebec sample).  In sum, children who are the most likely to benefit from child-care services in terms of their development are also those who are less likely to receive it.
Stress Cortisol Child-Care Early childhood School readiness Academic achievment Receptive vocabulary Social disparities