Associations Between Early Childcare Environment and Different Aspects of Adulthood Sociability: The 32-Year Prospective Young Finns Study

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Elli Oksman¹  Tom Rosenström¹  Kia Gluschkoff¹  Aino Saarinen¹  Mirka Hintsanen¹  Laura Pulkki-Råback¹  Jorma Viikari³  Olli Tuomas Raitakari³  Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen¹ 

[1] Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki;Unit of Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Oulu;Department of Clinical Physiology, Turku University Hospital;Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Turku University Hospital;Research Center of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku;Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku

关键词: sociability;    early childcare environment;    longitudinal study;    personality development;    personality assessment;    multilevel modeling;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02060

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Sociability is a widely studied trait that has been linked both with individual well- and ill-being. Although early childcare has been shown to affect social competence in children, its role in the development of different aspects of adulthood sociability is poorly understood. Using a longitudinal population-based sample ( N = 464), this study investigated whether childcare arrangements at ages 3 or 6 are associated with self-reported adulthood sociability at ages 20 to 35 years. A total of five aspects of sociability were measured using three well-established personality inventories (EAS, NEO-FFI, and TCI). Multilevel modeling was applied to examine the association between early care and adulthood sociability, adjusting for several sources of random variation (between-individual variance, within-individual variance between measurement times, variance between used sociability indicators, and error variance that cannot be attributed to the previously mentioned) and potential confounders (disruptive behavior in childhood, parental socio-economic status, parent–child relationship quality, maternal age, and the number of children in the family). Based on our results, in comparison to home care, family daycare and center-based daycare at age 3 and center-based daycare at age 6 were associated with higher sociability later in life. The association was strongest for aspects of sociability that emphasize the willingness to be surrounded by other people and to be attached to them. In other words, characteristics of early care may contribute uniquely to the development of these aspects of sociability with effects that persist into adult life.

【 授权许可】

CC BY