Early Full-Time Day Care, Mother-Child Attachment, and Quality of the Home Environment in Chile: Preliminary Findings

Research Findings: Two longitudinal studies are reported examining the effects of full-time day care in Mapuche and non-Mapuche families in Chile. First, the Magellan-Leiden Childcare Study (MLCS) used a sample of 95 mothers with children younger than 1 year old (n = 36 in day care). Second, we partially cross-validated our results in a large and representative sample of 10,723 mothers and their children from the Chilean Encuesta Longitudinal de la Primera Infancia (Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey). In both studies, the quality of care for children provided at home was measured with the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment. In the MLCS study, additional indicators of the mother–child relationship were measured. Day care was not negatively associated with the mother–child relationship and maternal sensitivity, compared to maternal care, or with the quality of the home environment. Positive changes in attachment security were found in Mapuche children who attended day care centers. Practice or Policy: We were able to confirm that type of care was not differentially associated with quality of the home environment.

The first Bachelet administration (2006–2009) introduced the public program Chile Crece Contigo (Chile Grows With You) to improve the quality of life of young children and their mothers in Chile. An elaborate system of regular health checks, information, and help during pregnancy and after delivery to improve maternal care and child well-being was set up in well-baby clinics and hospitals. This program has been recognized as an important means of reaching a system of child health care comparable to that of developed countries. Chile Grows With You also introduced free access to full-time day care from birth up to 4 years of age for children of the 40% financially most vulnerable families. Free day care attendance for the lower socioeconomic status (SES) groups is viewed as a double protection: On the one hand, it is believed that young children will benefit from day care both cognitively and socioemotionally; on the other hand, parents of children attending day care can enter the labor market and/or improve their education and training. Parents are also expected to regularly attend workshops about parenting organized by the day care centers and to actively participate in the planning and organization of learning activities for their children (Junta Nacional de Jardines Infantiles, [28]). Parents could thus in the short or long run earn a higher family income and possibly acquire better parenting skills. Taken together, these possible effects could break the cycle of poverty, which implies that poor and unemployed parents are less likely to provide sensitive parenting and education for their offspring (Mesman, Van IJzendoorn, & Bakermans-Kranenburg, [34]), who in turn may grow up poor.

The Chile Grows With You program pays special attention to the various indigenous minority groups living in Chile (Aymara, Atacameño, Diaguita, and Mapuche) by spreading child care advice that is phrased in terms of their respective worldviews (Chile Crece Contigo, [20]). By far the largest of these groups is the Mapuche, who now primarily live in the Araucanía region, an impoverished rural area, where they represent almost 30% of the inhabitants and experience prejudice and discrimination from the mainstream culture (Dunbar, Saiz, Stela, & Saez, [23]). Resistance against the suppression by the majority culture has traditionally been strong among the Mapuche and results in regular outbursts of violence, which in turn increase the social tension in the affected areas.

The Mapuche originally practiced polygamy and lived in patrilocal extended families. Traditionally, older children were raised by all members of the patrilineal group, with an authority role for the paternal grandfather. Children were highly valued, and the number of children per woman was high (4.3 in the 1980s), twice that of the non-Mapuche, but nowadays it is similar (2.4. approximately). Breastfeeding occurred on demand and for a period of two or more years. During weaning, the mother temporarily left the care of the child to the grandparents until he or she would forget the breast. Up to 4 years of age children were in the constant company of their mother and others, positioned on a cradle-board (kulpülwe), and could observe and participate in all of the activities in the village (Caniguan, [13]; Sadler & Obach, [42]). After that age, children gradually began participating in gender-segregated work activities (e.g., taking care of the cattle, cleaning the hut or ruca). Children were not considered somehow lower and could have the same rights as adults, and harsh disciplining did not exist (Caro, [17]; Sadler & Obach, [42]). Although much of the Mapuche culture was acquired by observation and participation, the Mapuche cosmovision and significant legends were transmitted within the family through storytelling in Mapudungun, the Mapuche language (Caro, [17]).

Unfortunately, the Mapuche underwent a process of suppression and marginalization, and their traditional social structure has been eroded. Forced to live in less fertile areas, they could no longer sustain themselves through agriculture, and many younger people emigrated to the city in search of labor, which undermined the traditional family ties and the transmission of the Mapuche culture (Caniguan, [13]). The number of single mothers has increased: Both working and nonworking single mothers mostly live with their parents, which means that the grandmother has become an important socializing agent and that the Mapuche culture is partly moving to a matrilocal and matrilinear system. Mapuche living in the city may still celebrate traditional festivities and occasionally consult a Machi (medicine woman, who is in contact with the spirits), but in essence they have adopted much of the non-Mapuche culture. Mapuche in rural areas no longer live in rucas, no longer strive for large families, and have accepted school as a socializing agent, and many have adopted the Roman Catholic or, more recently, Protestant Evangelical religion. Thus, in many respects, the Mapuche have become indistinguishable from non-Mapuche of the same social class: In rural regions they live the lives of poor peasants, and in the city they perform simple manual work (Caniguan, [13]; Sadler & Obach, [42]). However, no hard data exist, and it is impossible to say what percentage of the Mapuche still adhere to what part of the traditional Mapuche culture, let alone how present-day Mapuche canalize child development. This implies that there are no prima facie reasons to believe that ethnicity in itself may influence the outcome of full-time day care for Mapuche children, although it is certainly possible. What may be expected is that Mapuche children differ from other Chilean children in that on average they are not just poor but also the subject of prejudice and discrimination.

The Chile Grows With You program is a success in that currently about 43% of Chilean women have entered the labor market and the number of public day care centers for children younger than 2 years of age grew more than fivefold between 2006 and 2009 (Chile Crece Contigo, [20]). As a result, in 2009 approximately 37.4% of preschoolers received nonmaternal care, most of them full time (Medrano, [33]). Thus, it is one of the most successful social projects of recent times, and there is little doubt that infant health care, for example, has greatly improved since the introduction of the program. It cannot be denied, however, that the Chilean policy also has its drawbacks, and both scientific experts and laypersons in Chile have expressed their fear that early full-time (i.e., from 6 months old and for 40 or more hours per week) day care attendance may harm the mother–child relationship. Present-day findings about the effect of day care on mother–child attachment form a mixed bag, and it is clear that much depends on the specific combination of potentially positive and negative factors. Of particular importance is a well-known study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network ([36]). No significant main effect for day care attendance on the attachment relationship with the mother was found, but specific combinations of conditions proved detrimental to mother–child attachment and subsequent developmental outcomes. At the age of 15 months, infants were less likely to be securely attached to their mother when low maternal sensitivity was combined with either one of the following conditions: poor quality of day care, high quantity of day care (more than 10 hr per week), or variability of day care (more than one day care arrangement). Other studies as well have shown benefits of good-quality nonmaternal care and risks of high-quantity and/or poor-quality care (e.g., Burchinal, Cryer, Clifford, & Howes, [10]; Friedman & Boyle, [26]; Love et al., [30]; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, [37]; Pierrehumbert, Ramstein, Karmaniola, Miljkovitch, & Halfon, [39]; Shpancer, [43]; Vandell, Belsky, Burchinal, Steinberg, & Vandergrift, 2010). Egeland and Hiester ([24]), for instance, found that insecurely attached children improved positively in social-emotional and self-esteem areas at the age of 42 months when they entered day care at an early age. However, securely attached children were negatively affected at that age, so the authors proposed that for populations at risk, attending day care at an early age may function as a protective factor. In sum, high-quality day care may work out well for disadvantaged and typical children, but specific combinations of risk factors (e.g., low maternal sensitivity, poor quality of day care, a high number of hours spent in day care, and frequent changes in day care) potentially endanger the quality of the mother–child bond.

From an ecological point of view, Aviezer, Sagi-Schwartz, and Koren-Karie ([3]) stressed the fact that attending low-quality day care centers may moderate the relation between maternal sensitivity and infant attachment, interfering in the process of attachment formation. Similarly, Love et al. ([30]) described that the quality of day care centers may be an important moderator for child development outcomes. For instance, in the Haifa study, low quality of care measured in terms of child–caregiver ratio was associated with a greater likelihood of developing insecure attachment, whereas the Early Head Start study showed that children from low-income groups benefit from high-quality day care centers (Love et al., [30]). Context and culture may determine whether the influence of day care on child development in general and the development of attachment in particular is beneficial or detrimental. It is suggested that with a larger gap between a stressful and less sensitive home environment on the one hand, and the provision of full-time high-quality day care by well-trained professionals on the other hand, day care might be beneficial for child development (Love et al., [30]).

There is also growing evidence that belonging to an economically disadvantaged group may negatively affect maternal sensitivity. According to the family stress model (Conger, Wallace, Sun, McLoyd, & Brody, [21]; Mistry, Lowe, Benner, & Chien, [35]), economic hardship is related to the emotional distress of parents, which in turn is associated with problems in the parent–child relationship possibly caused by a lack of emotional support and stimulation. Thus, economic problems may indirectly harm the mother–child relationship through the stress that the mother experiences. In other words, the child's home environment may be both economically and psychologically less advantageous in lower SES groups. It is possible that other noneconomic stress factors play an aggravating role. In this article we suggest that the family stress model may be expanded by including noneconomic stress factors that have to do with belonging to an ethnic minority (Aranda & Knight, [2]; McBride Murry, Brown, Brody Cutrona, & Simons, 2001; Slavin, Rainer, McCreary, & Gowda, [44]). Faced with discrimination and prejudice and overwhelmed by financial worries, mothers may be less prone to pay attention to the subtle signals of their infants and may be even less able to provide support and stimulation. In addition, mothers' opportunities to provide sensitive care for their children may be worsened by the children's absence when they receive full-time day care, resulting in even less opportunities for mother and infant to form close and warm relationships (cf. Mesman et al., [34]). Thus, experiencing prejudice and discrimination may form a risk factor for the mother–child relationship over and above existing economic disadvantages.

If true, this would be of immediate potential relevance for the Chilean context. First, the Chilean government promotes early high-quantity day care, and Chilean infants attending day care often spend 40 or more hours in day care at a very young age. This is considerably beyond the risk boundary of 10 hr found in previous studies, and it is possible that a satisfying mother–child relationship will not be formed. Also, Chilean day care centers characteristically have multiple caregivers per classroom who randomly interact with all children. Although day care in itself may reduce the variability in care placements, this arrangement still might make it more difficult for the child to form a stable relationship with a substitute caregiver. Second, the Chilean policy is to offer free public day care for the children of lower SES families. The family stress model predicts that mothers from these families on average are less likely to provide sensitive care at home because of the economic stress factors they experience. Furthermore, as mentioned before, the combination of less sensitive care at home and high quantity or high variability in day care may be a risk factor for mother–child attachment quality. Third, as mentioned previously, Chile is home to people of several indigenous groups (primarily the Mapuche), who as ethnic minorities suffer—beyond economic stress—the additional psychological stress of prejudice and discrimination. Moreover, the Chilean approach to providing early full-time day care to exactly these disadvantaged groups may potentially form a risk for the mother–child attachment relationship because of the daily separations from the mother over and above economic hardship and psychological stress. Finally, the quality of Chilean day care centers in terms of structural and process quality has been measured several times during the past decade, showing moderate levels of quality (Cárcamo, Vermeer, De la Harpe, Van der Veer, & Van IJzendoorn, [16]). Thus, high-quantity day care in combination with the moderate quality of day care may form an additional threat to maternal sensitivity and secure mother–child attachment relationships.

To the best of our knowledge, there has been just one Chilean study comparing the quality of the mother–child interaction for children attending day care compared to children receiving maternal care at home. Olhaberry ([38]) found no difference in the quality of interaction with the mother between these two groups. However, a significant association between age of entry and quality of the mother–child interaction was reported within the day care group. Children who entered a day care center before age 6 months experienced a lower quality of interaction with the mother than others who entered later (Olhaberry, [38]). Thus, this study suggested that early entrance is a risk factor. It should be noted, however, that the researcher did not control for initial interaction quality, leaving open the possibility of selection bias.

The main focus of the present study is to examine the associations of full-time day care during the first year of life and the mother–child relationship, maternal sensitivity, and the quality of the home environment. Those children in our sample who attend day care are likely to spend many hours in the day care center, and they are from low-SES environments. The day care they will receive is on average of moderate quality, and the family stress model predicts that maternal sensitivity may be low because of their vulnerable context. Taking this into account, we hypothesize that children who enter day care early and on a full-time basis may after 1 year of day care have a less adequate attachment relationship with their mother and experience lower maternal sensitivity and global quality of the home environment than those who receive maternal care at home. We also distinguish between Mapuche and non-Mapuche families because of the possibility that these groups may have different experiences in the extensive day care program promoted by the government. On the one hand, to the extent that Mapuche children are still traditionally raised by multiple caregivers, Mapuche children might feel more at home in the day care environment. On the other hand, these children may come less well equipped to the day care centers, as their caregivers, who belong to a social minority, may experience more stress than other Chileans, which according to the family stress model may translate into less adequate caregiving. In the first study, the Magellan-Leiden Childcare Study (MLCS), several indicators of the quality of mother–child interaction and the home environment were distinguished, including attachment behavior, maternal sensitivity, and the quality and quantity of support and stimulation for children provided at home (home quality). These indicators were measured just before the start of day care and at the end of the child's first year of life in Mapuche and non-Mapuche children. In the second study, using data from the Chilean Encuesta Longitudinal de la Primera Infancia (ELPI; Encuesta Longitudinal de la Primera Infancia [Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey], [25]), we cross-validated part of our results, focusing on the quality of the home environment in a large, nationally representative sample, taking into account ethnicity and type of care.

Families from three public health centers and 19 public day care centers in the Araucanía and Castro-Chiloé areas in Chile were invited to participate in this study. These areas are characterized by a high proportion of Mapuche ethnic groups in their populations. Selection through public health centers and public day care centers was most likely to sample low-income families, as these centers are gratis for the lowest incomes. Participants were eligible if they had a child younger than 1 year who had, at the start of the study, no day care experience yet. All eligible families (n = 370) received a brochure that explained the objective of the study. After a visit by one of the researchers explaining the study in more detail, 110 families (38%) confirmed their willingness to participate and gave written consent for the home interview and recording videos of mother–infant interactions. At Time 1, 51 mothers (46%) registered for public day care with the intention to have their child enter day care in the following month; the other mothers (n = 59; 54%) declared their intention to provide maternal care exclusively at least for the first year after birth.

Before the Time 2 assessment, 15 families dropped out of the study. Compared with mothers who completed the two observations, those who dropped out before Time 2 had a lower income, were younger, and more often were single mothers. Between Time 1 and Time 2, 12 mothers who initially chose day care eventually decided to provide maternal care exclusively, whereas six mothers switched from maternal care to day care. In the reported study, only those children who actually attended day care in the first year of life were included in the day care group.

The sample that completed the two observations (N = 95) consisted of low- to middle-class indigenous Mapuche (n = 39; 41%) and non-Mapuche (n = 56; 59%) families. The mean age of the infants was 6.40 months (SD = 1.58) at Time 1 and 14.85 months (SD = 1.36) at Time 2. A total of 58% of the sample (n = 55) were boys, and 38% (n = 36) were raised by single mothers. The education level of the mothers was distributed as follows: 6% (n = 6) did not attend school or did not complete primary school, 23% (n = 22) completed primary school or some years in secondary school, 58% (n = 55) finished secondary school, and 13% (n = 12) finished vocational or university studies. As for day care arrangement, 36 children (38%) attended full-time day care (M = 37.66, SD = 5.84, hr/week), and 59 children (62%) received maternal care exclusively. Means and standard deviations for demographics are displayed in Table 1 for the total group and subgroups separately. Children who received maternal care exclusively were significantly younger than those who attended day care centers, t(93) = 3.48, p < .001. There were no significant differences between these two groups in any other demographic variable (see Table 1).

Table 1. Descriptive statistics for demographic background variables in the Magellan-Leiden Childcare Study at Time 1.

• 12 Note. Numbers in rows with different letters differ significantly. F differences between the four groups (two type of care × two ethnicity) excluding total group. Chi-squares for all groups (two type of care × two ethnicity) excluding total group.
• 13 1Income: 7-point scale. 2Maternal education: 5-point scale.
• 14 *p < .05. ***p < .001.

The Attachment During Stress Scale (ADS; Massie & Campbell, [31]) was used to measure maternal sensitivity and infant attachment behavior toward the mother. The ADS is a 1-page coding system of standardized observation of mother–infant behavior composed of two separate subscales: one for infant behavior and one for mother behavior. It can be used in mildly stressful situations, such as a pediatrician's consult, but also during naturally occurring activities like dressing, feeding, and ending bathing (Massie & Campbell, [31]). The ADS, which has been extensively used in Chilean dyads (Causadias, Sroufe, & Herreros, [18]), was recently labelled one of the few reliable observational tools to measure infant–mother interactions (Tryphonopoulos, Letourneau, & Ditommaso, [45]). In a previous study it was shown that the ADS classification into insecurely and securely attached infants concurs reasonably well with classification based on the Strange Situation Procedure, which is considered to be the gold standard in attachment research, χ2(1, _I_N_i_ = 69) = 13.20, p < .001, d = 0.96. The ADS also captures aspects of maternal sensitivity as measured by Ainsworth's rating scale (for details, see Cárcamo, Van IJzendoorn, Vermeer, & Van Der Veer, [15]).

Both ADS subscales share the same contents, scoring system, and procedure. Each subscale contains seven typical attachment behaviors: gazing, vocalizing, touching (infant clinging), touching (resisting contact), holding, affect, and proximity. These seven behaviors are scored on a scale from 1 to 5, where scores of 1 and 2 indicate less contact and avoidant behavior, scores of 3 and 4 represent the use of the attachment figure as a secure base (for the mother subscale: sensitive behavior), and a score of 5 represents overanxious behavior or an unusually strong reaction to stress (for the mother subscale: an unusually strong reaction to stress of the child). Trained students who conducted the visits recorded three types of mother–child interaction (changing a diaper, free play, and feeding) at home at both time points. The video recordings were coded afterward by four coders who were trained to reliability on either the infant subscale or the mother subscale and who also participated in the validation of the scale (Cárcamo, Van IJzendoorn et al., [16]). The observers independently coded mother and child behavior; coders who coded infant behavior did not code mother behavior for the same mother–infant pair and vice versa.

For our purposes and statistical analysis, we did not use the scores for touching (resisting contact) and holding behaviors, as those behaviors did not occur frequently enough in the current sample to be taken into account. We calculated a single score of attachment security and maternal sensitivity independently for infant and mother based on the frequencies of the secure scores (scores 3 and 4) obtained for each of the five behaviors displayed. For example, "frequently reaches toward and touches mother" was considered secure infant behavior, whereas "always looks away from mother's face" was scored as insecure infant behavior. As for mother behavior, "frequently reaches toward and touches child" was scored as sensitive behavior, whereas "never touches or reaches toward child" was scored as insensitive mother behavior. Thus, infant and mother independently got a score between 0 and 5. For the infant subscale, 0 represents no secure attachment behavior displayed, and 5 means that all of the behaviors were scored as typically seen in a securely attached child. For the mother subscale, 0 represents no sensitive behavior displayed to regulate the child's stress, and 5 means that all of the behaviors displayed were sensitive in terms of regulating the stress of the child. To establish interrater reliability, we used a separate set of video recordings from another Chilean study (Cárcamo, Lagos, & Gómez, 2013). The four observers independently coded infant behavior (n = 15) in a reliable way, reaching Fleiss κ = .63; mother behavior from 15 different mother–infant dyads was coded with Fleiss κ = .77.

The Infant/Toddler Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (IT-HOME; Caldwell & Bradley, [12]) was used to measure the quality and quantity of stimulation and support available to the child in the home environment. The IT-HOME is composed of 45 items that can be scored as positive (1) or negative (0) based on 30 min of observation and a semistructured interview afterward. The binary-choice items are summed and provide a total score, which may range from 0 to 45, the latter showing the highest quality of the home environment. The HOME Inventory has been demonstrated to be a valid instrument in the Chilean context (Bustos, Herrera, & Mathiesen, [11]) and in U.S. minority groups (Bradley, Corwyn, McAdoo, & Coll, [8]). Internal consistency of the instrument was moderate at Time 1, with a Cronbach's alpha of.58, and good at Time 2 (α = .71). However, the HOME aims to assess potentially independent features of the environment, and high internal consistency should not be expected (Bradley, Corwyn, & Whiteside-Mansell, [9]). Observations were done by eight students in the fifth year of a psychology undergraduate program who followed an elaborate training procedure (i.e., studying the manual, discussing items, video observations, and three home visits). Interrater reliability was established to a criterion of 80% agreement with expert criteria scores during the training procedure. Observations at each time point were done by different observers. For the purpose of this study, IT-HOME mean scores are reported, which are obtained by dividing the number of items that are scored positively by the total number of items on the scale (45).

The ethnicity of the family was determined by self-report (cf. Baumeister, Marchi, Pearl, Williams, & Braveman, [5]; Boehmer et al., [6]). Families were defined as Mapuche when mothers stated in the interview that their children lived in a Mapuche family.

Mothers were asked for the monthly family income in Chilean pesos (CLP) and the number of household members. This resulted in the following 7-point scale of per capita income: 1 = no income, 2 = less than 61,911 CLP (114 USD), 3 = between 61,912 and 105,907 CLP (195 USD), 4 = between 105,908 and 167,879 CLP (310 USD), 5 = between 167,880 and 300,869 CLP (554 USD), 6 = between 300,870 and 2,500,000 CLP (4,604 USD), and 7 = more than 2,500,000 CLP. The range of the classifications was based on the five quintiles from the Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas de Chile (National Institute of Chilean Statistics), and the last quintile was divided into two categories because of its large range.

The level of maternal education was self-reported on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = no education or incomplete elementary, 2 = incomplete secondary school, 3 = secondary school, 4 = vocational education, 5 = university studies).

Families were visited twice by different students at each time point. All families (both Mapuche and non-Mapuche) were fluent in Spanish, the language of communication. Time 1 observations took place just before children started day care, and Time 2 observations were scheduled approximately 8 months later. Each time point consisted of two visits taking approximately 2 hr each. During the first visit, the IT-HOME, validated for Chile by Bustos et al. ([11]), was administered and mothers were asked to fill out the questionnaires concerning background information. The second visit consisted of video recordings during three standard episodes of mother–infant interaction (changing a diaper, free play, and feeding the baby). At both time points, the same procedures and measures were used.

Using one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) we examined whether there were significant differences in background variables distinguishing type of care (maternal care vs. day care) and ethnicity (Mapuche vs. non-Mapuche). The ANOVAs showed that there were overall significant effects for income and child age: income, F(3, 91) = 3.88, p = .012, η2 = .11; child age, F(3, 91) = 6.18, p = .001, η2 = .17 (see Table 1 for details). To test for group differences in dichotomous background variables, we performed chi-square analyses. No significant differences between groups were found for child gender or marital status (see Table 1).

From Table 2 it can be derived that children receiving day care were older and had more sensitive mothers at Time 1 than children receiving maternal care. Furthermore, non-Mapuche families had a higher income, provided higher quality care, and had children who displayed more secure attachment behavior than those from Mapuche families at Time 1.

Table 2. Correlations between child rearing and demographic background variables at time 1 in the MLCS (N = 95) and ELPI (N = 10,723).

• 15 Note. Correlations above the diagonal represent the ELPI study. MLCS = Magellan-Leiden Childcare Study; ELPI = Chilean Encuesta Longitudinal de la Primera Infancia; HOME = Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment; ADS = Attachment During Stress Scale.
• 16 aType of care: maternal care = 0, day care = 1. In this table, maternal care and late day care in ELPI are combined as maternal care. bEthnicity: Mapuche = 0, non-Mapuche = 1. cMarital status: single = 0, couple = 1 (married or unmarried).
• 17 *p < .05. ** p < .01. ***p < .001.

Quality of the home environment was modestly stable between Time 1 and Time 2. In addition, infant attachment behavior and ADS mother sensitivity measured at Time 2 were positively associated with maternal education level. Finally, higher ADS mother sensitivity at Time 2 was associated with higher quality of the home environment at Time 2, more secure infant attachment behavior at Time 1, more secure infant attachment behavior at Time 2, and higher ADS mother sensitivity at Time 1 (see Table 2 for details).

To test our hypotheses about whether a decrease in the quality of the attachment relationship, in maternal sensitivity, and in the quality of the home environment during the child's first year of life was associated with day care (compared to maternal care) and Mapuche (vs. non-Mapuche) ethnicity, we conducted two repeated measures multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVAs). Mean scores for both time points separated for type of care and ethnic group are displayed in Table 3. In the first doubly repeated measures MANCOVA, children's attachment relationship with the mother and maternal sensitivity—both measured with the ADS—were dependent variables, whereas in the second MANCOVA quality of the home environment was the dependent variable. In both analyses, time was included as a within-subjects variable and type of care and ethnicity as between-subjects factors. In addition, parental income and child age were included as covariates because of the significant associations with the variables of interest.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics for child rearing variables in the Magellan-Leiden Childcare Study (N = 95).

18 Note. Data are M (SD). Sample distribution: Mapuche in maternal care, n = 26; Mapuche in day care, n = 13; non-Mapuche in maternal care, n = 33; non-Mapuche in day care, n = 23. HOME = Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment; ADS = Attachment During Stress Scale.

A repeated measures MANCOVA on children's attachment relationship and mother sensitivity using a 2 (time: Time 1 vs. Time 2) × 2 (type of care: maternal care vs. day care) × 2 (ethnicity: Mapuche vs. non-Mapuche) design with parental income and child age as covariates did not yield significant main effects of time for either attachment or maternal sensitivity: attachment, Pillai's, F(1, 89) = 0.71 p = .40, ηp2 = .01; maternal sensitivity, Pillai's, F(1, 89) = 0.04, p = .84, ηp2 = .00. Thus, for the whole group attachment and maternal sensitivity did not change over time. However, we found a significant interaction effect of ethnicity by infant attachment behavior and a three-way interaction effect of type of care by ethnicity by infant attachment behavior: infant attachment behavior, Pillai's, F(1, 89) = 6.04, p = .016, ηp2 = .06; type of care by ethnicity by infant attachment behavior, Pillai's, F(1, 89) = 4.13, p = .045, ηp2 = .04. As can be seen in Figure 1, infant attachment behavior positively changed from Time 1 to Time 2 but only for Mapuche children, and specifically for those children who received day care in the first year of life.

Graph: Figure 1. Changes in attachment behavior over time dependent on type of care and ethnicity.

To test whether an increase in the quality of the home environment during the child's first year of life was associated with day care (compared to maternal care) and Mapuche (vs. non-Mapuche) ethnicity, we conducted another repeated measures MANCOVA. We used a 2 (time: Time 1 vs. Time 2) × 2 (type of care: maternal care vs. day care) × 2 (ethnicity: Mapuche vs. non-Mapuche) design with parental income and child age as covariates. This did not yield a significant main effect of time, Pillai's, F(1, 89) = 0.10, p = .751, ηp2 = .00. Also, we did not find any interaction effects between type of care, ethnicity, and quality of the home environment.

Our hypothesis that full-time early day care might be associated with lower quality of child attachment behavior, lower maternal sensitivity, and home quality was not confirmed. Nor did we find that such negative associations were even stronger for the Mapuche minority. On the contrary, the group of Mapuche children showed improved attachment behavior after 1 year of day care. Type of care (day care vs. maternal care) was not associated with changes in maternal sensitivity and quality of the home environment.

Thus, the implementation of the new Chilean policy to promote full-time early day care attendance is not associated with lower maternal sensitivity, child attachment behavior, and quality of the home environment. Mapuche children seemed to benefit from day care, as they showed more secure attachment behavior after 1 year of day care, but a causal relation cannot be assumed on the basis of this descriptive longitudinal study. Day care may alleviate some of the strains and stresses associated with belonging to an ethnic minority group with a low SES, as the family stress model suggests, and thus create a more favorable home environment for children (Mesman et al., [34]). This improvement, however, could not be detected in our sensitivity and HOME measures.

The family stress model predicts that mothers who suffer from financial stress, bad housing conditions, marital discord, and so on, are less sensitive in reacting to their infants. However, in the MLCS we did not find an association between sensitivity in mothers and family income. Early and full-time day care in itself did not seem to be negatively associated with the security of the mother–child relationship. On the contrary, like in the study of Egeland and Hiester ([24]), those children who showed less secure behavior before attending day care showed more secure behavior after 1 year of day care, suggesting that for that group day care may be a protective factor. We do not yet have evidence to explain this set of results, but we suggest the following possibilities. First, mothers may compensate for the time children spend at day care by interacting with increased intensity and sensitivity with their children at home and may be more capable of doing so as day care provides them with temporary relief from the daily responsibilities of parenting (Ahnert, Rickert, & Lamb, [1]; Egeland & Hiester, [24]). Second, day care centers may provide adequate models of caregiver–child interaction that parents and their children reproduce in their interactions at home. Third, professional caregivers may have beneficial effects on the children, which may positively influence mother–child interaction. Although caregiver sensitivity was not measured in the current study, there are indications that the caregiver–child interactions in Chilean day care centers are of high quality thanks to the high level of education of the caregivers (at least 4 years of university or its equivalent) and the high number of caregivers per classroom (Cárcamo, Vermeer et al., [16]).

Furthermore, we expected a positive association between maternal sensitivity and attachment, as has been previously reported in the literature (De Wolff & Van IJzendoorn, [22]). However, we found a significant positive association between these variables at Time 2 but not at Time 1. A possible explanation for this inconsistency might involve the age of the children. According to attachment theory, at the age of 6 and 7 months (Time 1 in the current study), children are just beginning to develop a preference for the key attachment figure, maintaining proximity by signals and locomotion (Bowlby, [7]). In other words, it is possible that even though the mothers in our sample at Time 1 showed sensitive behavior, children had not yet—because of their young age—developed all of the attachment behaviors that are indicative of security. At Time 2, when the children were around 14 months, it is more likely that a broad range of attachment behaviors were displayed. It should be noted that the ADS was validated for infants in the age range between 11 and 14 months (Cárcamo, Van IJzendoorn et al., [16]). The measure has been widely used at earlier ages, in particular in Chile, but it might be less valid when infants do not yet display the whole spectrum of attachment behaviors.

This is the first longitudinal study in Chile to report on the effects of early full-time day care on mother–child attachment and quality of the home environment. It is also the first empirical study focusing on infant attachment behavior and maternal sensitivity of the Mapuche minority in their region of origin. A limitation of the study is that we did not measure the quality of day care and caregiver sensitivity in the day care centers involved. Future studies should take these factors into account to be able to investigate our suggestions about the potential compensatory functions of professional day care. Another limitation of our study is the limited sample size, which restricts the generalizability of the results. For this reason we decided to partially replicate our findings using the ELPI data base.

The results of this study are of potential value for any government that contemplates introducing free early full-time day care for lower SES groups. Contrary to what was feared by both experts and laymen, such measures seem to do no harm to the mother–child relationship and may even prove beneficial to specific subgroups. Whether such provisions result in the positive effects on both parents and children envisioned by the Chilean administration and can break the cycle of poverty still needs to be established, as our correlational study cannot address causal questions and did not include a long-term follow-up.

The ELPI is a joint effort by the Chilean Ministry of Education and the University of Chile to collect data about early childhood that allow researchers to evaluate the effect of government policies. A representative sample of more than 15,000 children from 6 months up to 5 years old and their families from all over the country are being followed in a longitudinal study. Caregivers and relatives are interviewed, children and caregivers are subjected to a battery of psychological tests, and demographic data are gathered. The instruments used and the raw data collected at the first two measurement rounds, in 2010 and 2012, respectively, were available to our research team. To the extent that the ELPI used the same instruments as were used in the MLCS, this large data set thus gives us an excellent opportunity to test the generalizability of some of the MLCS findings. The focus is on type of care and the associations with quality of the home environment, with special attention to ethnic differences. More specifically, we examine whether lower or decreasing quality of the home environment is associated with day care attendance (compared to maternal care) and whether this holds also for the Mapuche ethnic minority group in contrast to non-Mapuche majority Chilean families.

ELPI data were available for two time points, in 2010 and 2012. We included families with data on the central outcome variables at both time points. Percentages of missing data ranged from 0.9% for maternal education to 3.9% for income. There were no missing data for our principal measure, the quality of the home environment (IT-HOME and Early Childhood Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment [EC-HOME]). To obtain a complete data set prior to the analyses, multiple imputation was performed (10 iterations; Goldstein & Woodhouse, [27]; Van Buuren, [46]) including all available variables in the data set using predictive mean matching to impute missing data (Little, [29]; Rubin, [41]). Finally, the pooled imputed data set (N = 10,723) was used for the subsequent analysis. A total of 776 (7%) families belonged to the Mapuche ethnic minority group, and 9,947 (93%) families belonged to the majority group in Chile.

The mean age of all mothers was 29.40 years (SD = 7.17) at Time 1. The mean age of the children was 30.50 months (SD = 12.76; range = 7–56 months) at Time 1 and 56.54 months (SD = 12.77; range = 33–83 months) at Time 2. A total of 50% of the sample consisted of boys (n = 5,391), and 39% (n = 3,070) were raised by single mothers. The education level of the mothers was distributed as follows: 0.4% (n = 43) did not attend school or did not complete primary school, 18% (n = 1,930) completed primary school or some years in secondary school, 65% (n = 6,970) finished secondary school, and 17% (n = 1,780) finished vocational or university studies.

Because our main interest was type of care and Mapuche ethnicity, we only included families belonging to the Mapuche and majority (hereafter, "non-Mapuche") ethnic groups, and we left out other ethnic minorities, such as Aymara, Atacameño, and Diaguita, who represent a much smaller part of the Chilean population (see the introduction).

Furthermore, we distinguished between children who started day care before 24 months (early day care) and after 24 months (late day care). This was done because the children in the ELPI study were older than the children in the MLCS and because the time span between Time 1 and Time 2 was greater than in the MLCS. This resulted in three groups: the maternal care group (n = 1,337; 12.5%), the early day care group (n = 2,922; 27.2%), and the late day care group (n = 6,464; 60.3%).

The first time point for assessment was in 2010. During the first visit, the interviewers (n = 467; 78% female) introduced the ELPI through a letter that explained the study, highlighting its importance for the development of new public policies and clarifying anonymity and voluntary participation. Interviewers tried to engage the participants, collected demographic data, and arranged the second visit. The second visit was conducted by 326 observers (85% female), all of whom had a higher education in the social sciences, mostly psychology. The goal of the second visit was to measure the child's physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development and the quality of the home environment. In the reported study, we only use data on the home environment. Observations during the second visit were completed for 91.6% of the families interviewed during the first visit. Interviewers received extensive training explaining the goal of the study, details of the survey, and standardization of the procedures. Data collection took place in 2010; all of the surveys were double-checked by supervisors, and 10% of the interviews were also supervised during data collection to ensure high quality of the process and the data.

The second time point for assessments was in 2012, and the same procedure was followed. The first visit was intended to reengage the family into the study and to make an appointment for the second visit by a professional psychologist.

Quality of the home environment was measured with the IT-HOME at Time 1. For the majority of the sample (n = 10,483; 97.7%) the EC-HOME (Caldwell & Bradley, [12]) was used at Time 2; in 240 families the IT-HOME was used at Time 2. In both measures, a restricted number of items were selected in the ELPI study, so we have included all of the items that are accessible (32 items for the IT-HOME at Time 1 and 22 items at Time 2, and 16 items for the EC-HOME). Bivariate correlations between the IT-HOME at Time 1 and Time 2 and between the IT-HOME and EC-HOME were comparable (r = .24 and r = .26, respectively). The internal consistency of both instruments was good, with Cronbach's alphas of.77 for the IT-HOME at Time 1, .75 for the IT-HOME at Time 2, and.81 for the EC-HOME at Time 2. Because of the comparable content of items, correlations, and reliabilities, we decided to aggregate scores across the IT-HOME and EC-HOME (at Time 2), resulting in one score for Time 2 (hereafter, "EC-HOME").

The ethnicity of the family was defined by self-report. Families were defined as belonging to the Mapuche when the mother and/or principal caregiver stated in the interview that they belonged to this particular minority.

Mothers or main caregivers were asked for the monthly family income in CLP. This resulted in the following 10 categories: 1 = less than 64,000 CLP (118 USD), 2 = between 64,000 and 132,000 CLP (243 USD), 3 = between 132,000 and 250,000 CLP (460 USD), 4 = between 250,000 and 350,000 CLP (645 USD), 5 = between 350,000 and 450,000 CLP (829 USD), 6 = between 450,000 and 650,000 CLP (1,197 USD), 7 = between 650,000 and 850,000 CLP (1,565 USD), 8 = between 850,000 and 1,050,000 CLP (1,934 USD), 9 = between 1,050,000 and 1,250,000 CLP (2,302 USD), 10 = and more than 1,250,000 CLP.

The level of maternal education was self-reported using 19 categories ranging from no education to postgraduate. For the purposes of comparison with the MLCS, we transformed these categories into a 5-point scale (1 = no education or incomplete elementary, 2 = incomplete secondary school, 3 = secondary school, 4 = vocational education, 5 = university studies).

Using one-way ANOVAs we examined whether there were significant differences in background variables distinguishing type of care (maternal care, early day care, and late day care) and ethnicity (Mapuche vs. non-Mapuche). As Table 4 shows, overall mean scores for relevant background variables were significantly different across groups. Overall differences across groups were found for income, maternal education, mother age, and child age: income, F = 20.35, p < .001, η2 = .01, df = (5, 10717); maternal education, F = 45.87, p < .001, η2 = .02, df = (5, 10717); mother age, F = 10.36, p < .001, η2 = .00, df = (5, 10717); child age, F = 535.28, p < .001, η2 = .20, df = (5, 10717). Post hoc tests to detect significant pairwise comparisons (see Table 4) showed that within each of the three types of care groups Mapuche mothers had a significantly lower income and education level than non-Mapuche mothers. Within type of care groups, there were no significant differences between ethnic groups regarding mother's age or child's age.

Table 4. Descriptive statistics for demographic background variables in the Chilean Encuesta Longitudinal de la Primera Infancia at Time 1.

• 19 Note. MC = maternal care; ED = early day care; LD = late day care; M = Mapuche; nM = non-Mapuche.
• 20 aPairwise comparisons are between ethnic groups within type of care.
• 21 ***p < .001.

Chi-square testing was done for all dichotomous variables. No significant differences across groups were found for child gender. However, marital status differed significantly across groups: The early day care group consisted of more single mothers than the maternal care group (χ2 = 61.90, p = .001) and the late day care group (χ2 = 99.60, p = .001; see Table 4).

At both time points, significant bivariate positive correlations were found between quality of the home environment and income and maternal education. Moreover, ethnicity was also associated with income and quality of the home environment at Time 1 (see Table 2). Mapuche families had a lower income and lower quality of the home environment.

To test whether the quality of the home environment changed across the two time points dependent on type of care and ethnicity, we conducted a repeated measures MANCOVA. Mean scores for both time points by type of care and by ethnic group are displayed in Table 5. Because the imputed data sets did not provide pooled outcomes for repeated measures analysis, we report the whole range of Fs, p values, and partial eta-squared scores from the five imputations. All of the analyses were done with and without child age as a covariate, and because the results remained the same, we decided to keep this variable as a covariate. We used a 2 (time: Time 1 vs. Time 2) × 3 (type of care: maternal care, early day care, and late day care) × 2 (ethnicity: Mapuche vs. non-Mapuche) design with parental income and child age as covariates. This analysis yielded a significant main effect of time, Pillai's, 58.68 ≤ F(1, 10710) ≤ 63.97, p < .001,.005 ≤ ηp2 ≤ .006). Thus, for the whole group, quality of the home environment decreased over time. However, this main effect was qualified by a three-way interaction effect of quality of the home environment by income and ethnicity, showing that in Mapuche families of a lower SES a decrease in home quality was most apparent, Pillai's, 3.85 ≤ F(1, 10710) ≤ 6.28,.012 ≤ p ≤ .050, ηp2 = .00. No other interaction effects were found.

Table 5. Descriptive statistics for quality of the home environment in the Chilean Encuesta Longitudinal de la Primera Infancia (N = 10,723).

22 Note. Data are M (SD). HOME = Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment.

To take a closer look at the interaction effect, we dichotomized the variable income using a median split (Mdn = 4), resulting in two income groups: lower income (n = 6,409; 60%) versus higher income (n = 4,314; 40%). For each income level, we performed a repeated measures analysis using a 2 (time: Time 1 vs. Time 2) × 3 (type of care: maternal care, early day care, and late day care) × 2 (ethnicity: Mapuche vs. non-Mapuche) design with child age as a covariate. For the lower income group, only a time effect was significant, Pillai's, 40.42 ≤ F(1, 6402) ≤ 45.45, p < .001,.005 ≤ ηp2 ≤ . 006. This result indicates that within the lower income group, all families experienced a decrease in the quality of the home environment independent of the type of care and ethnicity. For the higher income group, the analysis also yielded a significant main effect of time, Pillai's, 27.53 ≤ F(1, 4307) ≤ 31.03, p = .001,.006 ≤ ηp2 ≤ . 007. Thus, for the whole higher income group, quality of the home environment decreased over time. However, this main effect was qualified by a two-way interaction effect of quality of the home environment by ethnicity only in two data sets: the original data set and one of the five imputed data sets: original data set (prior to imputation, 4% of subjects excluded), Pillai's, F(1, 4116) = 4.52, p = .034, ηp2 = .001; one of the five imputed data sets, Pillai's, F(1, 4341) = 3.87, p = .049, ηp2 = .001. This interaction effect shows that in the higher income group, Mapuche families experienced a more evident decline in the quality of the home environment than non-Mapuche families. However, for the majority of the imputed data sets there was no significant interaction effect and the effect sizes were very small, implying that within the higher income group, if ethnicity played a role, it was very small.

Our analysis of data from the ELPI data set showed that the quality of the home environment decreased from Time 1 to Time 2 irrespective of the type of care (day care vs. maternal care). In Mapuche families of a lower SES a decrease in home quality was most apparent, but within the higher income group the association with ethnicity was weak. Thus, the ELPI data show that type of day care does not differentially affect the quality of the home environment. Full-time early day care has neither positive nor negative associations with the quality of the home environment compared with maternal care. The fact that quality of the home environment decreased for all families from Time 1 to Time 2 remains to be explained. It is possible that parents pay less attention to the quality of the home environment as the child grows older and/or they have to divide their limited attention over more siblings (see Figure 2). The combination of the EC-HOME and IT-HOME might have increased the error component of the home quality assessment, which might have impacted the development of quality over time. However, this effect must have been small, as almost 98% of ratings were based on the EC-HOME.

Graph: Figure 2. Trajectory of quality of the home environment scores across time in Mapuche and non-Mapuche children with different types of care arrangements. In the MLCS study there are no children representing the late day care group. HOME = Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment; MLCS = Magellan-Leiden Childcare Study; ELPI = Chilean Encuesta Longitudinal de la Primera Infancia.

Another explanation might be that the transition to more formal routines for older children might lead to a decline in HOME quality. A study conducted by Rodriguez and Tamis-LeMonda ([40]) showed that the quality of the home environment as measured with the HOME was likely to decline in the first 5 years of life. These authors highlighted that a decline in home quality was especially evident in low-income families and ethnic minority families. They provided an explanation that may also be applicable to our study, namely, that families may struggle in the transition from more informal routines to support children's development in the early years to formal modes of teaching as children enter school (Rodriguez & Tamis-LeMonda, [40]).

In this representative sample, it was possible to show that the ethnic group of Mapuche compared to the majority population shows a significantly lower level of income, education, and quality of the home environment. It is possible that Mapuche families, although they have massively migrated to the city and actively participate in Chilean society, still experience inequality. Celis, Modrego, and Berdegué ([19]) have suggested that Mapuche families not only have economic problems but run into other problems of inequality as well. As these authors claimed, it may be the limited access to various activities and institutions that determines these individuals' condition of poverty and marginality.

The strength of the ELPI is that it is a longitudinal study that uses observational measures (e.g., the HOME) in a very large sample that is representative of Chile. Also, it covers a wide child age range and distinguishes between early and late day care entrance. A limitation of the ELPI, for our purpose, is that it does not include a measurement of attachment behavior or maternal sensitivity. Another limitation is that the ELPI does not measure day care center quality.

The findings of the ELPI study show that the massive introduction of full-time early day care in Chile had no negative (or positive) consequences for the quality of the home environment of the families involved. They further reveal that the Mapuche show a significantly lower level of income, education, and quality of the home environment than their fellow Chileans. Both findings are of potential value for policymakers.

Both the MLCS and the ELPI showed that type of care (maternal care vs. day care) was not associated with changes in the quality of the home environment. In the MLCS no changes in the quality of the home environment were found between Time 1 and Time 2. However, in the ELPI we found that the quality of the home environment decreased from Time 1 to Time 2 irrespective of the type of care (maternal care vs. day care). It should be noted that in the two studies the average age of the children differed, with higher ages in the ELPI study compared to the MLCS study. As noted already, this decline might be related to the fact that families may have problems with moving from more informal routines in the early years to formal modes of supporting their children's learning processes as children enter school (Rodriguez & Tamis-LeMonda, [40]).

It is important to note that within the ELPI study lower quality of the home environment was more apparent in the group of Mapuche with lower income. Moreover, when we distinguished between groups with lower and higher income, the decline in home quality was significant over time for the lower income group independent of ethnicity. However, for the high-income group, the decrease in the quality of the home environment was more evident for the Mapuche group, albeit with a small effect size. According to the family stress model, stressors such as low SES, belonging to an ethnic minority group, or the combination of these two factors may result in less responsive parenting and lower quality of the home environment for the developing child. It is not only the scarcity of resources such as play materials and books that causes this lower parenting quality but also the strains and stresses of a low status in a hierarchical social context and the allocation of attentional resources to survival needs other than parenting (Mesman et al., [34]). In both studies we found that Mapuche families had significantly lower incomes than non-Mapuche families and, moreover, that Mapuche mothers had a lower education level, which may indicate their subordinate position in Chilean society.

Within the lower income group, all families experienced a decrease in the quality of the home environment independent of the type of care and ethnicity. The early home environment has been proven to be eminently predictive of later cognitive and language development, and thus it seems critical to complement the implementation of the Chile Grows With You policy with supportive family-based interventions to enhance the level of the HOME. In a meta-analysis of 56 interventions targeting the home environment of 7,350 families across the globe, Bakermans-Kranenburg, Van IJzendoorn, and Bradley ([4]) found that interventions were most effective when they were limited in duration and number of sessions (not more than 16 sessions) and were home based. From a social policy perspective, this suggests that programs designed to improve the quality of the home environment, in particular for low-income groups, should include not only center-based provision of child care but also family-based services that include assistance in schooling, finding employment, and enhancing the quality of parent–child responsive interactions (cf. Bakermans-Kranenburg et al., [4]).

It should be noted that the new public policy to try and lessen inequalities starting with freely available public day care in early childhood is a promising first step that may be associated with more opportunities for the next generation of Mapuche to be able to develop their potential. At any rate we did not find indications of negative consequences of such a policy for parenting or for children's attachments as far as we were able to assess these complex constructs in the current studies. On the contrary, children from lower SES groups showed more secure behavior after 1 year of day care, just like in the Early Head Start study reported by Love et al. ([30]). Our findings did not corroborate the family stress model and suggest that such models, although valuable, are one sided in that they specify risk factors but do not take compensatory factors (e.g., high-quality full-time day care) into account. Our finding of children from lower SES profiting more from day care in terms of increased attachment security also refutes the idea of a universal Matthew effect (Bakermans-Kranenburg et al., [4]). The Matthew effect in this context implies that those who have receive, and have-nots would be unlikely to profit from supportive environments. What we found is that children of low SES especially improved their attachments to parents when they attended full-time day care, presumably because it alleviated the daily parental stresses of having to cope with poverty and other adversities and because of the highly qualified day care providers.

The MLCS used various indicators and instruments to measure the quality of the home environment, but the size and representativeness of the sample may be a cause of concern. The study clearly is the result of a compromise between the requirement of in-depth, time-consuming observational assessments of core constructs such as attachment and parental sensitivity on the one hand and the need to involve a sample of sufficient size to allow for precise estimates and statistical associations on the other hand. The ELPI study included just one instrument to measure the quality of the home environment, but the sample was large and representative. In this respect, the two studies complement each other. However, we were only able to partially cross-validate results of the MLCS using data from the ELPI study focusing on the quality of the home environment. In this respect, the findings from the rather small but intensive MLCS do not seem incompatible with the outcome of the large but extensive ELPI with more variation in SES levels.

Full-time day care is not associated with less secure attachments or less sensitive parenting in a minority group. These findings are promising for the Chile Grows With You policy. We found that attending day care from a very young age and for many hours per week is not necessarily associated with more insecure attachments. The worries of both laypersons and experts about negative consequences of full-time day care may in the case of Chilean society be unfounded. However, it remains to be seen whether the alleged positive effects of this policy (higher cognitive and socioemotional skills in children, increased labor participation and better education for parents) will become a reality. We suggest that a more intensive family-based support system aimed at the enhancement of the home environment will be needed to complement the provision of freely accessible full-time day care by well-trained professionals to reach these ambitious goals. Future research will have to show whether the family-related policy of the Chilean government indeed has the expected positive effects on the cognitive and socioemotional development of children.

This study was made possible by a grant awarded to the first author by the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research CONICYT, Chile (Becas Chile) and FONDECYT 11140663. We would like to thank the Junta Nacional de Jardines Infantiles JUNJI Araucania in Chile and the Corporacion Municipal de Castro for their invaluable collaboration.