Does Early Childhood Education and Care for Infants and Toddlers Cause Behavior Problems Up to Age 8?

Background: The causal effect of attending Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) for infants and toddlers on child behavior problems is contested. Yet, most previous research is correlational. Findings from previous research are mixed, but with some evidence of harmful effects on children’s behavior. Some correlational studies also suggest that ECEC may be most harmful for children from socioeconomically advantaged families. Methods: We estimate the effect of age of entry into ECEC on externalizing behavior problems at ages 3, 5, and 8 years in a large sample (n=66,394) from The Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort study (MoBa). We use two quasi-experimental methods, Two-Way Fixed-Effects models and Instrumental Variable models, that exploit variations in how early families enrolled their children in ECEC due to a national scale-up of publicly funded centers. Results: In this high-powered, rigorous approach to testing the causal impact of age of entry into ECEC, we find no evidence that entry around age 1 relative to later affects behavior problems either during preschool years (at ages 3 or 5) or after school entry (at age 8 years). We also find no evidence that these effects vary by parental education or family income. Conclusion: We find no evidence suggesting that early entry into ECEC has harmful consequences for children’s behavior regulation, during the preschool years or after school entry. We argue that our null results may be due to ECEC pedagogy in Norway that emphasizes young children’s well-being and playful learning experiences.