‘Worse health, lower life satisfaction, and higher crime rates later in life’ was reported in November to be the legacy of childcare in Quebec, Canada.
The Quebec universal childcare system is the largest programme of its kind in North America. According to research undertaken by the economist Pierre Fortin, it has helped expand the provincial economy, increased employment rates and women’s participation in the workforce, and boosted the flow of taxes into both the provincial and federal coffers.1
Longitudinal study
However, new findings from a longitudinal study have sent out a warning to both the Canadian government, and to governments throughout the Western world, that such results have been achieved at a cost to children. The study, led by researchers from three North American universities, found that children with increased childcare access ‘subsequently had worse health, lower life satisfaction, and higher crime rates later in life’. While boys were more likely to show higher levels of hyperactivity and aggression, girls were marked by a decline in prosocial behaviour.2
One of the lead researchers, Professor Kevin Milligan from the University of British Columbia, said in an interview that he had no ready explanation for the results: ‘Not quite sure what it is about the programme, whether it’s staffing, whether it’s curriculum, whether it’s funding. I don’t know the answer.’3
Attachment void
However, Andrea Mrozek, executive director of the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada, suggested that the problem does not necessarily lie with any of these four factors, but rather with what she termed an ‘attachment void’. Drawing on the research of Dr Gabor Mate and Dr Gordon Neufeld in their book, Hold On To Your Kids: Why parents need to matter more than peers, Mrozek commented that:
‘Peer attachment… is what happens when small children are placed in large groups with other small children. They begin to look to the other children as role models instead of looking to, or attaching to, loving and mature adults. The results are, not surprisingly, not good.’ 4
