| In order to determine how early experiences affect children’s abilities to cope with later trauma, this study examined archival data to assess whether the duration of relationship between infant and substitute care provider is associated with greater resilience as measured by concordance between parent and care provider scores on the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment for Infants and Toddlers (DECA-I/T). I investigated two hypotheses: First, infants who have been in a consistent relationship with the care provider for longer duration of time will have a higher total protective factor score than infants who have been in a relationship with the care provider for a shorter duration of time, or in other words, resilience will be positively correlated with duration of relationship; second, the views of the care providers who have cared for an infant for a longer duration of time will tend to be more similar to the parent views of the child.;The results showed that there was no significant correlation between care provider duration and the total protective factor score. In the first hypothesis there was a significant relationship between time in care and the subscore category of attachment/relationship. As the children remained with a given care provider, parents rated their child as more attached. The results showed the largest gains over the first five months. In looking at the difference in parent and care provider t scores (parent score minus care provider score over time) using multiple regression curve estimation, a nonsignificant relationship was found. Each subcategory score was analyzed and a significant fit to an inverse curve was found in the Initiative subscore, but no significance was found with the Attachment subscore or the Self-Regulation subscore. For both hypotheses the data show that the greatest change occurs over the first five months.;Key words: Attachment, Child Care Provider, Infant, Primary Care, Protective Factors, Resilience, Self-Regulation, Initiative, Toddler, Connected Care, Continuity of Care, Neurobiology, Early Childhood. |
