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Data from a longitudinal study of London women who resumed full-time employment within 9 months of having a first child were used in this paper's examination of the child care histories of the women's children up to the age of 3 years. Contacts were made when children were 4- to 5-months-old (usually before the mother had resumed employment), and when children were 11-, 18-, and 36-months-old. Mothers were seen at all contacts, and children were seen at all except the contact at 11 months. At 18 and 36 months, most nonparental caregivers were also visited. Data were collected by a variety of methods, including developmental assessments of children, observations of the child at home and in the nonparental child care setting, questionnaires about child temperament and social behavior, diaries covering children's activities for a week, and interviews with mothers and nonparental caregivers. Findings indicated a high level of discontinuity, both in mothers' employment status and in child care arrangements, during this period. Placements with relatives and childminders were more liable to change than were placements in nurseries. It is argued that discontinuity should be seen as being substantially the product of various features of social context in the United Kingdom. These features include governmental and employer policies, and dominant ideologies about parenthood and child care. (RH)

Reviews and critiques past research that investigated the effects of various types of day-care provisions on the development of preschool children. Argues that, in view of the diversity of provisions offered in different countries, simple global generalizations about the effects of out-of-home preschool experiences on later development cannot be justified. (BB)