There is no consensus of the relationship between early childcare and later psychological development.

We studied 1428 children participating in the French EDEN cohort. Childcare was reported prospectively between ages 4 months and 3 years: childminder, collective care, informal care. Children's behavior was assessed by mother-reported strength and difficulty questionnaire (SDQ) scores at ages 3.5, 5.5 and 8 years. Trajectories of children's behavioral difficulties (emotional difficulties, behavioral problems, peer-relations difficulties, symptoms of hyperactivity and inattention, prosocial behavior) were identified using group-based trajectory modelling (PROC TRAJ, SAS). To control for selection and confounding factors, we used propensity scores based on over 30 covariates, included in multinomial regression models as inverse probability weights of exposure.

Compared to children in informal care, those who were cared for by a childminder or in collective care were less likely to have peer problems (respectively, ORs for the intermediate level trajectory=0.67 [95% IC: 0.47–0.95] and 0.49 [95% IC: 0.34–0.72]; ORs for the high level trajectory=0.47 [0.27–0.82] and 0.33 [0.17–0.62]). Collective care was also associated with a reduced likelihood of intermediate (OR=0.71 [0.52–0.98]) and high trajectories of hyperactivity and inattention (OR=0.50 [0.35–0.81]), intermediate (OR=0.58 [0.39–0.88]) and high trajectories of emotional symptoms (OR=0.54 [0.32–0.92]) and intermediate (OR=0.72 [0.51–1.01]) and high behavioral problems trajectories (OR=0.54 [0.34–0.85]).

Childcare attendance prior to school entry – particularly collective childcare – may have beneficial effects for children's psychological development and peer relations.