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Canadian Journal of Public Health = Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique logoLink to Canadian Journal of Public Health = Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique
. 2015 Nov 1;106(Suppl 7):eS14–eS20. doi: 10.17269/CJPH.106.4825

Attendance in Educational Preschool Services: A Protective Factor in the Development of Children from Low-Income Families?

La fréquentation d’un service éducatif préscolaire: un facteur de protection pour le développement des enfants de familles à faible revenu?

Isabelle Laurin 11,21,✉, Danielle Guay 11, Michel Fournier 11, Nathalie Bigras 31,41, Anabel Solis 11
PMCID: PMC6972040  PMID: 26978693

Abstract

Objectives

Describe the preschool education of children in educational services. Study the effects of components of preschool educational service attendance on the development of kindergarten children, based on income.

Method

A sample of 1,184 children was extracted from a survey frame that included Montreal children assessed in the 2012 Quebec Survey of Child Development in Kindergarten (2012 QSCDK). Data collected from the parents of these children allowed us to document the following components of educational service attendance (independent variables): longitudinal profile of the service used; age at entry; duration; average weekly attendance; and cumulative time. Linking QSCDK data provided a measure of development of children in kindergarten (dependent variable). Various logistic regression models using different combinations of components of educational service attendance were tested. Akaike information criterion enabled us to select the model that best explains the data.

Results

Children from low-income families are proportionately fewer to attend a preschool educational service than children from better-off families (79.6% vs. 90.5%; chi-square test (1 df), p<0.001). Children from low-income families who attended only an early childhood centre (Centres de la petite enfance) are less likely to be vulnerable in two or more domains of development compared to their peers who did not attend educational services (OR 0.23; 95% CI: 0.06–0.92). Children who started attending an educational service before the age of 12 months are less likely to be vulnerable in two or more domains of development (OR: 0.38; 95% CI: 0.18–0.81).

Conclusion

Attending an early childhood centre (Centre de la petite enfance) is beneficial to the development of children from low-income families.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available for this article at 10.17269/CJPH.106.4825 and is accessible for authorized users.

Key Words: Child development; public policy; daycare services; preschool educational services; public prekindergarten; school readiness, early development instrument (EDI).

Electronic supplementary material

41997_2015_10607014_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (142.5KB, pdf)

Supplementary material, approximately 146 KB.

Footnotes

Funding

This project received tripartite financial support from Avenir d'enfants, the Director of Public Health affiliated with the Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de Montréal, and the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux.

Conflict of Interests

None to declare.

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Supplementary Materials

41997_2015_10607014_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (142.5KB, pdf)

Supplementary material, approximately 146 KB.

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