Young school-aged children’s behaviour and their care arrangements after school

CHILDREN'S PARTICIPATION IN out-of-school-hours care (OSHC) has increased significantly over recent years. From 1996 to 2005, the number of school-aged children attending after-school care doubled from 6% to 12%. Despite the large numbers of children accessing OSHC, little is known about the outcomes of attending such programs. This study aims to investigate how parents, teachers and OSHC coordinators from seven schools in a regional city perceived children's behaviour according to their after-school arrangements. Three arrangements were compared: full-time after-school care; full-time parental care; and a combination of after-school care and parental care (e.g. three days at home and two days at after-school care). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was used to rate children's behaviour. According to teachers' and OSHC coordinators' reports, children in full-time after-school care had more behaviour problems than did children who received parental care or a combination of parental care and after-school care. Teachers and coordinators also rated boys as having more behaviour problems than did girls. Mothers' reports revealed no differences in children's behaviour according to after-school care arrangements or gender. All three informant groups reported year-level differences in behaviour, with children in Year 1 having the highest scores