Keep Your Hands to Yourself: How DAP Affects Young Children’s Aggression in Group Care Settings

Event Center BC

Young children are spending more time in group care settings than ever before. With this influx of children, it begs the question on what centers can do to increase their quality and what are the positive effects of high quality care. Previous research has been conducted on the benefits of quality care and developmentally appropriate practice (DAP). However, it has not been discussed how aggression is affected. Anyone who has worked with young children has seen how aggressive they can be, whether one of their needs not being met causes it or they want the same toy. Young children lack the emotional regulation to prevent these conflicts on their own and need the help of an adept teacher to achieve a resolution. Optimistically, with quality care the teachers will be more readily available to resolve and even prevent conflicts. The current research aims to fill the gap in research between quality care, DAP, and how it affects aggression. Three hypotheses were examined as a predictor of lower aggression: higher education levels of teachers, NAEYC accreditation, and a developmentally appropriate center.