Types of kindergarten and their relationship with parental and children's socio-demographic characteristics in Denmark
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Types of kindergarten and their relationship with parental and children's socio-demographic characteristics in Denmark. / Specht, Ina Olmer; Larsen, Sofus Christian; Nielsen, Ann Kristine; Rohde, Jeanett Friis; Heitmann, Berit Lilienthal; Jørgensen, Tanja Schjødt.
In: PLoS ONE, Vol. 18, No. 7, e0288846, 2023.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Types of kindergarten and their relationship with parental and children's socio-demographic characteristics in Denmark
AU - Specht, Ina Olmer
AU - Larsen, Sofus Christian
AU - Nielsen, Ann Kristine
AU - Rohde, Jeanett Friis
AU - Heitmann, Berit Lilienthal
AU - Jørgensen, Tanja Schjødt
N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright: © 2023 Specht et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - In Danish outdoor kindergartens, children are spending most of the day outdoors often in forests or similar nature environments. These children are assumed to be healthier than children attending conventional kindergartens, however, factors related to choosing a specific type of kindergarten may explain the differences. To better understand this, we aimed to investigate parents reasons for choosing either outdoor or conventional kindergartens based on a mixed-method participatory Concept Mapping approach, and further if parental socio-demographics and early child characteristics differed prior to enrolling children to either type of kindergarten using a cohort register-based approach. Parents of children attending outdoor kindergartens (n = 23) weighed reasons such as “physical setting, outdoor life, and freedom of movement” high, whereas “a good first impression of the kindergarten” was an important reason for parents choosing a conventional kindergarten (n = 22). In the register-based approach, 2434 and 2643 children attended outdoor or conventional kindergartens, respectively. The parents choosing outdoor kindergartens as well as their children differed according to most investigated characteristics, including origin (maternal non-Western: 4.2% vs. 21.9%, p < .0001), educational level (maternal long education: 45.6% vs. 33.0%, p < .0001), prematurity (5.1% vs. 7.1%, p = 0.004) and sex (females: 43.5% vs. 48.6%, p = <0.0013). In conclusion, parental reasons for choosing kindergarten as well as parental socio-demographics differed substantially among kindergarten type. These differences might cause selection bias if not considering when comparing health outcomes among children attending different kinds of kindergartens.
AB - In Danish outdoor kindergartens, children are spending most of the day outdoors often in forests or similar nature environments. These children are assumed to be healthier than children attending conventional kindergartens, however, factors related to choosing a specific type of kindergarten may explain the differences. To better understand this, we aimed to investigate parents reasons for choosing either outdoor or conventional kindergartens based on a mixed-method participatory Concept Mapping approach, and further if parental socio-demographics and early child characteristics differed prior to enrolling children to either type of kindergarten using a cohort register-based approach. Parents of children attending outdoor kindergartens (n = 23) weighed reasons such as “physical setting, outdoor life, and freedom of movement” high, whereas “a good first impression of the kindergarten” was an important reason for parents choosing a conventional kindergarten (n = 22). In the register-based approach, 2434 and 2643 children attended outdoor or conventional kindergartens, respectively. The parents choosing outdoor kindergartens as well as their children differed according to most investigated characteristics, including origin (maternal non-Western: 4.2% vs. 21.9%, p < .0001), educational level (maternal long education: 45.6% vs. 33.0%, p < .0001), prematurity (5.1% vs. 7.1%, p = 0.004) and sex (females: 43.5% vs. 48.6%, p = <0.0013). In conclusion, parental reasons for choosing kindergarten as well as parental socio-demographics differed substantially among kindergarten type. These differences might cause selection bias if not considering when comparing health outcomes among children attending different kinds of kindergartens.
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0288846
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0288846
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 37471402
AN - SCOPUS:85165467306
VL - 18
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 7
M1 - e0288846
ER -
ID: 363017003