Early Formal Childcare and Adolescent Psychological Wellbeing in the Millennium Cohort Study: The Role of Socio-economic Position

Little research has analysed the relation between childcare and positive psychological wellbeing, e.g., self-esteem and life satisfaction. Using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, this paper investigates the association of the age of starting and intensity of formal childcare with self-esteem trajectories between 11 and 17 years and life satisfaction at 11 and 14 years ( N = 5,484). Proportional odds for having greater psychological wellbeing and odds ratios for having good compared to poor psychological wellbeing (lowest 25% scores) were estimated. After controlling for children’s socio-economic position, childcare was not associated with self-esteem or life satisfaction. Changes in estimates after adjustment show that children from a lower socio-economic position attended less childcare and had lower odds of later psychological wellbeing.