African American College Students' Psychosocial Development as Related to Care Arrangements during Infancy

Associations were explored between the present emotional and social development of low-and middle-income African American male and female college students and the substitute care arrangements (none, part time, orfull time) they experienced as infants. The students who had experienced full-time substitute care scored signiflcantly higher on several subscales (Friendship, Identity, and Self-Confidence) of the Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory (EPSI) than students who had experienced part-time substitute care. The students who had received no substitute care scored higher on two subscales of the EPSI than students who had experienced part-time substitute care as infants. There were no significant differences between full-time and no-substitute-care recipients. The experience of substitute care arrangements during infancy did not appear to have effects that reach into early adulthood.