A new study from Stanford University finds strong evidence of mental health benefits in delaying kindergartens. A one year delay dramatically improves a child's mental health even into later childhood.
As reported in Newser, holding your child back from kindergarten could boost their self-control for years to come. "We found that delaying kindergarten for one year reduced inattention and hyperactivity by 73% for an average child at age 11," according to Professor Thomas Dee, co-author from Stanford Graduate School of Education.
Children who started kindergarten a year later showed significantly lower levels of inattention and hyperactivity. These two are key indicators of self regulation as reported in Stanford's website. A higher level of self-regulation which describes a person's ability to control impulses and modulate behaviour in attaining goals, is commonly linked to student achievement.
The positive impact lasted as far as age 11 the study further states. "It virtually eliminated the probability that an average child at that age would have an abnormal or higher-than-normal rating for the inattentive-hyperactive [behavioural] measure", Professor Dee added.
These findings could prove helpful to parents who are debating over the pros and cons of later school entry. However, there's no study to fully support better test scores or higher incomes later in life with kindergarten delay. Instead the new study provides new evidence on mental health aspects that may predict educational outcomes.
The research suggests that youngsters and teens who can stay focused, sit still and pay attention longer, perform better in school. Those children who had lower inattention-hyperactivity ratings had higher assessment scores. The researchers suggest that this may be because children who start kindergarten later had experienced more free playtime before knowing the strict rules in school. The findings only support the theory of some parents that "The more time children get to play, the better".
To come up with these finding, researchers used data from the Danish National Birth Cohort Survey that surveyed around 36,000 mothers who gave birth in Denmark between 1999 and 2002. Participants answered a series of questions about their children including the age they started kindergarten, child's behaviour and physical health.
It still unclear how these findings impact kids in the U.S. since the study was limited to Danish kids. More so, the effects were most noticeable among children with higher-earning and better educated parents. However, 20 percent of U.S. kids start kindergarten at age 6 instead of the usual 5. So, do you believe in delaying school for better mental health? Let us know by leaving your comments below!
