Cumulative risk, center-based childcare and socio-emotional difficulties in early childhood: Evidence from Hungary

BACKGROUNDAlthough center-based childcare attendance under age 3 is widespread in Europe, there is mixed evidence on its impact on children's socio-emotional well-being. OBJECTIVEThis study examines whether attendance at Hungarian center-based childcare and the timing of entry into such care influenced the development of socio-emotional difficulties in children growing up during the COVID-19 pandemic.We pay particular attention to the impact of cumulative risks and whether enrollment in center-based care can compensate for their adverse effects. METHODSUsing the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as a measure, we examine the effects of cumulative sociodemographic risk and center-based childcare attendance on socioemotional difficulties at age 3 in 2021-2022.Data were drawn from the Cohort '18 Growing Up in Hungary study (n = 5,511).Multivariate associations were tested through logistic regression models.With its follow-up design, the study controls for unobserved heterogeneity and supports causal interpretations from temporal order. RESULTSCumulative risk, independent of all other factors, clearly and strongly increased the odds of socio-emotional difficulties.While internalizing symptoms were reduced by both early (OR = 0.55) and late (OR = 0.63) entry into center-based childcare, externalizing