Growing evidence suggests that children’s participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC), especially center-based services, is associated with positive outcomes, particularly for children over one year of age and children of low socioeconomic backgrounds. This signals an important opportunity for reducing socioeconomic disparities in young children’s development. Many western countries have adopted policies to encourage maternal employment, facilitate ECEC service use, or both, often focusing on disadvantaged families. Yet few studies to date have tested the impact of these policies for reducing socioeconomic selection into ECEC. This study integrates data from five cohorts of children living in different western, high-income countries (UK, USA, Netherlands, Canada, and Norway; total N = 21,437). We compare participation rates and socioeconomic selection into ECEC across the different policy contexts in infancy (5–9 months) and early childhood (36–41 months). Policy environments where parents had access to at least 6 months of paid maternity/parental leave had lower ECEC participation in infancy but higher participation in early childhood. Higher participation rates were also associated with universal ECEC subsidies (i.e., not targeted to low-income families). In general, low income, low maternal education and having more than one child were associated with reduced use of ECEC. Selection effects related to low income and number of children were reduced in countries with universal ECEC subsidies when out-of-pocket fees were income-adjusted or reduced for subsequent children, respectively. Most socioeconomic selection effects were reduced in Norway, the only country to invest more than 1% of its GDP into early childhood. Nevertheless, low maternal education was consistently associated with reduced use of ECEC services across all countries. Among families using services however, there were few selection effects for the type of ECEC setting (center-based vs. non-center-based), particularly in early childhood. In sum, this comparative study suggests wide variations in ECEC participation that can be linked to the policy context, and highlights key policy elements which may reduce socioeconomic disparities in ECEC use.

中文翻译：

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谁使用幼儿教育和护理服务？比较五种西方政策环境下的社会经济选择

越来越多的证据表明，儿童参与幼儿教育和保育（ECEC），尤其是基于中心的服务与积极成果相关，特别是对于1岁以上的儿童和社会经济背景较低的儿童。这标志着减少幼儿发展中社会经济差异的重要机会。许多西方国家已经采取了鼓励产妇就业，促进ECEC服务使用或两者兼而有之的政策，这些政策往往侧重于处境不利的家庭。迄今为止，几乎没有研究测试了这些政策对减少ECEC中社会经济选择的影响。这项研究整合了来自不同西方，高收入国家（英国，美国，荷兰，加拿大和挪威；共N = 21,437）的五个孩子群体的数据。我们将婴儿期（5-9个月）和幼儿期（36-41个月）不同政策背景下的ECEC参与率和社会经济选择进行了比较。父母可以享受至少6个月的带薪产假/育儿假的政策环境使ECEC参与婴儿期的人数较少，但参与幼儿期的人数较多。更高的参与率也与ECEC的普遍补贴有关（即，不针对低收入家庭）。通常，低收入，低产妇教育和生育一个以上的孩子与减少ECEC的使用有关。在有ECEC普遍补贴的国家中，当对后继孩子的自付费用进行收入调整或降低时，与低收入和儿童数量有关的选择效果会降低。挪威是大多数社会经济选择的影响都减少了的国家，挪威是唯一将GDP的1％以上投入到幼儿期的国家。然而，孕产妇教育水平低下一直与在所有国家减少对ECEC服务的使用有关。然而，在使用服务的家庭中，对于ECEC设置类型（基于中心与非基于中心）的选择效果很少，尤其是在幼儿时期。总而言之，这项比较研究表明ECEC参与的广泛差异可以与政策环境相关联，并着重强调了可以减少ECEC使用中社会经济差异的关键政策要素。然而，在使用服务的家庭中，对于ECEC设置类型（基于中心与非基于中心）的选择效果很少，尤其是在幼儿时期。总而言之，这项比较研究表明ECEC参与的广泛差异可以与政策环境相关联，并着重强调了可以减少ECEC使用中社会经济差异的关键政策要素。然而，在使用服务的家庭中，对于ECEC设置类型（基于中心与非基于中心）的选择效果很少，尤其是在幼儿时期。总而言之，这项比较研究表明ECEC参与的广泛差异可以与政策环境相关联，并着重强调了可以减少ECEC使用中社会经济差异的关键政策要素。