ABSTRACT

Childcare in the United States is an important issue impacting parents as they navigate a landscape characterized by challenging choices between parental care only, the price of paid childcare, and largely unpaid kin care. Drawing on guidance from the accommodation model, the current work extends the examination of childcare choices by including non-paid care and by using a sample of families across a broad range of incomes. Data from a statewide childcare survey linked to information regarding proximity of kin, unpaid childare, childcare prices, and other potentially relevant community characteristics are used in the empirical work. Multivariate analyses treat the mother’s employment decision and childcare choices as simultaneous decisions. We find that childcare choices are linked to community caracteristics inlcuding the price of licenced family-based childcare, proximity of kin, the percentage of adults in the community who have a college degree, and the community level unemployment rate. Our work suggests that childcare resource agencies should look at a range of community characteristics beyond area-level poverty rates when identifying communities of high need. The role of childcare information flows from the community to parents should also be the subject of future research.

摘要

在美国，育儿是一个重要的问题，影响父母，因为他们要面对一个特征，即仅在父母育儿，有偿育儿的价格和大部分无偿亲属之间进行艰难的选择。根据住宿模式的指导，当前工作通过包括无偿照料以及通过使用广泛收入家庭的样本，扩展了对育儿选择的审查。在一项实证研究中，使用了全州儿童保育调查的数据，这些数据与有关亲戚的亲戚，无薪育儿，儿童保育价格以及其他可能相关的社区特征的信息相关联。多变量分析将母亲的就业决定和育儿选择视为同时做出的决定。我们发现，托儿服务的选择与社区特征有关，包括获得许可的基于家庭的托儿服务的价格，亲属的亲缘关系，拥有大学学位的社区成年人的百分比以及社区一级的失业率。我们的工作建议，在确定高需求社区时，育儿资源机构应考虑区域贫困率以外的一系列社区特征。从社区流向父母的育儿信息的作用也应成为未来研究的主题。我们的工作建议，在确定高需求社区时，育儿资源机构应考虑区域贫困率以外的一系列社区特征。从社区流向父母的育儿信息的作用也应成为未来研究的主题。我们的工作建议，在确定高需求社区时，育儿资源机构应考虑区域贫困率以外的一系列社区特征。从社区流向父母的育儿信息的作用也应成为未来研究的主题。