Mothers with a nonstandard work schedule may be more likely to use multiple childcare arrangements to accommodate their childcare needs and find it difficult to use center-based care that typically operates during daytime hours. Using the framework that working mothers’ workplace demands influence their childcare needs, while families’ relational and financial resources enable them to satisfy the needs, this study examined the association between mothers’ nonstandard work schedules and their use of multiple and center-based childcare. Using a sample of 2566 young children of working mothers from the Survey of Income and Program Participation of 2008, we found that the odds of multiple childcare arrangements were 36% higher when mothers worked an irregular schedule. The odds that one of the arrangements was a childcare center were 54% and 30% lower when mothers had a shift schedule and an irregular schedule. Families’ relational resource, the presence of non-mother adults in the family, was associated with the use of both multiple and center-based care arrangements, but financial resources were related only to the use of center-based care. Potential policy efforts are discussed to help low-wage working mothers better achieve a work-family balance.

中文翻译：

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母亲的不标准工作安排以及使用多重和中心托儿服务

工作时间不标准的母亲可能更有可能使用多种托儿安排来满足她们的托儿需求，并且发现很难使用通常在白天运行的中心托儿服务。本研究利用职业母亲的工作场所要求影响她们的育儿需求，而家庭的关系和财务资源使她们能够满足这些需求的框架，研究了母亲的非标准工作时间表与她们使用多重和以中心为基础的育儿之间的关系。通过 2008 年收入和计划参与调查，我们对 2566 名职业母亲的年幼子女进行了抽样调查，结果发现，当母亲工作时间不规律时，多重托儿安排的几率要高出 36%。当母亲轮班和不定期作息时，其中一项安排是托儿中心的可能性分别降低 54% 和 30%。家庭的关系资源，即家庭中非母亲成年人的存在，与多重护理和基于中心的护理安排的使用相关，但财务资源仅与基于中心的护理的使用相关。讨论了潜在的政策努力，以帮助低工资职业母亲更好地实现工作与家庭的平衡。