Interest in child care has grown dramatically, yet little is known about how
families manage to ensure appropriate child care. In a secondary analysis of data from
642 employed mothers representing a wide range of income levels, this research
identified the factors contributing most to mothers' satisfaction with child care
arrangements. The study used an ecological model with accessibility, affordability,
quality, and workplace flexibility as characteristics of the exosystem, and household
income, presence of a spouse or partner, and age of the youngest child as characteristics
of the microsystem. The research explored how individual family characteristics
combine with environmental characteristics to impact parental satisfaction. Three
questions guided the study:
(a) How do accessibility, affordability, quality of child care arrangements, and
workplace flexibility affect parental satisfaction with child care arrangements?
(b) How do income, household structure, and child's age affect parental satisfaction
with child care arrangements?
(c) How do these characteristics combine to affect parental satisfaction with child care
arrangements?
As proposed, the study found that for most mothers in the study, accessibility
and quality combine with income and household structure to impact satisfaction with
child care arrangements. Poorer women who pay a greater percentage of household
income had more concerns about quality and were more dissatisfied with their child care
arrangement than women paying a lower percentage of income for care. Despite
concerns about quality for mothers paying a greater percentage of income for care,
affordability contributed more than quality to satisfaction with child care. The data
provided evidence of a different trade-off for lower income families.
The results of this study have relevance for policies which address the needs of
families at all income levels. The policy principles based on the results of the study
include:
1. Basic health and safety regulations are important to quality and stability of care for all
parents.
2. Financial assistance with the cost of child care is important, especially for those
working families just above the poverty level.
3. Public support of services to improve child care is important to addressing the needs
of all employed mothers, regardless of income status. / Graduation date: 1996
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/34665 |
| Date | 08 May 1996 |
| Creators | Elliot, Janis Sabin |
| Contributors | Richards, Leslie |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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