2013 survey on attitudes towards child care
An examination of public attitudes toward and preferences for the child care delivery system in Nova Scotia, Canada, based on survey responses from 704 randomly-selected Nova Scotia residents
Reports & Papers
Assessing risk: Descriptive data related to risk factors experienced by young children and their families in Illinois
An examination of the geographic distribution in Illinois of child and family risk indicators and of early childhood program availability, based on analyses of secondary and administrative data
Reports & Papers
The Australian first-time grandparents study: Time spent with the grandchild and its predictors
Aim: This paper presents data on the amount of contact a large cohort of first-time Australian grandparents have with their grandchild, and the amount of child care they provide. It compares these with grandparents' expectations and desired levels.
Method: Prospective grandparents were assessed on multiple measures before the birth of their grandchild, and at 6, 12, 24 and 36 months thereafter.
Results: At the 12-month assessment, grandmothers had approximately 15 hours per week contact, and provided approximately 7.5 hours per week of child care. The corresponding figures for grandfathers were 9.5 hours and 5 hours respectively. Approximately 10% of grandparents reported no contact with their grandchild, and 30-40% reported undertaking no child care. Almost half the grandparents desired more contact than they were actually getting.
Conclusion: Accurate quantification of contact and care is a prerequisite for investigation of the impact of the transition to grandparenthood on health and well-being. (author abstract)
Reports & Papers
Child care and child births: The role of grandparents in the Netherlands
A study of grandparent involvement in the care of young children and its relationship to subsequent child births in dual-earner families, based on data from 898 18- through 49-year-old Dutch men and women from the Netherlands' Kinship Panel Study
Reports & Papers
Child Care and Community Services: Characteristics of Service Use and Effects on Parenting
The study aims to improve the field's understanding of the features of child care services that are most critical to support children's development and identify family-level processes that might be influenced by child care. Specific research questions are: (1) What characteristics of parents predict usage of supports and services offered through the child care center and the community?; (2) What types of services and supports do parents use?; (3) Do the services and supports provided or referred to parents from the child care or preschool setting positively affect the home environment and parenting practices? To address these questions three national data sets (Head Start Impact Study, National Evaluation of Early Head Start, and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development) are being analyzed. The results of the study can further inform the field of the parental characteristics related to service take-up and whether the services have a positive effect on the home, in addition to providing practitioners and policymakers with evidence to design early child care and education programs that improve the environments and relationships vital for children's academic and social development.
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
Child care policy and the experiences of employed Albertan families with pre-school children: Final report
A study of the child care decision-making and perspectives of working parents in Alberta, Canada, based on seven focus groups with 42 participants
Reports & Papers
Child care policy and the experiences of employed Albertan families with pre-school children: Final report [Executive summary]
A summary of a study of the child care decision-making and perspectives of working parents in Alberta, Canada, based on seven focus groups with 42 participants
Executive Summary
Child care subsidies critical for low-income families amid rising child care expenses
A comparison of the child care expenses in 2005 and 2011 of families with working mothers and children under the age of 6, based on secondary analyses of data from the nationally representative 2004 and 2008 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)
Reports & Papers
Child Motivation, Shared Book Reading, and Vocabulary Development: A Growth Mixture Modeling Approach
Based on the sociocultural theory and the expectancy-value theory, this poster examined direct effects of shared book reading and child motivation on the vocabulary trajectories, and whether child motivation moderated the effect of shared book reading on the vocabulary trajectories. The growth mixture modeling was performed to address the research questions with a nationally representative sample of Head Start children.
Other
Conclusions and implications
A summary and discussion of implications from a special issue of the Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development focusing on the impacts of Early Head Start on child and family outcomes, including children's socioemotional and cognitive development and families' well-being and home environments, based on data for 3,001 randomly-assigned low income families
Other
Current Population Survey: Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Supplement Survey, 2007
This data collection is comprised of data from the 2007 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC), and is a part of the Current Population Survey (CPS) Series. The Census Bureau conducts the ASEC (known as the Annual Demographic File prior to 2003) over a three-month period, in February, March, and April, with most of the data collected in the month of March. The ASEC uses two sets of survey questions, the basic CPS and a set of supplemental questions.
The CPS, administered monthly, is a labor force survey providing current estimates of the economic status and activities of the population of the United States. Specifically, the CPS provides estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm self-employed persons, domestics, and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total unemployment.
In addition to the basic CPS questions, respondents were asked questions from the ASEC, which provides supplemental data on poverty, geographic mobility/migration, and work experience. Comprehensive work experience information was given on the employment status, occupation, and industry of persons aged 15 and over. Additional data for persons aged 15 and older were available concerning weeks worked and hours per week worked, reason not working full time, total income and supplemental income components. Additional data are included that cover training and assistance received under welfare reform programs such as job readiness training, child care services, or job skill training. Data covering nine noncash income sources: food stamps, school lunch program, employer-provided group health insurance plan, employer-provided pension plan, personal health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, CHAMPUS or military health care, and energy assistance are also included.
Demographic variables include age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, veteran status, educational attainment, occupation, and income. Data on employment and income refer to the previous calendar year, although demographic data refer to the time of the survey.
The original ASEC data provided by the Census Bureau are distributed in a hierarchical file structure, with three record types present: Household, Family, and Person. The ASEC is designed to be a multistage stratified sample of housing units, where the hierarchical file structure can be thought of as a person within a family within a household unit. Here the main unit of analysis is the household unit. For ease of analysis at the person-level, ICPSR created a rectangular file structure that contains a record for every person with the respective Household and Family variables prepended to the Person variables. Part 1 contains the rectangular data file and Part 2 contains the original hierarchical data file.
Data Sets
Current Population Survey: Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Supplement Survey, 2010
This data collection is comprised of data from the 2010 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC), and is a part of the Current Population Survey (CPS) Series. The Census Bureau conducts the ASEC (known as the Annual Demographic File prior to 2003) over a three-month period, in February, March, and April, with most of the data collected in the month of March. The ASEC uses two sets of survey questions, the basic CPS and a set of supplemental questions.
The CPS, administered monthly, is a labor force survey providing current estimates of the economic status and activities of the population of the United States. Specifically, the CPS provides estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm self-employed persons, domestics, and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total unemployment.
In addition to the basic CPS questions, respondents were asked questions from the ASEC, which provides supplemental data on poverty, geographic mobility/migration, and work experience. Comprehensive work experience information was given on the employment status, occupation, and industry of persons aged 15 and over. Additional data for persons aged 15 and older were available concerning weeks worked and hours per week worked, reason not working full time, total income and supplemental income components. Additional data are included that cover training and assistance received under welfare reform programs such as job readiness training, child care services, or job skill training. Data covering nine noncash income sources: food stamps, school lunch program, employer-provided group health insurance plan, employer-provided pension plan, personal health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, CHAMPUS or military health care, and energy assistance are also included.
Demographic variables include age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, veteran status, educational attainment, occupation, and income. Data on employment and income refer to the previous calendar year, although demographic data refer to the time of the survey.
The original ASEC data provided by the Census Bureau are distributed in a hierarchical file structure, with three record types present: Household, Family, and Person. The ASEC is designed to be a multistage stratified sample of housing units, where the hierarchical file structure can be thought of as a person within a family within a household unit. Here the main unit of analysis is the household unit.
Data Sets
Discerning childcare quality: Parents as potential informants of policy beyond regulation
An examination of parents' perspectives on child care quality, based on data from 29 parents whose children attend child care centers in Australia
Reports & Papers
Early Head Start relationships: Association with program outcomes
Research Findings: Interpersonal relationships among staff caregivers, parents, and children have been recommended as essential aspects of early childhood intervention. This study explored the associations of these relationships with program outcomes for children and parents in 3 Early Head Start programs. A total of 71 children (8-35 months, M=20), their parents, and 33 program caregivers participated. The results showed that caregiver-child relationships were moderately positive, secure, and interactive and improved in quality over 6 months, whereas caregiver-parent relationships were generally positive and temporally stable. Caregiver-child relationships were more positive for girls, younger children, and those in home-visiting programs. Caregiver-parent relationships were more positive when parents had higher education levels and when staff had more years of experience, had more positive work environments, or had attained a Child Development Associate credential or associate's level of education rather than a 4-year academic degree. Hierarchical linear modeling analysis suggested that the quality of the caregiver-parent relationship was a stronger predictor of both child and parent outcomes than was the quality of the caregiver-child relationship. There were also moderation effects: Stronger associations of caregiver-parent relationships with observed positive parenting were seen in parents with lower education levels and when program caregivers had higher levels of education. Practice or Policy: The results support the importance of caregiver-family relationships in early intervention programs and suggest that staff need to be prepared to build relationships with children and families in individualized ways. Limitations of this study and implications for program improvements and future research are discussed. (author abstract)
Reports & Papers
The effect of maternal employment and child care on children's cognitive development
An investigation into the correlation between mothers' employment decisions and children's cognitive development, based on a subsample of 529 married or cohabiting women and their children from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY)
Reports & Papers
Effects of divorce and cohabitation dissolution on preschoolers' literacy
A study of the association between children's early literacy and changes in the marital and cohabitation status of their parents, with an examination of the mediating roles of changes in household income, changes in depressive symptoms, changes in maternal stimulation of child learning, and mothers' pregnancy timing, based on data from approximately 6,450 children in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey-Birth cohort followed at 24 and 48 months
Reports & Papers
The effects of early years' childcare on child emotional and behavioural difficulties in lone and co-parent family situations
With targeted childcare initiatives and welfare-to-work programmes policy-makers have sought to address employment activation of lone mothers and negative outcomes for children in lone parent households. The present study examines non-parental childcare use and maternal employment among children living in lone and co-parent family situations at ages three and four and emotional and behavioural difficulties at ages four and five. The results demonstrate that negative outcomes associated with lone motherhood are explained largely by mother's age, education, material circumstances and area deprivation; and that maternal employment does not relieve lone mothers' disadvantages in a way that alleviates the risks of difficulties to their children. However, in any family constellation, mainly group-based formal pre-school childcare does have a positive impact on child difficulties compared to drawing on informal childcare arrangements as main provider. In addition, and specifically for the difficulties of children in lone mother family situations, any non-parental childcare -- formal or informal -- for at least twenty-five hours per week is beneficial. Study findings support policy agendas which tackle families' material hardship beyond promoting mothers' employment, and through investment in formal childcare provision, and also through arrangements allowing lone mothers to divide their weekly load of childcare with another main provider. (author abstract)
Reports & Papers
Effects of social policy reforms and the economy on welfare participation and employment among single mothers
A discussion of the role of policies in the child care subsidy take-up rates among eligible families, and a presentation of estimation models for the roles of child care subsidies, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and demographic variables in the employment choices of single mothers
Reports & Papers
Equal access to high quality early education and care?: Evidence from England and lessons from other countries
Findings from a study in England on the relationship of children's social background to the quality and expense of care they receive, and a discussion of strategies to increase access to high-quality child care for disadvantaged children in Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and the United States
Fact Sheets & Briefs
Family proximity, childcare, and women's labor force attachment
We show that close geographical proximity to mothers or mothers-in-law has a substantial positive effect on the labor supply of married women with young children. We argue that the mechanism through which proximity increases labor supply is the availability of childcare. We interpret availability broadly enough to include not only regular scheduled childcare during work hours but also an insurance aspect of proximity (e.g., a mother or mother-in-law who can provide irregular or unanticipated childcare). Using two large datasets, the National Survey of Families and Households and the public use files of the U.S. Census, we find that the predicted probability of employment and labor force participation is 4-10 percentage points higher for married women with young children living in close proximity to their mothers or their mothers-in-law compared with those living further away. (author abstract)
Reports & Papers
Family subgroups and impacts at ages 2, 3, and 5: Variability by race/ethnicity and demographic risk
A study of variations by race, ethnicity, and risk indicators of the impact of Early Head Start on child and family outcomes, including children's socioemotional and cognitive development and families' well-being and home environments, based on data for randomly-assigned low income families collected when children were 2, 3, and 5 years old
Reports & Papers
Fertility, female labor supply, and family policy
The present paper develops an overlapping generations general equilibrium model for Germany in order to study the impact of public policy on household labor supply and fertility decisions. Starting from a benchmark equilibrium which reflects the current German family policy regime we introduce various reforms of the tax and child benefit system and quantify the consequences for birth rates and female labor supply. Our simulations indicate three central results: First, higher transfers to families (either direct, in-kind or via family splitting) may increase birth rates significantly, but they may come at the cost of lower female employment. Second, the introduction of individual taxation (instead of joint taxation of couples) would increase female employment but might further reduce current birth rates in Germany. Third, it is possible to increase birth rates and female employment rates simultaneously if the government invests in child care facilities for children of all ages. (author abstract)
Other
Gearing Up for Kindergarten: Project overview & year-end report for 2009-2010
An evaluation of Gearing Up for Kindergarten, a preschool learning and parenting education program in North Dakota, that examines changes in parenting practices and children's readiness for school, based on pre- and post-program surveys from parents and teachers
Reports & Papers
Gearing Up for Kindergarten: Project overview & year-end report for 2009-2010 [Executive summary]
A summary of an evaluation of Gearing Up for Kindergarten, a preschool learning and parenting education program in North Dakota, that examines changes in parenting practices and children's readiness for school, based on pre- and post-program surveys from parents and teachers
Executive Summary
Gearing Up for Kindergarten: Project overview & year-end report for 2010-2011
An evaluation of Gearing Up for Kindergarten, a preschool learning and parenting education program in North Dakota, that examines changes in parenting practices and children's readiness for school, based on pre- and post-program surveys from parents and teachers
Reports & Papers
