TY - JOUR
T1 - Beyond an “Either–Or” approach to home- and center-based child care
T2 - Comparing children and families who combine care types with those who use just one
AU - Gordon, Rachel A.
AU - Colaner, Anna C.
AU - Usdansky, Margaret L.
AU - Melgar, Claudia
N1 - Funding Information:
The research presented here was supported in part by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development , through Grant R01HD060711 . The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute. An earlier version of this paper was presented in the paper session on Parenting Challenges at the National Council of Family Relations meetings (November 17, 2011, Orlando, FL).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2013 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Most research focuses on preschoolers’ primary non-parental child care arrangement despite evidence that multiple arrangements are relatively common. Using the nationally-representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, we compare characteristics and outcomes of families whose 4-year olds attend both home- and center-based child care with those who attend either home- or center-based care exclusively or receive no non-parental care at all. We find that about one fifth of 4-year olds attend both home- and center-based child care. Mothers’ priorities for care (getting their child ready for school, matching their families’ cultural background) and perceptions of good local care options predict their combining home- and center-based care. Preschoolers score higher on reading and math assessments, on average, when they attend centers, alone or in combination with home-based child care, than when they are cared for only in homes, either by their parents or by others. Preschoolers’ average socioemotional outcomes generally do not differ between families who do and who do not combine care types. Implications for research and policy are discussed.
AB - Most research focuses on preschoolers’ primary non-parental child care arrangement despite evidence that multiple arrangements are relatively common. Using the nationally-representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, we compare characteristics and outcomes of families whose 4-year olds attend both home- and center-based child care with those who attend either home- or center-based care exclusively or receive no non-parental care at all. We find that about one fifth of 4-year olds attend both home- and center-based child care. Mothers’ priorities for care (getting their child ready for school, matching their families’ cultural background) and perceptions of good local care options predict their combining home- and center-based care. Preschoolers score higher on reading and math assessments, on average, when they attend centers, alone or in combination with home-based child care, than when they are cared for only in homes, either by their parents or by others. Preschoolers’ average socioemotional outcomes generally do not differ between families who do and who do not combine care types. Implications for research and policy are discussed.
KW - Child care
KW - Early childhood education
KW - Family child care
KW - Head Start
KW - Preschool
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84879382899&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84879382899&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ecresq.2013.05.007
DO - 10.1016/j.ecresq.2013.05.007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84879382899
SN - 0885-2006
VL - 28
SP - 918
EP - 935
JO - Early Childhood Research Quarterly
JF - Early Childhood Research Quarterly
IS - 4
ER -