Child Care Experiences in Low-Income Communities: Developmental Quality and Maternal Views.

Abstract Increasing numbers of low-income children are receiving regular nonparental care, yet knowledge is limited regarding whether child care settings meet the needs of low-income children and their parents. Using a sample of low-income, predominantly African-American and Hispanic children and families from low-income neighborhoods in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio (n = 238), the present study provides a descriptive view of the child care experiences of children (ages 2–5) and families. Results indicate that most children attend Head Start centers, other centers, or relative care, provided either within or outside of the child's home. Head Start programs were rated higher in overall developmental quality than all other types of care. Though unregulated home care settings scored lower on ratings of developmental quality, such settings appeared to be the types in which mothers felt most comfortable, and that best met family needs.

[1]  H. Barnes,et al.  Significant Benefits: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 27 , 1993 .

[2]  M. Lamb.  Nonparental Child Care: Context, Quality, Correlates and Consequences. , 1998 .

[3]  H. White.  A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity , 1980 .

[4]  E. Votruba-Drzal.  Income Changes and Cognitive Stimulation in Young Children's Home Learning Environments. JCPR Working Paper. , 2002 .

[5]  G. Duncan,et al.  Child well-being in an era of welfare reform: the sensitivity of transitions in development to policy change. , 2005, Developmental psychology.

[6]  J. Arnett.  Caregivers in day-care centers: Does training matter?☆ , 1989 .

[7]  B. Fuller,et al.  Welfare reform and child care options for low-income families. , 2002, The Future of children.

[8]  D. Cryer,et al.  Parents’ perceptions of their children’s child care: a cross-national comparison , 2002 .

[9]  B. Fuller,et al.  Child Care Selection Under Welfare Reform: How Mothers Balance Work Requirements and Parenting , 2000 .

[10]  D. Weiss,et al.  Interrater reliability and agreement of subjective judgments , 1975 .

[11]  M. Burchinal,et al.  Parents as child care consumers , 1997 .

[12]  Richard M. Clifford,et al.  Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Revised Edition , 1998 .

[13]  K. Clarke-Stewart,et al.  Children at Home and in Day Care , 1994 .

[14]  S. Kontos,et al.  Quality in family child care and relative care , 1995 .

[15]  J. Belsky,et al.  Does quality of child care affect child outcomes at age 4(1/2)? , 2003, Developmental psychology.

[16]  P. Loprest.  Families Who Left Welfare: Who Are They and How Are They Doing? , 1999 .

[17]  P. L. Chase‐Lansdale,et al.  Child care and low-income children's development: direct and moderated effects. , 2004, Child development.

[18]  K. Kuhlthau,et al.  Determinants of child care ideals among mothers of preschool-aged children. , 1989 .

[19]  L. Giannarelli,et al.  Child Care Expenses of America's Families. Occasional Paper Number 40. Assessing the New Federalism: An Urban Institute Program To Assess Changing Social Policies. , 2000 .

[20]  D. Phillips,et al.  Child care for children in poverty: opportunity or inequity? , 1994, Child development.

[21]  D. Phillips,et al.  From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development , 2000 .

[22]  Celia A. Brownell,et al.  Type of child care and children's development at 54 months , 2004 .

[23]  M. Greenberg,et al.  Child Care after Leaving Welfare: Early Evidence from State Studies. , 1999 .

[24]  H. Yoshikawa.  Long-term effects of early childhood programs on social outcomes and delinquency. , 1995, The Future of children.

[25]  I. Chi,et al.  Child care preferences among low-income minority families , 1992 .

[26]  J. Morris,et al.  Maternal, family, and work correlates of role strain in low-income mothers. , 2004, Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

[27]  R. Blank,et al.  The New World of Welfare , 2002 .

[28]  F A Campbell,et al.  The development of cognitive and academic abilities: growth curves from an early childhood educational experiment. , 2001, Developmental psychology.

[29]  M. Zaslow,et al.  Welfare families' use of early childhood care and education programs, and implications for their children's development , 1998 .

[30]  A. G. Cox,et al.  The Work Schedules of Low-Educated American Women and Welfare Reform. , 1997 .

[31]  J. Capizzano.  Child Care Arrangements for Children Under Five: Variation across States , 2000 .

[32]  Bonnie Knoke,et al.  Early Child Care and Self-Control, Compliance and Problem Behavior at Twenty-four and Thirty-six Months of Age , 1998 .

[33]  M. Burchinal,et al.  Early Childhood Care: Relations with Family Characteristics and Preferred Care Characteristics. , 2001 .

[34]  D. Blau,et al.  The Demand for Quality in Child Care , 1998, Journal of Political Economy.

[35]  Bonnie Knoke,et al.  Characteristics and Quality of Child Care for Toddlers, and Preschoolers , 2001 .

[36]  D. Vandell.  Characteristics of infant child care: Factors contributing to positive caregiving ☆: NICHD early child care research network , 1996 .

[37]  Robert C. Pianta,et al.  The relation of child care to cognitive and language development , 1999 .

[38]  Thomas M. Beers.  Flexible Schedules and Shift Work. , 2000 .

[39]  R. Buriel,et al.  Child Care Practices and Preferences of Native- and Foreign-Born Latina Mothers and Euro-American Mothers , 2000 .

[40]  W. Barnett,et al.  Long-Term Effects of Early Childhood Programs on Cognitive and School Outcomes. , 1995 .

[41]  Rashmita S. Mistry,et al.  Work-based antipoverty programs for parents can enhance the school performance and social behavior of children. , 2001, Child development.

[42]  I. Sigel,et al.  HANDBOOK OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY , 2006 .