Child care arrangements and mothers' employment choices
Folk, Karen Fox
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/21231
Description
Title
Child care arrangements and mothers' employment choices
Author(s)
Folk, Karen Fox
Issue Date
1991
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Nickols, Sharon Y.
Department of Study
Human and Community Development
Discipline
Human and Community Development
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Home Economics
Economics, Labor
Sociology, Individual and Family Studies
Language
eng
Abstract
This study assesses the relative effects of economic, demographic and attitudinal factors on mothers' joint choices of level of employment and type of child care using a sample of mothers of preschool children from the 1987 National Survey of Families and Households. In the first analysis, choices among combinations of full and part-time employment and market and nonmarket child care are predicted with variables affecting labor force participation, child care need and cost, and preferences. In the second analysis, choices among parental, relative, sitter and group care are predicted for employed mothers.
Links found among the choice of part-time employment, availability of spouse or relative care, and working in a service occupation support the hypothesis that some child care and employment choices are jointly made, particularly part-time employment with nonmarket care. Results suggest that when choosing full-time employment, the decision process may be more hierarchical with labor force participation decisions made first, followed by choice of child care arrangements.
Wage and education have the most consistent effects on employment/child care choices. Wage increases the odds of choosing all employment/care choices over nonemployment while education decreases the odds of employment/care choices over nonemployment. This is consistent with the greater value of household production time for mothers of young children. Choice of child care for employed mothers is influenced more by availability variables than by factors affecting cost of care, or ability to pay for care.
Separate analyses of white and African-American mothers show that white married mothers are more likely to choose part-time employment with nonmarket care while African-American mothers, both single and married, are more likely to choose full-time employment with nonmarket care. Few African-American mothers of preschool children are employed part-time.
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