Associations of caregiver stress with working conditions, caregiving practices, and child behaviour in home-based child care

Abstract

Home-based child caregivers face unique stressors related to the nature of their work. One hundred and fifty-five home-based child care providers in Oregon, USA, participated in this cross-sectional correlational study. We investigated associations between indicators of caregiver stress and child care working conditions, the quality of caregiver practices, frequency of child behaviour challenges, and caregivers' tolerance for those behaviours. Levels of stress in this sample were moderate to low. Significant associations were found between greater caregiver stress with higher child–caregiver ratio, working in isolation, less frequently observed caregiver positive attention, more caregiver-reported child problem behaviours and lower tolerance for problem behaviours. A multiple regression analysis with these variables significantly contributed to 23% of the variance of caregiver stress. Number of hours worked, observed caregiver negative attention, and responsiveness to children were not associated with caregiver stress. Implications of these findings and the need for future studies are discussed.

Keywords:

• home-based child care
• caregiver stress
• quality of care
• child problem behaviour
• working conditions

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grant # R324A090044A from the Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education. Authors wish to acknowledge Chris Arthun for his stellar project management and Susan Long for her editorial expertise.

Notes on Contributors

Julie C. Rusby is a research scientist at Oregon Research Institute. Dr Rusby's research is in child development with a focus on developing and evaluating child care, school, and family-based interventions to promote social competence and prevent the development of problem behaviour in young children and youth. Dr Rusby has authored several assessment systems for observing children's social interactions in home, child care, and school environments.

Laura Backen Jones is a researcher and practitioner at Oregon Research Institute whose research focuses on developing and evaluating effective intervention programmes for families, family child care providers, and schools. Her research examines ways to decrease stress, increase well-being, and strengthen relationships among parents, youth, and school staff.

Ryann Crowley is a data analyst at Oregon Research Institute and Abacus Consulting LLC. She has a Master's degree in psychology from the University of Oregon with a focus on quantitative methods and research design.

Keith Smolkowski is a research scientist at Oregon Research Institute. Dr Smolkowski has extensive experience in the design and analysis of large-scale research studies, and his research interests include social and academic behaviour of preschool- to school-age children within the fields of education and prevention science.