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ARTICLES

Maternal child care preferences for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers: the disconnect between policy and preference in the USA

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Pages 205-229 | Received 23 Nov 2008, Published online: 08 Feb 2010
 

Abstract

While much research exists looking at parental preferences for child care, much of that research uses child care choice as a proxy for preference. In an effort to examine the types of care mothers prefer if no constraints were placed on their decision, this quantitative study investigated how family demographic factors and family role ideology relate to the types of child care (parental and non-parental forms) mothers prefer ‘in an ideal world’ using a sample of 345 employed mothers of children under 6 years of age in a suburb of a large metropolitan area in the southern USA. Participants completed a questionnaire examining the types of care they viewed as ideal for infants (0–12 months old), toddlers (13–30 months old), and preschoolers (31–72 months old) if no constraints were placed on the decision. Results indicated that the preferences for type of care for mothers in this sample varied according to the child's age, with a large majority of mothers preferring parental care for their children. Ideological and demographic factors predicting preferences for first and second choice of child care were also explored through binary and multinomial logistic regression, revealing the influence of ethnicity, education, and family role ideology to preferences for infant care. These results add to the existing literature by confirming previous findings about the influence of child age to child care preferences, as well as highlighting the disconnect between these preferences and the way family policies are structured in the USA.

Aunque existe mucha investigación que estudia las preferencias familiares en cuanto al cuidado de los niños, gran parte de aquella investigación utiliza la selección de cuidados como sustituo por la preferencia de cuidados. En un intento de examinar los tipos de cuidados que preferirían las madres si no hubiera restricciones de ningún tipo sobre dicha decisión, este estudio cuantitativo investigó cómo los factores demográficos de la familia y la ideología familiar sobre los roles de cada uno se relacionaban con los tipos de cuidados (familiar o no familiar) que prefieren las madres ‘en un mundo ideal.’ Se empleó una muestra de 345 madres de niños de menos de 6 años en el suburbio de un área metropolitana grande en el suroeste de los Estados Unidos. Los participantes completaron un cuestionario que examinó los tipos de cuidados que se consideran ideales para bebés (0–12 meses) nenes pequeños (13–30 meses) y niños preescolares (31–72 meses), si no hay restricción de ningún tipo sobre la decısıón. Los resutados de esta muestra indicaron que el tipo de cuidados que preferían las madres variaban según la edad del niño, con una gran mayoría que prefería el cuidado materno para sus niños. Los factores ideológicos y demográficos que predecían las primeras y segundas preferencias de cuidados fueron explorados también a través de la regresión logística binaria y multinomial. Esto reveló la influencia de la etnicidad, la educación y la ideología de los roles dentro de la familia sobre las preferencias de cuidados infantiles. Los reultados añaden a la literaura existente en que confirman la investigación previa sobre la importancia de la edad del niño en las preferencias de cuidados infantiles. También subraya el desfase entre las preferencias para los cuidados y la forma en que la política familiar está estructurada en los Estados Unidos.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank James Conover, Richard Feinberg, Susan Kontos, and Douglas Powell for input and recommendations at each stage of this study. These data were collected and analyzed as part of the first author's doctoral dissertation at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, USA. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual Conference on Human Development in Louisville, KY, USA in 2006.

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