The Role of Mother's Citizenship Status on the Use of Licensed Child Care Among California's Asian Children

Abstract

The underutilization of licensed child care is a problem among minority groups. This study examines the licensed child care access and utilization characteristics of Asian Americans by using statewide representative data from California. The study analyzed an aggregated child data file from CHIS (California Health Interview Survey). In the multivariate logistic regression, Asian children who had noncitizen mothers were more than three times more likely to use licensed child care than were Asian children who had mothers that were U. S. born and naturalized citizens. However, none of the Asian subgroups was the predictor of the utilization of licensed child care. The study has implications to child care policy.

KEYWORDS:

• Asian children
• maternal citizenship status
• licensed child care