A history of non-parental care in childhood predicts more positive adult attitudes towards non-parental care and maternal employment

ABSTRACT

Data were collected over a 15-year span from three comparable cohorts of students at a Midwestern university about their childcare histories and current attitudes towards non-parental childcare and maternal employment. Across cohorts, a history of non-parental childcare predicted adult attitudes towards non-parental childcare and maternal employment. Compared to participants who did not experience early non-parental care, participants who reported experiencing early non-parental care had more favourable attitudes towards non-parental care and towards maternal employment and were more open to placing their future children in non-parental care. More time spent in non-parental care predicted more favourable attitudes towards it. Females reported significantly more positive attitudes towards non-parental care than did males.

KEYWORDS:

• Non-parental childcare
• maternal employment
• attitudes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Noam Shpancer received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Purdue University. He is a professor of psychology at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. His research interests center on issues of childcare and development. He is also a licensed, practicing clinician with the Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy in Columbus, Ohio.

Steffanie N. Schweitzer earned a Bachelor’s degree from Otterbein University in Psychology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies in 2012. She is currently a graduate student at The Ohio State University College of Nursing, completing a Master’s of Science in Nursing with a specialization in Psychiatric Mental Health care. Her research focuses on evidence-based practice and mental health stigma in pediatric populations.

Notes

1 The original 11-item version of this questionnaire showed poor internal consistency (Cronbach α = .65). Exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure involving nine of the items. Factor 1 consisted of five items proclaiming the negative effect of maternal employment; factor 2 consisted of four items proclaiming the benefits of maternal employment. The remaining, outlying two items (one anti- and one pro-maternal employment) were omitted from the final scale. The resulting 9-item scale (Cronbach α = .71) was used in the analysis.