Market Child Care Versus Care by Relatives: Choices Made by Employed and Nonemployed Mothers

We study the determinants of whether mothers of preschool-aged children use market child care versus care by relatives to assess the importance of economics versus preferences. The evidence suggests that employed mothers turn to relatives for child care partly out of preference, not just because rel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of family issues 1996-07, Vol.17 (4), p.561-578
Main Authors: KUHLTHAU, KAREN, MASON, KAREN OPPENHEIM
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Caregivers
Child care
Child Care Centers
Child Care Services
Child Caregivers
Child Development
Child Rearing
Day Care
Day care centers
Decision Making
Detroit, Michigan
Employed Parents
Family Income
Family Relationship
Family Work Relationship
Mothers
Parent Child Relationship
Parent Responsibility
Parental Attitudes
Personal finance
Preschool Children
Relatives
Social research
Socioeconomic Influences
Unemployment
Working Mothers
Young Children
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Summary:We study the determinants of whether mothers of preschool-aged children use market child care versus care by relatives to assess the importance of economics versus preferences. The evidence suggests that employed mothers turn to relatives for child care partly out of preference, not just because relatives are inexpensive. Public policies that encourage the use of relatives for child care might therefore increase parental satisfaction and quality of care. The analysis finds substantially similar results for African American and other women, but the results for employed mothers differ from those for nonemployed women, who appear to use child care primarily to enhance child development.
ISSN:0192-513X
1552-5481
DOI:10.1177/019251396017004007