Child Care as an Adult Work Environment

Abstract

A sample of 1307 center‐based child care staff was studied to assess predictors of job satisfaction and turnover, and to link these aspects of the adult work environment of child care to the quality of care, as assessed from a child development perspective. The staff were well educated in comparison to the female labor force, but they earned, on average, poverty‐level wages. High levels of career orientation and satisfaction with the day‐to‐day demands of child care work were expressed, alongside high intended and actual turnover rates, and very low satisfaction with salaries, benefits, and social status. Job satisfaction was significantly, but modestly, associated with wages, paid preparation time, reduced‐fee child care, and the quality of provisions for adult needs. Staff wages were the most important negative predictor of staff turnover and positive predictor of the quality of care provided to the children. The results highlight the need to incorporate facets of the adult work environment in research on the developmental effects of child care and in policy efforts to upgrade the quality of care.