High-Quality Proprietary Day Care

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify predictors of parents choosing quality day care programs for their children. Questionnaires were obtained from 152 parents whose children were enrolled in one of the 10 licensed day care centers in two neighboring Alabama communities, and from 105 parents whose children attended one of eight licensed centers in a Georgia community and a Maryland community. Information obtained from the parents included demographics on the family and the process the parents went through in selecting a center. The results from the Alabama sample yielded eleven significant correlates of day care quality choice, where quality was assessed independently and reliably by local day care experts. Five of these variables, when entered in a stepwise regression analysis, accounted for 39% of the variance in quality choices among centers in Alabama and 34% of the variance in quality in the Georgia/Maryland replication sample. Briefly, (a) the amount of husband's education, (b) dissatisfaction with previous day care arrangements, (c) fewer children, (d) the wife and husband making the decision together, and (e) not choosing a center due to location were all significant, independent predictors of choosing a quality program.