More Daughters in Child Care? Child Gender and the Use of Nonrelative Child Care Arrangements*

Abstract

Objectives. This article examines whether families with white mothers make different child care decisions for sons than for daughters before the children start school.Methods. We estimate logistic regressions of the use of nonrelative child care for the youngest child in the family six years old or younger with data from the 1990 National Child Care Survey.Results. We find that girls are significantly more likely than boys to be in regular, nonrelative care when they are between three and six years old.Conclusions. Recent evidence from the United States indicates that child gender influences various aspects of family dynamics. These differences tend to put boys at an advantage. Our findings add to this literature by showing that child care decisions are also related to child gender. Gender differences in the use of child care may reflect appropriate responses to children's developmental needs. However, they may contribute to gender differences in children's well‐being.