Neighborhood context and center-based child care use: Does immigrant status matter?

Abstract

This study examined associations between individual families’ use of center-based child care and neighborhood structure (concentrated poverty and concentrated affluence, as measured with Census data), processes, and resources (child-centered collective efficacy, presence of friends/kin, and availability of services for children, as measured in a survey of neighborhood residents). The potential moderating role of family immigrant status also was investigated. Data were obtained from the 3-year-old cohort of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (N = 999; 42% immigrant). Multilevel models accounting for background factors at the individual level revealed that greater neighborhood concentrated affluence was associated with families’ higher likelihood of using center-based child care, whereas greater neighborhood child-centered collective efficacy was associated with their lower likelihood of using this type of care. In addition, among immigrant families only, as the size of neighborhood friends/kin networks increased, the likelihood of participating in center-based child care programs was higher. Findings are discussed in terms of the potential for improving immigrant families’ access to center-based child care by reducing neighborhood structural barriers and fostering neighborhood networks.