Availability Of Child Care Research Articles

Abstract 6: Parenting in Plastic Surgery Residency

Background: In 1994, Mackinnon and Mizgala advocated that plastic surgery residents should have access to adequate childcare facilities to promote a productive return to work.1 25 years later, the lack of accessible and affordable childcare remains a dilemma faced by many plastic surgery trainees. Our survey aims to evaluate the current status of childrearing during plastic surgery training. Methods: Following approval from The American Council of Academic Plastic Surgeons (ACAPS), an anonymous, voluntary, electronic survey was sent to current plastic surgery residents. Respondents were asked about their demographics, training program, basic financial information, current childcare accommodations and availability, as well as attitudes and issues surrounding childrearing during residency. Results: There were 32 respondents, 66% women and 34% men. Seventy-five percent of respondents were married, and 38% had ≥1 child, with no difference when stratified by gender. Seventy-five percent of male parents compared to twelve percent of female parents reported their spouse was the primary source of childcare. One-hundred percent of respondents with children reported that childcare creates a financial burden. Only 3% of respondents felt their institution provided services to arrange adequate childcare. Sixty-three percent of residents felt their training program did not allow flexibility to accommodate childcare needs. Female residents missed work twice as often as male residents and were twice as likely to require a co-resident to cover clinical duties due to difficulties finding childcare when compared to male residents (p=0.296, p=0.145, respectively). Sixty-seven percent of female residents agreed with the statement, “If you had to pick a residency program today, the availability of on-site childcare would influence your decision,” compared to only 9% of male residents, (p=0.002). Conclusion: Currently, training institutions are not meeting the childcare needs of plastic surgery trainees with children. If we as a specialty wish to continue to recruit and retain the most highly-qualified and well-rounded applicants, we must improve the accommodations for childcare for our trainees who are and who wish to become parents. To accomplish this goal, all training institutions with plastic surgery residency programs should provide affordable, accessible childcare that accommodates the 24-hour natures of both patient care and parenthood.

Institutionalization of Children with Disabilities in Croatia: Social Workers' Perspectives

This study aims to advance understanding of social workers’ perceptions of the circumstances necessitating and preventing the placement of children with disabilities (CwDs) in institutions. This retrospective study involved thematic analyses of one focus group (n = 7) and semi-structured individual interviews (n = 12). Participants included social work professionals with experience providing welfare services for CwDs and their families. In effort to prevent separation of CwDs from their families, results suggest a need for continued monitoring of deinstitutionalization of CwDs alongside increased availability, accessibility, and quality of childcare, alternative child welfare and family support services.

Mobile Health for Perinatal Depression and Anxiety: Scoping Review.

BackgroundThe perinatal period is a vulnerable time during which depression and anxiety commonly occur. If left untreated or undertreated, there may be significant adverse effects; therefore, access to rapid, effective treatment is essential. Treatments for mild-to-moderate symptoms according to a stepped-care approach involve psychoeducation, peer support, and psychological therapy, all of which have been shown to be efficaciously delivered through digital means. Women experience significant barriers to care because of system- and individual-level factors, such as cost, accessibility, and availability of childcare. The use of mobile phones is widespread in this population, and the delivery of mental health services via mobile phones has been suggested as a means of reducing barriers.ObjectiveThis study aimed to understand the extent, range, and nature of mobile health (mHealth) tools for prevention, screening, and treatment of perinatal depression and anxiety in order to identify gaps and inform opportunities for future work.MethodsUsing a scoping review framework, 4 databases were searched for terms related to mobile phones, perinatal period, and either depression or anxiety. A total of 477 unique records were retrieved, 81 of which were reviewed by full text. Peer-reviewed publications were included if they described the population as women pregnant or up to 1 year postpartum and a tool explicitly delivered via a mobile phone for preventing, screening, or treating depression or anxiety. Studies published in 2007 or earlier, not in English, or as case reports were excluded.ResultsA total of 26 publications describing 22 unique studies were included (77% published after 2017). mHealth apps were slightly more common than texting-based interventions (12/22, 54% vs 10/22, 45%). Most tools were for either depression (12/22, 54%) or anxiety and depression (9/22, 41%); 1 tool was for anxiety only (1/22, 4%). Interventions starting in pregnancy and continuing into the postpartum period were rare (2/22, 9%). Tools were for prevention (10/22, 45%), screening (6/22, 27%), and treatment (6/22, 27%). Interventions delivered included psychoeducation (16/22, 73%), peer support (4/22, 18%), and psychological therapy (4/22, 18%). Cost was measured in 14% (3/22) studies.ConclusionsFuture work in this growing area should incorporate active psychological treatment, address continuity of care across the perinatal period, and consider clinical sustainability to realize the potential of mHealth.

The Effect of Childcare on Parental Earnings Trajectories

We study the effect of childcare availability on child penalties. Using Swiss administrative data, we exploit the staggered opening of childcare facilities across municipalities in the canton of Bern. We find that the presence of childcare facilities in the year of birth of the first child reduces the child penalty. The availability of childcare increases maternal earnings and decreases the compensating increase in fathers’ earnings in households with below median earnings, but not in households with above median earnings. Although childcare affects relative earnings contributions within the household, there is no effect on total household earnings.

The Effect of Childcare on Parental Earnings Trajectories

We study the effect of institutional childcare on child penalties. Using Swiss administrative data, we exploit the staggered opening of childcare facilities across municipalities in the canton of Bern. We find that the presence of childcare facilities in the year of birth of the first child reduces the child penalty. The availability of childcare increases maternal earnings and decreases the compensating increase in fathers’ earnings in households with below median earnings, but not in households with above median earnings. Although childcare affects relative earnings contributions within the household, there is no effect on total household earnings.

Changes in Female Employment in Mexico: Demographics, Economics, and Policies

The unemployment and labor force participation gender gaps narrowed in Mexico after the 2008 global economic crisis, when female labor force participation increased. This paper aims to understand female labor force participation growth and identify its main determinants. For that purpose, the paper estimates a probit model with data from the National Employment Survey of 2007 and 2017, when the unemployment rate returned to the pre-crisis level. Broadly, the results show that increasing labor force participation of women ages 36 to 65 sustained the growth of overall female labor force participation, women’s educational attainment can offset any individual or household obstacle to women’s employability, and childcare availability significantly supports mothers’ employability.

Introduction of Formal Child Care Services in Inuit Communities and Labour Force Outcomes

We study the impacts of the introduction of formal child care services in 28 Inuit communities in Canada’s North. We use geographical variation in the timing of the introduction of child care services in the late 1990s and early 2000s to estimate the impact of increased access to child care. We combine the 1996, 2001, and 2006 long-form census files with data on the opening dates of child care centres in each of the 28 communities over time. We find little evidence of impacts on female labour force participation rates. Point estimates for other outcomes, including high school graduation rates and male participation in child care, are also mostly small and statistically insignificant. In many cases, subgroups in Quebec present the exception, potentially reflecting an interaction with the low-fee child care policy that was rolled out in Quebec over approximately the same time period. We do not find evidence that formal child care availability decreases the ability of children to speak Inuktitut. We suggest plausible explanations for these findings and avenues for future research.

Does subsidized care for toddlers increase maternal labor supply? Evidence from a large-scale expansion of early childcare

Expanding public or publicly subsidized childcare has been a top social policy priority in many industrialized countries. It is supposed to increase fertility, promote children’s development and enhance mothers’ labor market attachment. In this paper, we analyze the causal effect of one of the largest expansions of subsidized childcare for children up to three years among industrialized countries on the employment of mothers in Germany. Identification is based on spatial and temporal variation in the expansion of publicly subsidized childcare triggered by two comprehensive childcare policy reforms. The empirical analysis is based on the German Microcensus that is matched to county level data on childcare availability. Based on our preferred specification which includes time and county fixed effects we find that an increase in childcare slots by one percentage point increases mothers’ labor market participation rate by 0.2 percentage points. The overall increase in employment is explained by the rise in part-time employment with relatively long hours (20–35 h per week). We do not find a change in full-time employment or lower part-time employment that is causally related to the childcare expansion. The effect is almost entirely driven by mothers with medium-level qualifications. Mothers with low education levels do not profit from this reform calling for a stronger policy focus on particularly disadvantaged groups in coming years.

The Impact of Parental Leave Policy on Child-Rearing and Employment Behavior: The Case of Germany

Abstract Parental leave and child care are important instruments of family policies to improve work–family balance. This paper studies the impact of the substantial change in Germany’s parental leave system on maternal employment. The aim of the reform was to decrease birth-related maternal employment breaks by providing more generous parental benefits for a shorter period of time. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel data for 2002–2015, I exploited quasi-experimental variation in the benefits to estimate the impact of the reform. I incorporated the mother’s decision to substitute her care time with the public child care. To control for the availability of child care, I used spatial and temporal variation in the availability of childcare slots. Overall, I did not find significant changes in maternal employment during the first three years of motherhood after the reform implementation. Only for high-income mothers, the reform produced a significant decrease in the employment participation during the first year of leave and an increase in employment probability after the benefits expired. The empirical findings suggest that the restriction in the childcare availability became an important constraint for the employment effect of the reform.

Out-of-partnership births in East and West Germany

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we show that single women in East Germany are significantly more likely to give birth to a child than single women in West Germany. This applies to both planned and unplanned births. Our analysis provides no evidence that the difference between East and West Germany can be explained by economic factors or the higher availability of child care in East Germany. This suggests that the difference in out-of-partnership births is rather driven by behavioral and cultural differences. However, these behavioral and cultural differences do not only reflect different gender role models that evolved under the former communist regime in East Germany and the democratic one in West Germany. Partly, they also reflect a long historical divide that predates the 1945 separation of Germany.

Social differentials in the effect of formal childcare on the transition to parenthood?: An assessment of varying effects by education, working hours and migration background.

Although the hypothesis that formal childcare reconciles work and family life - and thus stimulates the transition to parenthood - is theoretically well-grounded and partially empirically supported, available literature has hitherto insufficiently acknowledged differential effects by population subgroups. This is remarkable as population subgroups are likely to exhibit different labour market opportunities and opportunity costs of childbearing, varying attitudes toward work-family combination and the use of formal childcare, and differential institutional knowledge with respect to formal childcare. Using unique register-data for the complete residential Belgian population at the turn of the century, this study applies random and fixed effects hazard models to assess varying associations between local childcare availability and dual earner fertility by level of education, working hours and migration background. Results indicate that lagged variation in childcare coverage across and within municipalities over time is positively associated to first birth hazards for all types of dual earner couples. Whereas varying effects by level of education indicate social differentiation in the sense that the positive impact of local childcare coverage is stronger for highly educated couples, differences by working hours and migration background are more limited and insignificant. The Belgian context provides an excellent laboratory to address this topic for two reasons. First, as a result of its top-ranked position with respect to formal childcare during the 2000s, the results are of interest to countries with lower formal childcare coverage. Second, Belgium exhibits considerable social differentials in labour market opportunities, the uptake and benefits of formal childcare.

The joint decision of female labour supply and childcare in Italy under costs and availability constraints

It is widely recognized that childcare has important pedagogical, economic and social effects on both children and parents. This paper is the first attempt to estimate a joint structural model of female labour supply and childcare behavior applied to Italy in order to analyse the effects of relaxing the existing constraints in terms of childcare availability and costs by considering public, private and informal childcare. Results suggest that Italian households might alter their childcare and labour supply behaviors substantially if the coverage rate of formal childcare increases to reach the European targets. Overall, increasing child care coverage is estimated to be more effective in enhancing labour incentives than decreasing existing child care costs, at the same budgetary cost.

Rage – beyond the Point of Boiling Over

Rage – beyond the Point of Boiling Over

Women in Australian Politics: Maintaining the Rage against the Political Machine

Women in Australian Politics: Maintaining the Rage against the Political Machine

Do parental resources moderate the relationship between women’s income and timing of parenthood?

Abstract Previous research has concentrated on the associations between higher incomes and delayed entry into parenthood, disadvantaged family background and early childbirth, and the availability of public childcare and fertility. This paper examines the extent to which parental resources moderate the relationship between women’s income and entry into parenthood, comparing two countries with very different levels of public family support: Finland and the United States. We use Cox regressions with data from the 1979 US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the Finnish Census Panel data to demonstrate both striking similarities and differences between the two countries. First, high-income women from disadvantaged backgrounds postpone entry into parenthood in both countries. Second, high parental resources are associated with postponed entry into parenthood among low-income women. However, we find differences between the two countries regarding which parental resource is most influential. While parental income is important in the US, parental education matters most in Finland.

Lavoratori o lavoratrici povere? Disuguaglianze di genere nel mercato del lavoro in Europa

The article analyses gender inequalities in the probability of being working poor by considering the effect of macro-level labour market characteristics related to the unfavourable conditions women experience when being employed. In Europe, women are on average less likely to be employed as compared to men, they hold less qualified positions, and receive (after observable characteristics are controlled for) lower wages. We present a comparative analysis across 31 European countries that considers the relationship between i) gender differences in working poor and ii) the prevalence of temporary work, part-time work, low-wage, and availability of childcare (specifically aiming at increase female participation). Women display higher likelihood of being working poor compared to men in all countries. The gender pay gap is the most relevant factor among those considered as proxies of unfavourable labour market characteristics for women. Moreover, female participation increases women’s relative disadvantage in the probability of being working poor, even net of childcare availability.

Mothers' Perspectives on Follow-up for Postpartum Depression Screening in Primary Care

To qualitatively assess mothers' perspectives on barriers to and facilitators of follow-up of at-risk postpartum depression (PPD) screening test results. We conducted semistructured qualitative telephone interviews with 17 women who scored in the moderate or high-risk range on the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale. Interviews explored personal experience with depressive symptoms, barriers and facilitators to receiving mental health care postpartum, and suggestions for primary care follow-up of at-risk screens. The team created a coding structure that was updated during review of transcripts. Findings were triangulated and external validity assessed via discussions with a mother who experienced PPD, a perinatal social worker, and a perinatal psychologist. Personal health/attitude, family/friends, community, and health care system factors influenced mothers' follow-up of at-risk PPD screening test results. Health and personal attitude factors included anxiety, physical and emotional exhaustion, self-care and recognition of symptoms, and living up to personal and family expectations. Family/friend factors included material and emotional support and competing priorities. Community factors included child care affordability and availability, access to transportation, geographic access to resources, social networks, and community mental health stigma. Health care factors included pediatrician taking the mother's symptoms seriously, adequate time with the pediatrician, mother and pediatrician focus on the child's health, and access to mental health referrals. Addressing barriers to follow-up after PPD screening may enable better service access for at-risk families.

Local Childcare Availability and Dual-Earner Fertility: Variation in Childcare Coverageand Birth Hazards Over Placeand Time.

The theoretically well-grounded hypothesis that the availability of formal childcare has a positive impact on childbearing in the developed world has been part of the population literature for a long time. Whereas the participation of women in the labour force created a tension between work and family life, the increasing availability of formal childcare in many developed countries is assumed to reconcile these two life domains due to lower opportunity costs and compatible mother and worker roles. However, previous empirical studies on the association between childcare availability and fertility exhibit ambiguous results and considerable variation in the methods applied. This study assesses the childcare-fertility hypothesis for Belgium, a consistently top-ranked country concerning formal childcare coverage that also exhibits considerable variation within the country. Using detailed longitudinal census and register data for the 2000s combined with childcare coverage rates for 588 municipalities and allowing for the endogenous nature of formal childcare and selective migration, our findings indicate clear and substantial positive effects of local formal childcare provision on birth hazards, especially when considering the transition to parenthood. In addition, this article quantifies the impact of local formal childcare availability on fertility at the aggregate level and shows that in the context of low and lowest-low fertility levels in the developed world, the continued extension of formal childcare services can be a fruitful tool to stimulate childbearing among dual-earner couples.

The impact of regulations on labor markets in the U.S.

The District of Columbia (DC) Office of the Superintendent of Education (OSSE) issued in December 2016 new educational requirements for childcare workers, according to which, all childcare center directors in the District must earn a bachelor’s degree by December 2022 and all lead teachers an associate’s degree by December 2020 (Institute for Justice, 2018). Moreover, DC has one of the lowest staff-child ratios in the country. How are regulations pertaining to childcare workers’ qualifications and staff-child ratio affecting the childcare market in DC? The present paper is an attempt to answer this question first by analyzing the effects of more stringent regulations on the cost and availability of childcare in the U.S based on existing studies. It also uses the basic supply and demand model to examine the possible impact of the new DC policy on the cost, quality and supply of childcare in the District and how it will affect working parents, especially mothers. Next, the paper discusses the impact of deregulation based on simulations and regressions conducted by studies covering the U.S., and implications for quality. It concludes that more stringent childcare regulations, regarding educational requirements and staff-child ratios, are associated with a reduced number of childcare centers and a higher cost, and eventually affects women’s labor force participation.

A systemic perspective on children’s well-being in military families in different countries

Introduction: Children are influenced by different environments – home, friends, school, community, society, and the existence and availability of various services – and child well-being is the outcome of the interrelationships between the child and these environments. The military is one of the environments that shapes the well-being of children in military families, and the environments interact with each other. Methods: Our main assumption is that the effect of military environment on child well-being may vary in different societies depending on the general social security system. We describe how the military children’s well-being is embedded in military systems, which in turn is embedded in welfare state. The main question is how the well-being of children from military families varies across countries and how much variation can be explained by the interplay between military systems and different welfare regimes. Results: We begin by describing the differences in welfare states and military systems, and then give a short overview of children’s well-being in the context of different welfare regimes (e.g., availability of public child care, health care, and access to education and extracurricular activities). Discussion: Next, we look at the interplay between the military and welfare regimes and, finally, we show how the well-being of military children is supported across countries by their different welfare regimes.