Formal Childcare Research Articles

Association of childcare arrangement with overweight and obesity in preschool-aged children: a narrative review of literature.

The time children spend in childcare overlaps with daily meals and opportunities to be active. Thus these environments have the opportunity to promote-or hinder-healthy weight gain among children who attend them. The purpose of this narrative review was to compile findings from studies examining childcare type and weight outcomes among preschool-age children. A literature search was conducted using PubMed, PsychInfo and ERIC. Inclusion criteria were infant- to 5-year-old children exposed to any type of childcare with a cross-sectional or longitudinal weight outcome. Among 385 studies screened, 18 were included. For comparison across studies, type of childcare was categorized as: childcare center, Head Start, nanny/babysitter, non-relative care/family childcare home and relative care. Four studies found no association with childcare type and obesity, and 10 studies reported mixed results by type of care or subpopulation analyses. Two studies found an overall positive association, and two reported an inverse association. There were differences in direction of associations and findings by type of care arrangement. For Head Start, three of eight studies demonstrated a negative relationship with obesity; none demonstrated a positive association. No other childcare type demonstrated this inverse association. Informal types of care (relative and non-relative care in a home) were positively associated with child obesity in 3 of 10 studies. This association was less commonly reported among formal childcare centers (2 of 15 studies). The majority of studies, however, reported mixed findings or no association by childcare type. Results suggested no consistent evidence for a relationship between childcare and obesity risk, except Head Start. This review exposed the need for a consistent definition of childcare type and the exploration of unmeasured confounders, such as the nutrition and physical activity environment of childcare settings, to understand how they contribute to or protect against the development of overweight/obesity among children.

Parents' and staff's views of adapting the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Childcare in UK nurseries to improve physical activity and healthy eating

BackgroundMost children in the UK attend formal childcare from the age of 3 years, so it is important that these settings promote healthy behaviours and reduce risk of obesity. The Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Childcare (NAP SACC) programme works with nurseries to produce changes in the environment and improvements in children's nutrition and physical activity. Randomised controlled trials have demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of NAP SACC in the USA, but not in the UK. This study aimed to adapt NAP SACC for use in the UK and to develop a home component to involve parents for use in a feasibility trial (NAP SACC UK). MethodsA purposive sample of 16 nurseries in North Somerset and Cardiff were invited to inform the development of NAP SACC UK. The areas were selected to include a range of ethnicity, deprivation, and rural and urban areas. 12 nurseries consented to participate. Health visitors and early years' staff participated in focus groups. Parents or carers with children aged 2–4 years at participating nurseries were invited to discuss parental involvement during telephone interviews. All interview recordings were transcribed verbatim and anonymised. Meaningful content was coded with thematic analysis. FindingsFive focus groups with early years' staff (n=17), ten nursery manager interviews, and 31 parent interviews were held. Staff were positive about the NAP SACC approach of self-assessment, use of action planning, and staff workshops. Although health-visitor involvement was welcomed, lack of capacity or knowledge to deliver workshops was a concern. Participants expressed concern about child oral health and interest in including it. Parents suggested involving the whole family in the home component and linking with themes in nurseries. Online tip-sharing forums for parents were also suggested. InterpretationThe approach used by NAP SACC was broadly acceptable to nurseries in the UK, with recommendations to deliver training and to include oral health. Parents welcomed support at home. Because North Somerset and Cardiff have different approaches to health improvement, and participants were recruited from a range of nurseries, the findings are to some extent generalisable to other areas within the UK. FundingNational Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Public Health Research Programme (PHR 12/153/39). NIHR paid the salaries of SW and RB.

School enrolment and mothers’ labor supply: evidence from a regression discontinuity approach

We analyze the impact on maternal employment of a universal school reform in Norway which lowered the school starting age from seven to six. We use a regression discontinuity approach exploiting exogenous variation in the compulsory school enrollment rule caused by the reform. Our results reveal positive short-term effects on labor supply (approximately five percentage points) and on earnings (about 12600/1350 NOK/Euro). Subgroup analyses show that the positive effects are much stronger for mothers with low wage potential, a group of mothers that were less likely to use formal childcare prior to the reform. The positive effects for this subgroup of mothers suggest that expanding child-care can be an effective tool for increasing labor supply of mothers who previously had relatively low labor market earnings potential.

With strings attached: Grandparent-provided child care and female labor market outcomes

Grandparents are regular providers of free child care. Similar to other forms of child care, availability of grandparent-provided child care has positive effects on fertility and mothers' employment. However, grandparent-provided child care requires residing close to parents or in-laws which may imply spatial restrictions for labor markets. We find that West German mothers who reside close to parents or in-laws have lower wages. We build a model of residence choice, fertility decisions, and female labor force participation that can account for the observed relationships. We simulate our model to analyze how women's decisions would change if the availability of grandparent-provided child care or family policies were altered. If out-of-pocket child care costs were lowered to the Swedish level, fertility, mothers' labor force participation, and geographical mobility would increase. If more households had access to free grandparent-provided child care, fertility and mothers' labor force participation would also increase, but geographical mobility would be reduced.

Access to Childcare in Europe: Parents' Logistical Challenges in Cross‐national Perspective

AbstractA burgeoning comparative literature has identified the centrality of childcare policy and provision in promoting parental, and specifically maternal, participation in paid employment across countries. This literature has focused on the importance of macro‐level institutional arrangements, with a special emphasis on variation in availability of, and access to, formal early childhood education and care services. However, there has been limited comparative exploration of what this means in practice at the micro‐level: the everyday challenges parents face when attempting to navigate the childcare system and the labour market simultaneously. Taking inspiration from human geography literature on the concept of ‘space–time fixity’, we present cross‐national findings on the logistical challenges of arranging childcare. Evidence is drawn from interviews with parent‐ and childcare‐related organizations in six European countries: Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK. Our research provides a richer understanding of childcare availability than would a sole focus on formal childcare services, by elucidating the difficulties parents face in organizing access to these services, which can be a challenge to some extent even in contexts where childcare services are comprehensive and affordable.

Gluing, catching and connecting: how informal childcare strengthens single mothers’ employment trajectories

Research on single mothers’ employment overwhelmingly focuses on the importance of access to formal childcare at a single point in time. However, to understand the relationship between childcare and single mothers’ employment we must consider their access to and use of multiple forms of childcare – their childcare packages – and how these change over time. Drawing on a longitudinal qualitative study and employing the concepts of ‘caringscapes’ and ‘work-time/childcare-time’, this article highlights how childcare packages shape single mothers’ employment trajectories. Informal carers play a crucial role within mixed (formal and informal) childcare packages in helping mothers bring children’s needs, work-time and childcare-time into alignment, thus strengthening their employment trajectories. Informal carers achieve this effect by: (1) increasing the total hours of non-parental care; (2) ‘gluing’ together complex jigsaws of care; (3) offering a ‘safety net’ in times of crisis; and (4) playing a ‘connector’ role during employment transitions.

Grandparental Availability for Child Care and Maternal Employment: Pension Reform Evidence from Italy

in this paper we exploit pension reform-induced changes in retirement eligibility requirements to assess the role of grandparental child care availability in the employment of women who have children under 15. We focus on Italy for two reasons: first, it has low rates of female employment and little formal child care provision and, second, it has undergone several pension reforms in a relatively short time span. Our analysis shows that, among the women studied, those whose own mothers are retirement eligible have a 13 percent higher probability of being employed than those whose mothers are ineligible. The pension eligibility of maternal grandfathers and paternal grandparents, however, has no significant effect on the women's employment probability. We also demonstrate that the eligibility of maternal grandmothers mainly captures the effect of their availability for child care. Hence, pension reforms, by potentially robbing households of an important source of flexible, low-cost child care, could have unintended negative consequences for the employment rates of women with children.

Targeted or Universal Coverage? Assessing Heterogeneity in the Effects of Universal Child Care

We provide evidence on the distributional effects of Quebec’s universal child care policy. Our analysis uncovers substantial policy relevant heterogeneity in the estimated effect of access to subsidized child care across two developmental score distributions for children from two-parent families. Whereas past research reported findings of negative effects on mothers and children from these families, igniting controversy, our estimates reveal a more nuanced image that formal child care can indeed boost developmental outcomes for children from some households: particularly disadvantaged single-parent households. We present suggestive evidence that the heterogeneity in policy effects is consistent with differences in home learning environments.

Mothers’ non-standard working and childcare-related challenges

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to particularly focus on lone-mother families, comparing the childcare-related challenges experienced by working lone mothers and coupled mothers in three European countries in the context of a 24/7 economy and non-standard working hours (e.g. evening, night and weekend work). Design/methodology/approach – This study utilises survey data from Finnish, Dutch and British working mothers (n=1,106) collected as part of the “Families 24/7” research project. Multivariate regression analysis is used to analyse the associations between childcare-related challenges, maternal non-standard working, lone motherhood and country of residence. Findings – The results indicated similar results across the three countries by showing that working lone mothers experience childcare-related challenges more often compared with coupled mothers. Furthermore, an increase in maternal non-standard working associated positively with increased childcare-related challenges in both lone mother and coupled families but lone motherhood did not moderate this association. The findings suggest that, regardless of family form, families in all three countries struggle with childcare arrangements when the mother works during non-standard hours. This possibly relates to the inadequate provision of state-subsidised and flexible formal childcare during non-standard hours and to the country-specific maternal work hours cultures. Originality/value – This study responds to the need for comparative research on the reconciliation of maternal non-standard working and childcare with self-collected data from three European welfare states. The importance of the study is further highlighted by the risks posed to the maintenance of maternal employment and family well-being when reconciliation of work and childcare is unsuccessful, especially in lone-mother families.

Parenthood, child care, and nonstandard work schedules in Europe

ABSTRACTAn increasing proportion of the European labor force works in the evening, at night or on weekends. Because nonstandard work schedules are associated with a number of negative outcomes for families and children, parents may seek to avoid such schedules. However, for parents with insufficient access to formal child care, working nonstandard hours or days may be an adaptive strategy used to manage child-care needs. It enables ‘split-shift’ parenting, where parents work alternate schedules, allowing one of the two to be at home looking after the children. This study examines the prevalence of nonstandard work schedules among parents and nonparents in 22 European countries. Specifically, we ask whether the provision of formal child care influences the extent to which parents of preschool-aged children work nonstandard schedules. Using data from the European Social Survey and multilevel models, we find evidence that the availability of formal child care reduces nonstandard work among parents. This indicates that access to formal child care enables parents to work standard schedules. To the extent that nonstandard work schedules are negatively associated with child well-being, access to formal child care protects children from the adverse effects of their parents’ evening and night work.

What Drives National Differences in Intensive Grandparental Childcare in Europe?

Objectives. Grandparents play an important role in looking after grandchildren, although intensive grandparental childcare varies considerably across Europe. Few studies have explicitly investigated the extent to which such cross-national variations are associated with national level differences in individual demographic and socio-economic distributions along with contextual-structural and cultural factors (e.g., variations in female labor force participation, childcare provision, and cultural attitudes). Methods. We used multilevel models to examine associations between intensive grandparental childcare and contextual-structural and cultural factors, after controlling for grandparent, parent, and child characteristics using nationally representative data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Results. Even controlling for cross-national differences in demographic and socio-economic distributions, contextual-structural factors play an important role in explaining grandparental childcare variations in Europe. In particular, higher levels of intensive grandparental childcare are found in countries with low labor force participation among younger and older women, and low formal childcare provision, where mothers in paid work largely rely on grandparental support on an almost daily basis. Discussion. Encouraging older women to remain in paid work is likely to have an impact on grandchild care which in turn may affect mothers’ employment, particularly in Southern European countries where there is little formal childcare.

Vaikų globos namų deinstitucionalizacija Lietuvoje: ar „vežimas“ judės į priekį?

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama vaikų globos namų deinstitucionalizacijos problema Lietuvoje, pateikiamos kai kurių globos namų socialinių darbuotojų įžvalgos ir patirtys šiuo pereinamuoju laikotarpiu. Institucinė vaiko globa pastaraisiais metais kritikuojama kaip ydinga vaiko visapusiškam vystymuisi ir ugdymui, tačiau pastebima, kad prasidėjusi sistemos pertvarka yra sudėtingas procesas, pastaraisiais metais daugiausia stringantis dėl politinės valios stokos, dalyvaujančių subjektų (valdžios institucijų, globos namų, bendruomenių, mokslininkų) aktyvaus ir darnaus veikimo bei bendradarbiavimo trūkumo. Kartu akivaizdu, kad vaikų globos namų deinstitualizacija yra nacionalinio lygmens problema ir šis procesas neįmanomas be didesnio visos visuomenės įsitraukimo ir žmonių sąmoningumo pokyčių.

Child Care, Maternal Employment, and Children's School Outcomes. An Analysis of Italian Data.

In this paper we analyse the impact of mothers' employment status and formal child care attendance during early childhood on children's school grades later in life, controlling for socio-demographic factors. We use the year 2008 of the Italian ISFOL-PLUS dataset. The dataset provides information on each respondent's demographic characteristics, as well as a set of retrospective information on the individual's school grades at the end of junior high school, high school, and university, along with (in the 2008 wave only) information about the respondent's formal child care attendance and mother's employment status when he or she was under age of three. We estimate the effects of maternal employment and child care attendance on the probability that the respondent would have high grades at the end of high school. Since maternal employment and child care attendance are likely to be endogenously determined, we use an instrumental variable approach. Our empirical results show that while having a mother who was working (during early childhood) had no significant effect on an individual's high school grades, child care attendance had a positive and significant effect. These results have potential policy implications. As maternal employment does not seem to negatively affect the development process of children, while child care attendance appears to have a positive impact on academic achievement, policy makers should consider expanding the availability of child care and promoting women's participation in the labour market.

Early Childcare, Child Cognitive Outcomes and Inequalities in the UK

In this empirical analysis, we estimate the link between formal childcare and child cognitive outcomes, controlling for a large number of variables. We use the Millennium Cohort Survey (MCS) for the United Kingdom, which provides very detailed information about several modalities of childcare as well as several child outcomes. We also simulate how an increase in formal childcare attendance can affect inequalities across children. Our results indicate that childcare attendance has a positive impact on child cognitive outcomes, which are stronger for children from low socioeconomic background.

Is Childcare Bad for the Mental Health of Grandparents? Evidence from Share

We estimate the causal effects of regular and occasional grandchild care on the depression of grandmothers and grandfathers, using data from the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and an instrumental variables strategy which exploits the variation in the timing of interviews across individuals and the fact that childcare declines with the age of grandchildren. We find that 10 additional hours of childcare per month, a 31 percent increase with respect to the sample average, increases the probability of developing depressive symptoms by 3.0 to 3.2 percentage points for grandmothers and by 5.4 to 5.9 percentage points for grandfathers. These results suggest that policies that substitute informal with formal childcare can improve the mental wellbeing of grandparents.

Grandparental Availability for Child Care and Maternal Employment: Pension Reform Evidence from Italy

In this paper, we exploit pension reform-induced changes in retirement eligibility requirements to assess the role of grandparental child care availability in the employment of women who have children under 15. We focus on Italy for two reasons: first, it has low rates of female employment and little formal child care provision, and second, it has undergone several pension reforms in a relatively short time span. Our analysis shows that, among the women studied, those whose own mothers are retirement eligible have a 13 percent higher probability of being employed than those whose mothers are ineligible. The pension eligibility of maternal grandfathers and paternal grandparents, however, has no significant effect on the women's employment probability. We also demonstrate that the eligibility of maternal grandmothers mainly captures the effect of their availability for child care. Hence, pension reforms, by potentially robbing households of an important source of flexible, low-cost child care, could have unintended negative consequences for the employment rates of women with children.

Childcare Use and Its Role in Indigenous Child Development: Evidence from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children in Australia

This paper investigates patterns of childcare use and their influence on the cognitive development of Indigenous children. The influence of childcare on the cognitive outcomes of Indigenous children is less well understood than for non-Indigenous children due to a lack of appropriate data. This paper uses data from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children, a unique panel survey that tracks two cohorts of Indigenous children in Australia. This paper focusses on the younger cohort that has been followed from infancy and includes rich information on their childcare use and cognitive outcomes. We find that, compared to Indigenous children who never participated in childcare, Indigenous children who participated in childcare performed better on a range of cognitive outcomes measured across the preschool years. Using regression and propensity score matching techniques we show that this difference is entirely driven by selection into childcare, with children from more advantaged families being more likely to attend formal childcare than children from less advantaged families. However, results from the matching analysis suggest that relatively disadvantaged children might benefit more from attending childcare, as indicated by the positive potential effects found for those who never attended childcare (i.e. the estimated effects had they participated in childcare).

Is the 'quality' of Preschool Childcare, Measured by the Qualifications and Pay of the Childcare Workforce, Improving in Britain?

The purpose of this paper is to report on the changing qualifications, pay and working conditions of the British childcare workforce between 2005 and 2014. This is in order to contribute to current debates on the ‘quality’ of childcare provision for preschool children. The theoretical framework for this study draws upon concepts of 'quality' in childcare, to discuss the argued importance of increasing access to and raising standards of childcare for children’s cognitive development, for women’s labour market participation and for reducing poverty. The analysis comes from an ESRC funded study entitled ‘Provision and use of preschool childcare in Britain’. This paper focuses on examination of childcare provision by the formal childcare workforce and presents results from a secondary analysis of the UK’s Labour Force Survey, Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, and Ofsted registration data. The 2005-2014 results show a highly gendered (98% female), low valued workforce in which qualifications are modestly rising (12% increase over time in NVQ level 3) but persistently low paid (on average £6.60 per hour) compared with other occupations (£13.10 per hour). The study also finds a shrinkage in the childcare workforce - of around five per cent in Britain since 2005 (from 329k in 2005-07 to 313k in 2012-14) – and more people describing themselves as childminders in the LFS than are registered with Ofsted, suggesting a possible growth in illegal childminding. The implications of these findings raise questions about what the British childcare workforce will look like in the future, who will do childcare work in the future, and whether it is possible to achieve ‘good quality’, ‘affordable childcare’ and ‘decent pay’ for British childcare workers. These issues are important for the future regulation of the British ‘childcare’ workforce and policy development in this vital area.

Self-employment and experiences of support in a work–family context

Using a life course lens with a focus on linked lives, this study explores experiences and perceptions of support through in-depth interviews with 22 self-employed men and women with children. Experiences of informal support were varied and complex, with multiple layers of support often operating simultaneously. With few exceptions, gender differences in perceived support reflected traditional role expectations. While men and women both spoke of the importance of emotional support, women more often identified spouses' financial support as essential to operating a business, whereas men valued instrumental support in the form of childcare and domestic activities. Informal communities of support comprised of other self-employed people were valued for mentoring, assistance, and friendship, and were less emotionally intense compared to experiences of support from family members. Parents generally misunderstood or were unaware of the potential for formal government support through the Canadian government's Employment Insurance Special Benefits for Self-Employed People program.

Mij een zorg!?

Who cares? A comparison of care ideals of government and citizens Who cares? A comparison of care ideals of government and citizens In the public debate on participation there is much focus on the reconciliation of work and care for vulnerable groups. In this article we analyze the ideals of the government on care for children and the elderly and how these policies are related to the care ideals of citizens.Successive governments have considered professional child care as an important labor market instrument, needed to enable young parents to continue participating in the labor market. In policy documents on care for elderly there is also a focus on ‘participation’ but this refers to social participation. The professional elder care is inhibited as much as possible by encouraging informal care by family. These principles of policy do not correspond to the preferences of citizens. Most citizens find that care for ill parents is mainly a task for the government, but parents are somewhat reluctant to use formal child care.In the public debate on participation there is much focus on the reconciliation of work and care for vulnerable groups. In this article we analyze the ideals of the government on care for children and the elderly and how these policies are related to the care ideals of citizens.Successive governments have considered professional child care as an important labor market instrument, needed to enable young parents to continue participating in the labor market. In policy documents on care for elderly there is also a focus on ‘participation’ but this refers to social participation. The professional elder care is inhibited as much as possible by encouraging informal care by family. These principles of policy do not correspond to the preferences of citizens. Most citizens find that care for ill parents is mainly a task for the government, but parents are somewhat reluctant to use formal child care.