The Influence of Neighborhood Conditions on Child Care Choices Among Single Mothers

Background: Previous studies have shown that low-income families have limited access to licensed or higher-quality child care arrangements in their communities relative to higher-income families. Research suggests that center-based care is more likely to provide higher quality care that is associated with better developmental outcomes than home-based care. Relatively few studies have examined whether neighborhood characteristics influence parents' child care choices. The purpose of this study is to explore the association between neighborhood characteristics and selection of child care options, especially among working single mothers. Neighborhood characteristics include both socioeconomic conditions and mothers’ perceived neighborhood environments (e.g., perceptions of neighborhood social disorder and violence).

Methods: This study used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), a national study that follows a cohort of 4,898 children born between 1998 and 2000 in 20 U.S. cities with populations over 200,000--particularly, data collected from the mother at the focal child’s birth, the three-year follow-up and in-home study, and Census tract data (the 30-month wave). Analytic sample (N=654) includes mothers who completed all three-year interviews, were employed, were not married, and were using non-parental child care at least ten hours per week at the three-year follow-up point. The dependent variable is the type of primary child care (center vs. non-center) chosen by mothers. Independent variables include neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantages (percent of civilian labor force (16+) that are unemployed, percent of households on public assistance, and percent of families below poverty level, percent of female-headed household, and percent of Black), an immigration concentration (percent of Hispanic and percent of foreign born), taken from tract-level 2000 census data, and perceived neighborhood characteristics (i.e., collective efficacy, social disorder, and exposure to violence in the communities). Covariates include child’s gender and age, mother’s age, race/ethnicity, foreign born, educational level, income, work schedule, grandparents present in household, homeownership, and the number of time family moved since the child’s birth.

Results: This study primarily used a bivariate analysis and a binary logistic regression model. The results showed that single mothers who live in socioeconomically advantaged neighborhoods were only 1.04 times more likely to choose center-based care than mothers who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Meanwhile, mothers who have a higher perceived collective efficacy, social disorder, and exposure to violence were more likely to choose center-based care than mother with a lower sense of perceived neighborhood conditions. Additionally, mothers who work for some form of nonstandard hours were 3 times more likely to choose relative, non-relative, or family day care than mothers with traditional weekday work schedule.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings suggested that neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics were not significantly correlated with mother’s child care selection. However, informal social control, trust among neighbors and safety in the community are important factors for single mother when they choose child care options. Some individual-level characteristics, such as mother’s non-standard work schedules, foreign-born, grandparents present in household, were associated with more informal type of child care selection.