After-school childcare arrangements and maternal labor supply in low-income American households: Comparisons between race and ethnicity

Even though after-school childcare arrangements are a significant matter for working mothers in the United States, only formal childcare has been recognized as relevant by researchers. Therefore, this study aims to find the association between different types of after-school childcare arrangements (after-school programs, relative, parental, self-care, and combination of care) and low-income working mothers’ labor supply, including their working hours and months, as well as their availability for regular job shifts and training/school, with special attention to their race/ethnicity. The study employed the Ordinary Least Square regression analysis and utilized the National Household Education Survey Programs: After-School Programs and Activities (2005). The results showed that White and Hispanic mothers using relative care reported longer working hours than mothers of the same ethnic group who used other types of care. Hispanic mothers using parental (spousal) care also reported fewer working months than Hispanic mothers using relative care. Implications for policy, social work practice, and research are discussed along with limitations, including the cross-sectional design of the study.

Child care: implications for overweight / obesity in Canadian children?

Introduction Over recent decades, two prominent trends have been observed in Canada and elsewhere: increasing prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity, and increasing participation of women (including mothers) in the paid labour force and resulting demand for child care options. While an association between child care and children's body mass index (BMI) is plausible and would have policy relevance, its existence and nature in Canada is not known. Methods Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, we examined exposure to three types of care at age 2/3 years (care by non-relative, care by relative, care in a daycare centre) in relation to change in BMI percentile (continuous and categorical) between age 2/3 years and age 6/7 years, adjusting for health and sociodemographic correlates. Results Care by a non-relative was associated with an increase in BMI percentile between age 2/3 years and age 6/7 years for boys, and for girls from households of low income adequacy. Conclusion Considering the potential benefits of high-quality formal child care for an array of health and social outcomes and the potentially adverse effects of certain informal care options demonstrated in this study and others, our findings support calls for ongoing research on the implications of diverse child care experiences for an array of outcomes including those related to weight.