Slide 1
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Sociology 640
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Class 15:
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Mother’s Work and Childcare
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Slide 2
Labor Force Participation Rates of Married Women
with Children Under Age 18, by Age of Youngest
Figur e 1 0 -1
Child, 1948-1996
80
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70
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60
Percentage
Ages 6-17
50
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40
30
Under age 6
20
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10
0
1948 1952 1956
1960
1964
1968 1972
1976 1980
1984
1988
1992 1996
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [1988]; U.S. Bureau of
the Census [1993]; U.S. Bureau of the Census [1997].
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Slide 3
Primary Childcare Arrangements – All
Children under age 5, 1990
Nonrelative
3%
Other
5%
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Relative
15%
Parent
45%
Family day care
11%
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Center
21%
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Slide 4
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Trends in Childcare - 2
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60.0
% 3-4 Year-olds enrolled
50.0
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40.0
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30.0
20.0
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10.0
..2002
..2000
..1998
..1996
..1994
..1993
..1991
..1989
..1987
..1985
..1983
..1981
..1979
..1977
..1975
..1973
..1971
..1969
..1967
..1965
-
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Slide 5
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Attitudes toward Maternal
Employment and Childcare
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60
50
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40
30
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20
10
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0
1977
1985
1986
1988
STRONGLY AGREE
1989
1990
AGREE
1991
1993
DISAGREE
1994
1996
1998
2000
STRONGLY DISAGREE
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Slide 6
International Comparison of Women’s
Labor Force Participation
Pct. Women in the Labor Force
100
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90
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80
70
60
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50
40
30
20
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10
0
15-19
20-24
25-29
France
30-34
Korea
35-39
US
40-44
45-49
Mexico
50-54
Sweden
55-59
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Slide 7
Who Cares?
• Do children suffer limited parental contact?
• If yes, major policy implications
– Shift inherent in AFDC and PRWORA
• Need to understand mechanism
– Reduced contact?
– Reduced supervision?
– Quality of parenting (stress)?
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Slide 8
General Consensus
• Nonparental childcare, per se, not strongly
associated with children’s outcomes
• Parental input is far more important
• However, great degree of variation in cost,
quality, and focus of alternative childcare
arrangements.
• Quality of childcare is associated with variety of
outcomes.
• Once again, “selectivity” makes it difficult to
unambiguously assess effects
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Slide 9
Important Differentials
• Growing gap between haves and have nots?
• Underrepresentation of lowest quality
childcare?
• Policy implications
• Concurrent expansion in differentials in
parental involvement
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