Early Childcare Settings and the Parental Enrollment Process: Insights from the Maternal Primary Caregivers of Children Attending High-Poverty Urban Childcare Centers
Genre
Thesis/DissertationDate
2014Author
Moran, Kaitlin KellyAdvisor
Horvat, Erin McNamara, 1964-Committee member
Cucchiara, Maia BloomfieldHindman, Annemarie H.
Jordan, Will J.
Najera, Kristina
Department
Urban EducationSubject
EducationEducation, Early Childhood
Center-based Care
Childcare
Childcare Choice
Childcare Satisfaction
Parent Enrollment
Qualitative
Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/3303
Metadata
Show full item recordDOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/3285Abstract
Every day in the United States, millions of children living in high-poverty neighborhoods are dropped off at a variety of early childcare settings and arrangements. When those settings are high quality, early childhood education can produce both short and long term benefits for this population, including increases in school achievement and in literacy attainment and decreases in grade retention, the likelihood of early dropout, and behavioral issues (August & Hakuta, 1997; Barnett, 1995; Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997; Entwisle & Alexander, 1993; Korenman, Miller, & Sjaastad, 1995; McLoyd, 1998; Wertheimer & Croan, 2003; Zill, 1999). Early childhood education, however, is neither a formalized nor mandatory educational level, which gives parents significant latitude in deciding when and where to enroll their children. Consequently, it is important to better understand the quality, availability, distribution, and use of non-parental childcare across different settings. A more nuanced perspective is also necessary because there is great variation in the types of and tendencies toward childcare enrollment along the lines of socioeconomic status, race, and geographical location. This research study presents the findings of a qualitative, interview-based study that explored what maternal primary caregivers were influenced by when they enrolled children of color in high-poverty urban childcare centers. Building upon the current literature, the study explores the ways structural, parental, and child-level factors intersected in the decision-making process and how choices continued to effect parents after initial enrollment decisions had been made. This study also addresses parental satisfaction levels. Through a series of interviews conducted with the maternal primary caregivers of children enrolled in one of three early childhood centers in a single metropolitan region, this study captures and describes childcare enrollment as a complex and nuanced process. The findings of the study speak to the nature of navigating and managing childcare decisions from the perspective of the parent. Specifically, the study found that networks of trust, maternal instincts, and lessons learned from past childcare experiences influenced the choices of the maternal primary caregivers interviewed. Educational value and children's futures were also important, as were logistics and cost. As the mothers in the study made their choices, they also negotiated structural, parental, and child factors. The literature supports these factors as influencing choice, but they have largely been examined in isolation. This study adds to the literature by describing how levels of factors intersected and overlapped with one another. More exploratory findings of the study support that maternal primary caregivers continued to manage their childcare choices long after enrollment and that childcare satisfaction is both subjective and nuanced. The experiences of the women who participated in this study shed light upon directions for future research and areas of need in terms of resources, information, and support. The mothers in this study made childcare choices based on their realties, using who or what they knew and how they felt. Further, the local governance where this study was conducted proved highly disjointed and participants showed little faith in the system. The greatest area of need, which would stand to most benefit all parents, is for meaningful increases in support, resources, and cohesion at the local level.ADA compliance
For Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodation, including help with reading this content, please contact scholarshare@temple.eduCollections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Adult Identification of Meaningful and Intentional Music Behaviors Demonstrated by Young ChildrenReynolds, Alison (Alison M.); Sheldon, Deborah A., 1958-; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Cromley, Jennifer; Bond, Karen E. (Temple University. Libraries, 2011)The purpose of this research was to investigate how adults identify music behaviors of young children in play-based early childhood settings. The research questions were (1) Are there statistically significant effects of training, parental status, or direction condition on the number of individual musical acts identified by adults? (2) How does response latency vary based on training, parental status, and direction condition? (3) Of the music acts identified by the subjects, what types of music acts are identified as consensus acts (those identified by 75% of subjects or more within any three-second window)? and, (4) How do consensus acts differ with regard to type, frequency, and difficulty? Seventy-two adults (24 child development teachers, 24 early childhood music teachers, and 24 musicians) participated in the study. Of the 24 subjects in each group, half were parents, and half were nonparents. Subjects were randomly assigned equally to two direction conditions: Meaningful Direction Condition and Intentional Direction Condition. Subjects watched video of young children (five to fifteen months old) and adults interacting musically in a play-based early childhood setting. Subjects in the Meaningful Direction Condition pressed the space bar on a computer when they thought any child in the video demonstrated a meaningfully musical behavior; subjects in the Intentional Direction Condition pressed the space bar when they thought any child in the video demonstrated an intentionally musical behavior. When each subject pressed the space bar, a computer program recorded time stamp data. Subjects in the Early Childhood Music Teacher (ECMT) group identified significantly more music behaviors than subjects in the Child Development Teacher (CDT) group and the Musician group. There were no significant differences in the total number of music behaviors identified according to parental status or direction condition. Subjects in the ECMT group agreed statistically significantly more often than adults in the CDT group and the Musician group that behaviors demonstrated by children in the video were music behaviors. Adults in the Parent group agreed statistically significantly more often than adults in the Nonparent group that behaviors demonstrated by children in the video were music behaviors. When adults identify consensus acts, young children's music behaviors contain common features: beat-related movements and vocalizations. Adults in the ECMT group agreed significantly more often than adults in the CDT group and the Musician group that vocalizations demonstrated by young children were music behaviors. Adult ability to identify music behaviors as measured in this study is dependent upon musical training and experience, but not solely. Specialized early childhood music pedagogy may help adults identify behaviors (especially vocalizations) demonstrated by young children as music.
-
Home Behavioral Economics: Family and Work Decisions in the United States and NorwayHantula, Donald A.; Karpinski, Andrew; Fagan, Jay; McCloskey, Michael S.; Phelps, Charlotte D.; Schmitz, Mark F. (Temple University. Libraries, 2014)Stay at home fathers are a growing group in American society. However, most research has focused on the quality of care provided by stay at home fathers, rather than the decision making which determines which parent stays home. We sought to investigate this by attempting to put a price tag on maternal care versus paternal care while examining the potential effects of nationality and social support on that price tag. We collected data from 240 participants in the United States and 250 from Norway via online survey. Participants were asked how much a mother needs to earn to allow her husband to stay at home to provide childcare and how much a father needs to earn to allow his wife to stay at home and provide childcare, in addition to items to assess gender roles attitudes. No effect of social support was found, but Norwegians were slightly more likely than Americans to place a heavier earning burden on the husband. There were few differences in gender role attitudes by nationality. The impact of public policy and social desirability on the results are discussed.