Latent Profile Analysis of Toddler Parents' Perceptions of Child Care Arrangements

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Social Policy

Abstract

Young children are increasingly cared by non-parental child caregivers and more research is needed to understand parental child care decision-making processes. Parents make decisions based on their existing perceptions of different child care types (NSECE, 2014). Previous studies suggest that widespread preference for parental care for young children persists over time, especially for infants and toddlers (Riley & Glass, 2002; Rose & Elicker, 2010). However, with the increasing number of families using non-parental child care, little is known about how parents view different child care types in the current decade.
This study uses latent profile analysis to examine toddler parents’ perceptions of four child care types: center-based child care (CBCC), family child care (FCC), family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) care, and parental care. Parents’ perceptions of child care vary greatly by children’s age so we focused on toddlers only. We analyzed data of 1,663 parents of toddlers from the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) Household survey. Three research questions guide the current study: (1) How do toddler parents group into profiles based on their perceptions of different child care arrangements? (2) Do significant differences exist across parents’ ratings within profiles? (3) What family characteristics predict profile membership?
Descriptive statistics show that most toddler parents prefer parental care but have less favorable attitudes towards family child care. Latent profile analysis was used to examine parents’ ratings of quality of four types of child care using Mplus 8.3. The optimal number of profiles was evaluated by fit indices and interpretation. The two-profile solution supported by the LMR-LRT and interpretability was accepted. Results suggest that toddler parents were classified into two profiles: “favorable across all settings” (N = 873) and “less favorable towards non-parental care” (N = 790). Figure 1 displays these two profiles and within-profile mean scores for each indicator by arranged types. For both groups of parents, no one type of care received the highest ratings across all dimensions. Parental care received significantly high ratings on five dimensions, except for social interactions. For three types of non-parental care (e.g., CBCC, FCC, FFN care), no one type of care dominates the others across the six dimensions. FFN care was rated significantly higher on four dimensions.
Logistic regression was performed in order to explore differences in family characteristics by profile (see Table 1). Minority families and families speaking a language other than English are more likely to be in the “less favorable towards non-parental care” group. In contrast, “favorable across all settings” parents tend to be a single parent with a full-time job and have no access to a nearby relative who can provide care.
The findings of the current study reveal parents’ concerns about the quality and price of toddler care, especially for formal care (e.g., CBCC and FCC), which is especially salient given infants and toddlers have be identified as a priority group (Henly & Adams, 2018). Improving the quality of toddler care and providing public child care search information are needed to support parents’ child care decision-making.

Authors

• Jing Tang, Child Trends -Maryland
  Presenting Author

• Cara Lynn Kelly, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author

• Annette Pic, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rena Hallam, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author