Investigating Longitudinal Patterns of Child Care Use and Associations With Parenting Stress and Harsh Parenting

• In Event: 3-024 - Associations Between Early Education and Care and Parenting Attitudes and Behaviors With Three Diverse Samples

Integrative Statement

Child care settings are among the most common contexts for early development in the United States. In a typical week, over 60 percent of the 20 million children under the age of five are in at least one nonparental child care arrangement (e.g., U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). As the prevalence of child care usage grows, it is important to consider how families are using child care over time and how child care functions within the family context. Extant research has primarily focused on child care utilization in relation to children’s developmental functioning (e.g., Campbell et al., 2012; Loeb et al., 2004). Although child care has been examined in low-income populations, there is a dearth of research focused on other populations with psychosocial risk factors, including children of adolescent mothers. In the present study, we investigated longitudinal patterns of child care use, and associations between child care utilization, parenting stress, and harsh parenting in a sample of adolescent mothers and their children.

The sample was 445 young mothers (Mage = 18 at childbirth) enrolled in an evaluation of a home visiting program for young parents (< 21 years). Data were collected in 5 waves from infancy to early childhood (6 years). Thirty-seven percent of mothers self-identified as non-Hispanic White, 19% non-Hispanic Black, 8% non-Hispanic other, 36% Hispanic. Interviews and standardized questionnaires were used to assess: (a) type and extent of child care used; (b) harsh parenting (Conflict Tactics Scale-Parent-Child (CTSPC), Straus et al., 1998); and (c) parenting stress (Parenting Stress Index Short Form (PSI-SF), Abidin, 1995).

Using Repeated Measures Latent Class Analysis (RMLCA) with full information maximum likelihood (FIML, Muthén & Muthén, 2010) we identified a three-class solution comprised of a class characterized by a high and increased likelihood of using formal child care over time (Class 1), a class characterized by an increased likelihood of using formal child care over time as well as a stable and high likelihood of using grandparent care over time (Class 2), and a class characterized by a likelihood of using formal child care only at later time points (early childhood, Class 3). Mean differences in harsh parenting and parenting stress across the classes (one-step Bolck–Croon–Hagenaars (BCH) method), showed that mothers in Classes 1 and 3 were more likely to use nonviolent discipline techniques compared to mothers in Class 2. Mothers in Class 1 were more likely than Class 2 to view their child as difficult. Results suggest that grandparent care combined with formal child care was associated with an increased likelihood of using less positive maternal discipline techniques and a lower likelihood of perceiving a child as difficult. These mothers are likely less present in their children’s lives and therefore may not be the primary disciplinarians or have different expectations and interactions with their children. This study provides information about variations in child care use by adolescent mothers, how these patterns may affect maternal beliefs and practices, and elucidates how child care may be integrated into the family system.

Authors

• Lauren E Stargel, Tufts University
  Presenting Author

• Rachel C. Katz, SRCD Post-doctoral State Policy Fellow, Division of Early Intervention, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Tufts University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Meera Menon, Tufts University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ann Easterbrooks, Tufts University
  Non-Presenting Author