Child‐Care Instability and Behavior Problems: Does Parenting Stress Mediate the Relationship?

Child‐care instability is associated with more behavior problems in young children, but the mechanisms of this relationship are not well understood. Theoretically, this relationship is likely to emerge, at least in part, because care instability leads to increased parenting stress. Moreover, low socioeconomic status and single‐mother families may be more vulnerable to the effects of instability. This study tested these hypotheses using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study (N = 1,675) and structural equation modeling. Three types of child‐care instability were examined: long‐term instability, multiplicity, and needing to use back‐up arrangements. Overall, findings showed little evidence that parenting stress mediated the associations between care instability and child behavior problems among the full sample. Among single‐mother and low‐income families, however, needing to use back‐up arrangements had small positive associations with parenting stress, which partially mediated the relationship between that type of care instability and child externalizing behavior problems.     

INTEGRATING PAID WORK AND FAMILY WORK

This qualitative study explores the nature and variation of parenting in the workplace (PIW) childcare practices in a purposive sample of 55 businesses that allowed employees to personally care for children at the workplace while simultaneously performing their job duties. Major findings indicate that although PIW occurred in a variety of industries and organizations of different sizes, the practice was limited to employees who held administrative type positions. Businesses supported PIW on an occasional basis for employees who experienced breakdowns in routine childcare arrangements or on a regular basis for employees who did not have continuing access to acceptable or affordable childcare. According to business representatives in this sample, the practice helped maintain worker productivity and decrease employee absenteeism but was supported only on the condition that employees accomplish work tasks and supervise well-behaved children. The author also considers what PIW might suggest about the relationship between paid work and family work in today's society. Because family and child well-being appeared to be secondary to business goals, theoretical and practice frameworks that align the needs of children and families with the needs of businesses should direct future research on parenting in the workplace. Insights about father involvement in PIW, implications of PIW for child development, and the potential of Border Theory and the Work-life Systems Framework to inform future PIW studies are addressed.

Este estudio cualitativo explora la naturaleza y la variación en el cuidado de los niños en el lugar del trabajo ‘parenting in the workplace’ (PIW) en una muestra planificada de 55 empresas que permitieron que los empleados cuiden personalmente a los niños en el lugar de trabajo mientras simultáneamente hacen sus deberes del trabajo. Los resultados principales indican que aunque PIW ocurrió en una variedad de industrias y organizaciones de tamaños diversos, la práctica era limitada a los empleados con papeles administrativos. Los negocios apoyaron PIW de vez en cuando para los empleados que experimentaron interrupciones en sus arreglos cotidianos para cuidar a sus niños o de manera habitual para los empleados que no tenían acceso a recursos aceptables o asequibles de cuidar a los niños. Según los representantes de negocios en esta muestra, la práctica fomentó el mantenimiento de la productividad del trabajador y disminuyó el ausentismo pero se apoyó solamente a condición de que los empleados lograran sus tareas de trabajo y que los niños se comportaran bien. El autor también considera qué PIW puede sugerir sobre la relación entre el trabajo pagado y el trabajo dentro de la familia en la sociedad de hoy. Ya que el bienestar de la familia y del niño pareció subordinado a las metas de negocio, es necesario que marcos de teoría y práctica que alinean las necesidades de niños y de familias con las necesidades de negocios deben dirigir la investigación futura sobre el cuidado de los niños en el lugar del trabajo. Se tratan también ideas sobre la participación de los padres en PIW, implicaciones de PIW para el desarrollo del niño, y la potencial de Border Theory (teoría de la frontera) y Work-life Systems Framework (marco de sistemas de trabajo-vida) para informar los estudios de PIW más adelante.     

Leaving children unattended at home: decision-making on the use of self-care in Hong Kong

This paper examines decisions among low-income mothers in Hong Kong on the use of self-care, or the arrangement of leaving children unattended at home. An analysis of individual interviews with 23 mothers, based on a family ecology perspective, highlighted the contexts in which mothers make decisions based on economic, social and technical grounds. Findings showed that self-care was used with family orientated demands, in spite of the worries and fears associated with the self-care arrangement. Self-care was generally favoured when it was felt to be an efficient way of carrying out family and domestic tasks. An argument was also made that self-care encouraged appropriate independence in children. Nevertheless, mothers recognised the risks involved in self-care and planned to minimise the potential dangers of young children being left unattended. The views of the children themselves, as well as their fathers, often influenced the care arrangements made by mothers. Social policies in relation to unattended children are also examined. This analysis reveals ideological assumptions about the nature of good parenting that places great pressure on mothers to fulfil their responsibilities even though they often lack adequate economic, social and technical support. Rather than deploy deterrent legal measures, it is suggested that social measures, including the provision of `family life education', occasional child care services and enhancement of community support, be developed to help parents carry out their child-rearing roles effectively.     

Child-Care Choices by Working Mothers: The Case of Italy

In spite of relatively generous public subsidies and a reputation for high quality, only a very limited proportion of Italian families use public child-care and a large proportion use informal care. In this paper, we attempt to explore the determinants of the use of child-care among dual workers families. Given the limitations of data available we match two different data sets: the Bank of Italy (SHIW) and ISTAT Multiscopo. We find evidence that the availability of public child-care affects in an important way its demand. We also find that increases in costs of public child-care reduce the use of public as well as private indicating a shift to informal child-care. The presence of a grandmother who lives near and is in good health is an important explanation of the choice especially in presence of very small children. An understanding of the importance of these factors is relevant in the evaluation of child-care policies. This is particularly important in Italy, where the majority of families with children have only one child and children would benefit also from the socialization aspects of the child-care system. We would like to thank Christopher Flinn, Massimiliano Bratti, and Maria Concetta Chiuri for helpful comments, Donald Rubin for useful hints on the matching procedure, and participants at the ESPE meeting in New York 2003, the EALE meeting in Lisbon 2004. This research was partially supported by the EC Grant and the Compagnia di San Paolo.     

人口结构变动下我国托育服务资源供需问题研究——基于2020—2035年人口变化趋势的分析

大力发展托育服务对缓解我国少子化、老龄化、区域人口增减分化等人口发展现实问题具有独特的价值。运用中国人口预测系统（CPPS）,采用队列要素人口预测模型,对我国2020—2035年人口变化趋势进行预测分析,科学合理测算我国托育适龄人口供求潜力,可以有效地避免托育服务各项资源配置中短缺和浪费的现象。预测结果显示：我国托育照护服务各项资源需求量呈现快速下降的趋势,至2035年左右开始缓慢上升。就供需差异而言,我国托育服务供给与需求将长期处于供不应求的状态,供给缺口量较大。主要政策建议：应建立托育服务动态人口监测系统及资源匹配机制,准确把握托育服务资源供需差异;扩宽托育服务人力资源供给有效途径,破除托育服务发展瓶颈;完善托育服务经费保障机制体制,扩充托育服务投资主体。     

Child-care burden and intentions to have a second child: effects of perceived justice in the division of child-care

Fertility rates have fallen dramatically in Western Europe during the last 50 years. Initially explanations were tied to women taking on work obligations and choosing to reduce their fertility. But this explanation is no longer valid in Western Europe because those countries where women are least likely to work, the Mediterranean countries, are also among the countries with the lowest fertility rates. A more recent explanation rests on the availability of child-care; for example, Sweden and France have universal child-care and fertility rates near replacement. Much of this discussion has focused on socio-political conditions and structural explanations outside of the family, e.g. state policies and programs to support working mothers, as well as institutional models of the family as a breadwinner family or as a non-breadwinner family (cf. McDonald 2000a). Clearly there have been many important changes in this area. But, perhaps, even more important to understanding fertility decisions may be what is happening to interpersonal relationships within the couple. One aspect of this decision which has not been fully explored is an understanding of the perceived justice of the couple situation after the birth of the first child and its impact on the decision for a second child. This research will review the concept of justice, with a focus on justice in the division of child-care, and indicate how it can be used to understand a woman's fertility plans after the birth of the first child.     

托育服务需求与政策沿革的城市对比研究

摘 要：2019年我国3岁以下婴幼儿托育服务系列政策相继出台,各地政府积极响应,开展工作。本研究基于需求理论分析不同城市托育服务的需求差异,促进地方托育服务政策的制定与落实。通过文献研究,明确需求在政策沿革中的重要作用。通过调查研究,总结X市的托育服务需求特点。通过对比分析,发现在基本需求、品质需求、选择标准以及政府作用期待方面,城市间具有明显异同表现。基于不同需求特点及需求变化讨论政策沿革,提出合理化思考与建议。     

核心自我评价、应激体验与幼儿教师工作倦怠关系的研究

采用问卷调查法对广东省某地级市208名幼儿教师进行研究,探讨核心自我评价、应激体验与幼儿教师工作倦怠的关系。结果发现：幼儿教师的“情绪衰竭”显著高Maslach模而“个人成就感”显著低于Maslach常模;核心自我评价总分与工作倦怠量表总分及各分量表总分均存在显著的负相关;回归分析的结果表明核心自我评价对工作倦怠有显著的预测功能,其预测功能部分是经由应激体验的中介效应实现的。