The decision-making process in employing child care workers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the decision-making process of working women and their spouses as they prepare to employ in-home child care to help raise their infant when both parents continue to work, and some of the consequences of that decision-making process. Subjects were working mothers whose children were enrolled at two of the Parenting Centers of Educational Alliance in New York City. Questionnaires were sent to 1032 working mothers; 102 completed questionnaires were received. A Model of Ideal Problem-Solving to Incorporate In-Home Child Care was developed that included five stages. Three scales were designed that rated parents self-concepts as strongly oriented toward work, strongly oriented toward parenting, and strongly oriented toward both work and parenting. The independent variables of the decision-making process were assessed in relation to these self-concepts, and were compared to the dependent variable of child care outcome. Child care outcome was successful when a family had no more than two caregivers in three years; revolving door child care was defined as more than two caregivers in three years.;A small trend toward successful child care outcomes was observed among couples who communicated, clarified roles and tasks between themselves and their caregiver, and where husbands participated in the selection process of hiring a caregiver.