Child Care Instability and Longitudinal Outcomes for Rural Low-Income Children

摘要 在过去的40年里，母亲们以创纪录的数量进入了劳动力大军。 特别是对于贫穷的工薪阶层和/或少数族裔家庭来说，经济挑战创造了 对母亲外出工作的强烈需求。在高度贫困的农村地区， 家庭获得工作机会有限，提供标准工作时间、高薪和 福利。相反，家庭成员受雇于轮班、兼职或季节性工作，而且经常 做几份工作来满足他们家庭的需要。与之相关的地理隔离 乡村生活给家庭带来了更大的压力，他们开车去工作、医疗保健、 儿童保育和学校，同时兼顾工作和家庭时间表，以及不可靠的交通工具。 这些挑战使许多家庭，特别是贫穷和农村家庭，努力 获得为儿童提供高质量、及时且经济实惠的护理服务的托儿环境 年幼的孩子。这些限制很可能与儿童保育不稳定有关，这是 定义为儿童保育设置随时间的顺序变化。 尽管儿童保育的发病率很高，不稳定，而且有证据表明， 护理不稳定对儿童是负面的，到目前为止还没有研究使用严格的统计模型 为了说明家庭选择进入托儿所或跟随孩子从三年级到 确定不稳定的潜在负面影响是否长期存在。此外，没有研究 都试图了解不稳定可能影响儿童 纵向结果，如儿童依恋行为和学习行为。这些 对于生活在高度贫困农村地区的家庭来说，研究差距尤其明显。这方面的数据 该项目将从一项对穷人和非洲人进行过度抽样的流行病学研究中得出 美国家庭(N=1,292)，提供了一个前所未有的机会来研究这些 在一个庞大、多样化和高危人群中的关联性。

Abstract Over the last forty years, mothers have entered the workforce in record numbers. Especially for poor, working-class, and/or minority families, economic challenges have created a strong need for mothers to work outside of the home. In rural areas marked by high poverty, families have limited access to employment that provides standard working hours, high pay, and benefits. Instead, family members are employed in shift, part-time, or seasonal work, and often work several jobs to meet the needs of their family. The geographic isolation associated with rurality has led to increased stress for families, who drive long distances to jobs, health care, child care, and schools, while juggling work and family schedules and unreliable transportation. These challenges have left many families, but especially poor and rural families, struggling to gain access to child care settings providing high-quality, timely, and affordable care for their young children. These constraints are likely associated with child care instability, which is defined as sequential changes in child care settings over time. Despite high incidence rates of child care instability and evidence suggesting that child care instability is negative for children, no studies to date have used rigorous statistical models to account for family selection into child care or followed children through third grade to determine if potential negative influences of instability are long-lasting. Furthermore, no studies have sought to understand the mechanisms by which instability may influence children's longitudinal outcomes, such as child attachment behaviors and learning behaviors. These research gaps are especially apparent for families living in high-poverty rural areas. Data for this project will be drawn from an epidemiological study that oversampled for poor and African American families (N = 1,292), providing an unprecedented opportunity to examine these associations in a large, diverse, and at-risk population.