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

摘要 在过去的四十年里，母亲们以创纪录的数量进入了劳动力市场。 特别是对于穷人、工人阶级和/或少数民族家庭来说，经济挑战已经造成了一个 母亲外出工作的强烈需求。在高度贫困的农村地区， 家庭获得提供标准工作时间、高工资的就业机会有限， 效益相反，家庭成员受雇于轮班、兼职或季节性工作， 做几份工作来满足家庭的需要。地理隔离与 农村化给家庭带来了更大的压力，他们开车长途跋涉去上班，去看医生， 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。 这些挑战使许多家庭，特别是贫困和农村家庭， 获得儿童保育环境，为他们提供高质量，及时和负担得起的护理， 年幼的孩子。这些限制因素可能与儿童保育不稳定有关， 定义为儿童保育环境随时间的连续变化。 尽管儿童保育不稳定的发生率很高，而且有证据表明， 护理不稳定对儿童是不利的，迄今为止还没有研究使用严格的统计模型 考虑到家庭选择进入儿童保育或跟踪儿童通过三年级， 确定不稳定性的潜在负面影响是否持久。此外，没有研究 试图了解不稳定可能影响儿童生活的机制， 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。数据中该 该项目将从一项流行病学研究中汲取经验， 美国家庭（N = 1，292），提供了一个前所未有的机会来检查这些 在一个庞大的，多样化的，有风险的人群中。

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.