Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Parental Characteristics Associated With Childcare Use During the First 4 Years of Life: Results From a Representative Cohort of Québec Families

  • Quantitative Research
  • Published:
Canadian Journal of Public Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

Studies have shown that children growing up in socio-economically disadvantaged families have poorer cognitive scores than children growing up in more advantaged families, and that high-quality childcare services can reduce this gap. This effect may be attenuated, however, if disadvantaged families are less likely than better-off families to use childcare and if they use childcare of lower quality. The aim of this study was to identify factors related to parental decisions to use formal and informal childcare.

Methods

Data were obtained from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, a birth cohort of children born in 1997/1998 in the Canadian province of Québec (n=1,504). Children receiving formal (e.g., family and centre) and informal (e.g., grandparents, aunt, nanny) childcare from 5 months to 4 years of age were compared to those receiving exclusively parental care on key psycho-socio-economic family factors.

Results

Maternal unemployment during pregnancy, younger maternal age (at initiation of childbearing) and higher number of siblings (e.g., =2) were related to a lower probability of a child receiving either formal or informal childcare (compared to parental care). In addition, low levels of maternal education, higher levels of overprotection, and lower levels of home stimulation were related to a lower probability of a child receiving formal childcare, but not informal childcare. Insufficient income was not associated with childcare use.

Conclusion

Maternal education and maternal employment were the main socio-economic barriers to childcare participation in a province offering low-cost childcare services. Future initiatives may consider prioritizing childcare access to underserved children and other (e.g., literacy-based) interventions to facilitate access.

Résumé

Objectif

Des études ont montré que les enfants qui grandissent dans des milieux défavorisés obtiennent des résultats inférieurs aux tests cognitifs comparativement aux enfants provenant de milieux mieux nantis, et que cet écart peut être réduit lorsque les enfants défavorisés fréquentent des services de garde de bonne qualité. Cet effet pourrait toutefois être atténué si les enfants défavorisés sont moins susceptibles que les enfants mieux nantis de fréquenter des services de garde ou s’ils utilisent des services de qualité inférieure. L’objectif de cette étude était de cerner les facteurs associés à la décision des parents d’utiliser les modes de garde formels ou informels pour leurs enfants.

Méthode

Les données proviennent de l’Étude longitudinale du développement des enfants du Québec (ÉLDEQ) et portent sur une cohorte d’enfants nés en 1997–1998 dans la province de Québec, au Canada (n=1 504). Les enfants confiés à une structure d’accueil formelle (en milieu familial ou en établissement) ou informelle (gardienne, grands-parents, tante) entre l’âge de 5 mois et de 4 ans ont été comparés selon des facteurs familiaux psycho-socio-économiques aux enfants gardés exclusivement par leurs parents.

Résultats

Le chômage maternel pendant la grossesse, le jeune âge maternel à la naissance du premier enfant et la présence de plusieurs frères et sœurs (=2) diminuaient la probabilité pour l’enfant d’être confié à une structure d’accueil formelle ou informelle (comparativement à la garde parentale). De plus, le faible niveau d’instruction maternelle, la tendance à la surprotection ou le faible niveau de stimulation cognitive à la maison diminuaient la probabilité que l’enfant soit confié à une structure d’accueil formelle, mais non à une structure informelle. L’insuffisance de revenu n’était pas associée à l’utilisation des services de garde lorsque les autres facteurs psycho-socio-économiques étaient pris en compte.

Conclusion

La faible instruction et le chômage maternels sont les principales barrières socioéconomiques à la participation aux services de garde dans une province qui offre des services de garde à coût modique. Dans les initiatives futures, pour faciliter l’accès aux services de garde, on pourrait envisager d’accorder la priorité aux enfants défavorisés et de mener d’autres interventions (p. ex., selon le niveau de littératie).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Muennig P, Schweinhart L, Montie J, Neidell M. Effects of a prekindergarten educational intervention on adult health: 37-year follow-up results of a randomized controlled trial. Am J Public Health 2009;99(8):1431–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Pungello EP, Kainz K, Burchinal M, Wasik BH, Sparling JJ, Ramey CT, et al. Early educational intervention, early cumulative risk, and the early home environment as predictors of young adult outcomes within a high-risk sample. Child Dev 2010;81(1):410–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Melhuish E, Belsky J, Leyland AH, Barnes J. Effects of fully-established Sure Start Local Programmes on 3-year-old children and their families living in England: A quasi-experimental observational study. Lancet 2008;372(9650):1641–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Geoffroy MC, Côté SM, Borge AI, Larouche F, Séguin JR, Rutter M. Association between nonmaternal care in the first year of life and children’s receptive language skills prior to school entry: The moderating role of socioeconomic status. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2007;48(5):490–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Geoffroy MC, Côté SM, Giguère CÉ, Dionne G, Zelazo PD, Tremblay RE, et al. Closing the gap in academic readiness and achievement: The role of early childcare. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2010;51(12):1359–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Caughy MOB, DiPietro JA, Strobino DM. Day-care participation as a protective factor in the cognitive development of low-income children. Child Dev 1994;65(2):457–71.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. McCartney K, Dearing E, Taylor BA, Bub KL. Quality child care supports the achievement of low-income children: Direct and indirect pathways through caregiving and the home environment. J Appl Develop Psychol 2007; 28(5–6):411–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Dearing E, McCartney K, Taylor BA. Does higher quality early child care pro-mote low-income children’s math and reading achievement in middle childhood? Child Dev 2009;80(5):1329–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Ceci SJ, Papierno PB. The rhetoric and reality of gap closing: When the “have-nots” gain but the “haves” gain even more. Am Psychol 2005;60(2):149–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Booth CL, Clarke-Stewart KA, Vandell DL, McCartney K, Owen MT. Child-care usage and mother-infant “quality time”. J Marriage Fam 2002;64(1):16–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. NICHD ECCRN. Child-care effect sizes for the NICHD study of early child care and youth development. Am Psychol 2006;61(2):99–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Singer JD, Fuller B, Keiley MK, Wolf A. Early child-care selection: Variation by geographic location, maternal characteristics, and family structure. Dev Psychol 1998;34(5):1129–44.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Morrissey TW. Familial factors associated with the use of multiple child-care arrangements. J Marriage Family 2008;70(2):549–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Fuller B, Holloway SD, Liang X. Family selection of child-care centers: The influence of household support, ethnicity, and parental practices. Child Dev 1996;67(6):3320–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Dowsett CJ, Huston AC, Imes AE, Gennetian L. Structural and process features in three types of child care for children from high and low income families. Early Childhood Res Q 2008;23(1):69–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Anderson LM, Shinn C, Fullilove MT, Scrimshaw SC, Fielding JE, Normand J, et al. The effectiveness of early childhood development programs: A systematic review. Am J Prev Med 2003;24(3, Supplement 1):32–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Statistics Canada. Income Trends in Canada: 1976–2006. Ottawa, ON: Minister of Industry, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Radloff LS. The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Appl Psychol Measure 1977;1(3):385–401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Bradley RH, Caldwell BM. The HOME Inventory and family demographics. Dev Psychol 1984;20(2):315–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Boivin M, Perusse D, Dionne G, Saysset V, Zoccolillo M, Tarabulsy GM, et al. The genetic-environmental etiology of parents’ perceptions and self-assessed behaviours toward their 5-month-old infants in a large twin and singleton sample. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2005;46(6):612–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Japel C, Tremblay R, Côté S. Quality Counts! Assessing the quality of daycare services based on the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. Choices Institute for Research on Public Policy 2005;11(4). Available at: https://doi.org/www.irpp.org/choices/archive/vol11no5.pdf (Accessed November 18, 2011).

    Google Scholar 

  22. Rootman I, Ronson B. Literacy and health research in Canada: Where have we been and where should we go? Can J Public Health 2005;96:S62–S77.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Sanders LM, Thompson VT, Wilkinson JD. Caregiver health literacy and the use of child health services. Pediatrics 2007;119(1):e86–e92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Luman ET, McCauley MM, Shefer A, Chu SY. Maternal characteristics associated with vaccination of young children. Pediatrics 2003;111(5):1215–18.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Lowe ED, Weisner TS. ‘You have to push it-who’s gonna raise your kids?’: Situating child care and child care subsidy use in the daily routines of lower income families. Children and Youth Services Rev 2004;26(2):143–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Lieb R, Wittchen H-U, Hofler M, Fuetsch M, Stein MB, Merikangas KR. Parental psychopathology, parenting styles, and the risk of social phobia in offspring: A prospective-longitudinal community study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2000;57(9):859–66.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. NICHD ECCRN. Familial factors associated with the characteristics of non-maternal care for infants. J Marriage Fam 1997;59(2):389–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Kohen D, Dahinten VS, Khan S, Hertzman C. Child care in Québec access to a universal program. Can J Public Health 2008;99(6):451–55.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Côté SM, Boivin M, Nagin DS, Japel C, Xu Q, Zoccolillo M, et al. The role of maternal education and nonmaternal care services in the prevention of children’s physical aggression problems. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2007;64(11):1305–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Melhuish EC, Sylva K, Sammons P, Siraj-Blatchford I, Taggart B, Phan MB, et al. The early years: Preschool influences on mathematics achievement. Science 2008;321(5893):1161–62.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MRC Center of Epidemiology for Child Health - Centre for Paediatric Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University College London — Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1EH, England

    Marie-Claude Geoffroy PhD

  2. Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Jean Richard Séguin PhD, Éric Lacourse PhD, Richard Ernest Tremblay PhD & Sylvana Marie Côté PhD

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Jean Richard Séguin PhD

  4. Department of Sociology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Éric Lacourse PhD

  5. School of Psychology, Laval University, Québec, QC, Canada

    Michel Boivin PhD

  6. International Laboratory for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Richard Ernest Tremblay PhD

  7. INSERM U669, France

    Richard Ernest Tremblay PhD

  8. School of Public Health and Population Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Richard Ernest Tremblay PhD

  9. Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Sylvana Marie Côté PhD

Authors
  1. Marie-Claude Geoffroy PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jean Richard Séguin PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Éric Lacourse PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Michel Boivin PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Richard Ernest Tremblay PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Sylvana Marie Côté PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marie-Claude Geoffroy PhD.

Additional information

Funding/Support: This research was supported by the Ministère de la santé et des services sociaux du Québec (Québec Government’s Ministry of Health and Social Services), the Fonds de recherche en santé du Québec (FRSQ) and Canada’s Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Marie-Claude Geoffroy was supported by a fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Michel Boivin was supported by the Canada Research Chair Program.

Conflict of Interest: None to declare.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Geoffroy, MC., Séguin, J.R., Lacourse, É. et al. Parental Characteristics Associated With Childcare Use During the First 4 Years of Life: Results From a Representative Cohort of Québec Families. Can J Public Health 103, 76–80 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03404073

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03404073

Keywords

Mots clés

Search

Navigation