Whos Minding the Kids in the Summer

1
Whos Minding the Kids in the Summer? Child Care
Arrangements for Summer 2006
Lynda Laughlin - U.S. Census Bureau Joseph Rukus
- Cornell University
Annual Meeting of the Population Association of
America, Detroit, MI April 30 May 2, 2009
2
Who Minds the Kids in the Summer?

• Summer can present a number of challenges to
  parents when trying to arrange child care as they
  try to bridge the gap between the school year and
  summer.
• Little is known about the summer child care usage
  patterns, the number of hours in care, and the
  extent that mothers may rely on family members to
  juggle work and family responsibilities.
• Understanding summer child care patterns is
  critical for our understanding of child
  well-being. Summer can be a time when parents
  seek additional academic assistance for their
  children. All the while, finding summer child
  care can have an impact on parental employment
  patterns.

3
Who Minds the Kids in the Summer?

• This poster examines child care usage for
  children 0 14 years old. We examine the type of
  child care used, hours in care, as well as
  variations in child care usage by selected social
  and economic characteristics.
• Comparisons are made between a school month and a
  summer month.
• The role of fathers as child care providers is
  also examined to determine if summer increases
  their role as providers.

4
Survey of Income and Program Participation and
Child Care (SIPP)

• Since the 1984 panel, the Census Bureau has
  collected information on child care usage through
  special supplements to SIPP (called topical
  modules).
• The 8th Wave of the 2004 SIPP provides a unique
  opportunity to compare school year and summer
  child care arrangements. The universe is limited
  to children ages 0 to 14 with a employed mother.
• Usually child care data is collected in the
  spring or fall. In the 2004 panel, data was
  collected between May and August providing a
  unique opportunity to examine summer child care
  activities.
• We compare child care usage between May (a school
  month) and July (a summer month) to highlight
  differences in school year and summer child care
  arrangements.

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Child Care Arrangements Defined

• Child care arrangements are broadly classified
  into the following categories
• Relative care (mothers, fathers, grandparents,
  siblings, or some other relatives)
• Organized facilities (day care or child care
  centers, nursery school, preschools, and Head
  Start)
• Activities (sports, lessons, clubs,
  after-and-before school program)
• School (Kindergarten/grade school)
• Self care (child cares for him or herself)
• Measure for any use of the above arrangements

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Summer Care Arrangements for Preschoolers

• Overall there was little variation in the
  selected types of child care arrangements between
  May and July.
• Preschoolers with Black mothers were more likely
  to be cared for by relatives in July (39) than
  in May (29). Whereas, organized facility care
  fell from 29 in May to 13 in July.
• Preschoolers of Hispanic mothers were more likely
  to be in organized care facilities in July (18
  vs. 8).
• There also appears to be regional variation in
  care arrangements. Notably, the use of organized
  facilities in the Midwest decreased from May to
  July (28 vs. 16).

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Selected Child Care Arrangements of Preschoolers
with Employed Mothers May and July 2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Does not add up to
100 because of multiple arrangements
8
Selected Child Care Arrangements of Preschoolers
with Employed Mothers by Race May 2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Does not add up to
100 because of multiple arrangements
9
Selected Child Care Arrangements of Preschoolers
with Employed Mothers by Race July 2006

Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Does not add up to
100 because of multiple arrangements Numerator
too small for comparison
10
Selected Child Care Arrangements of Preschoolers
with Employed Mothers by Region May 2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Does not add up to
100 because of multiple arrangements
11
Selected Child Care Arrangements of Preschoolers
with Employed Mothers by Region July 2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Does not add up to
100 because of multiple arrangements
12
Summer Care for Grade School Aged Children

• Other than the steep decline in school usage (86
  in May vs. 30 in July), there was minimal
  variation in the types of care used over the
  summer by grade school aged children.
• Asian/PI grade school aged children were less
  likely to use relative care in the summer (44 in
  May vs. 34 in July).
• Grade school aged children spend more hours per
  week in various types of care when summer
  arrives. Increases of 5 or more hours include
  relative care, family day care homes, and
  organized facilities.
• The average number of hours spent in self care
  increased for Hispanic children in the summer (5
  hrs to 9 hrs), but decreased for Asian/PI
  children (8 hrs to 4 hrs).
• The average number of hours per week spent in
  relative care increased, regardless of
  race/Hispanic origin, between the school year and
  the summer.
• The average number of hours per week spent in
  family day care decreased between the school year
  and summer for children below the poverty level
  (15 hrs to 8 hrs), but increased for children
  above poverty (100-199 of poverty).

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Selected Child Care Arrangements of Grade School
Aged Children with Employed Mothers May and July
2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Does not add up to
100 because of multiple arrangements
14
Selected Child Care Arrangements of Grade school
Aged Children with Employed Mothers by Race May
2006

Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Does not add up to
100 because of multiple arrangements
Numerator too small for comparison
15
Selected Child Care Arrangements of Grade school
Aged Children with Employed Mothers by Race July
2006

Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Does not add up to
100 because of multiple arrangements Numerator
too small for comparison
16
Average Time Grade school Aged Children Spent in
Selected Care Arrangements May and July 2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Average hours per
week in specified care arrangement
17
Average Time Grade School Aged Children Spent in
Self Care by Race May and July 2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Average hours per
week in specified care arrangement
18
Average Time Grade School Aged Children Spent in
Relative by Race May and July 2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Average hours per
week in specified care arrangement
19
Average Time Grade School Aged Children Spent in
Family Day Care by Poverty Status May and July
2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Average hours per
week in specified care arrangement
20
What Role do Fathers Play in the Summer?

• With school being out, summer provides an
  opportunity for fathers to increase their role as
  child care providers.
• Several factors are related a fathers child care
  involvement in the summer
• Child care provided by fathers increased in the
  summer for preschoolers below poverty (19 to
  33), but decreased for grade school aged
  children below poverty (15 to 10).
• For both preschool and grade-school aged
  children, father provided care varied by marital
  status. Father care increases in the summer for
  divorced/separated mothers, whereas father care
  for never married mothers decreases.
• Fathers are more likely to care for male
  preschoolers than female preschoolers in the
  summer.

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Percentage of Preschoolers Cared for by Fathers
by Poverty Status May and July 2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Does not add up to
100, Limited to children with employed mothers
22
Percentage of Grade School Aged Children Cared
for by Fathers by Poverty Status May and July
2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Does not add up to
100, Limited to children with employed mothers
23
Fathers Providing Care for Preschoolers by
Mothers Marital Status May and July 2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Does not add up to
100, Limited to children with employed
mothers Includes separated and widowed
24
Fathers Providing Care for Grade School Aged
Children by Mothers Marital Status May and July
2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Does not add up to
100, Limited to children with employed
mothers Included separated and widowed
25
Fathers Providing Care for Preschoolers by
Childs Gender May July 2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Does not add up to
100, Limited to children with employed mothers
26
Fathers Providing Care for Preschoolers by
Race/Hispanic Origin May 2006 July 2006
Source SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note Does not add up to
100, Limited to children with employed mothers
27
Summary of Findings

• Findings suggest that there is little seasonal
  variation in the types of child care used by
  preschoolers and grade school aged children.
• However, children spend more hours in similar
  child care arrangements when summer arrives. This
  is especially true for grade school aged
  children.
• Father increased their summer child care roles
  for preschoolers below poverty and for both
  preschoolers and gradeschoolers of
  divorced/separated parents, possibly because of
  visitation agreements among ex-spouse.

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Implications

• Child care researchers should take into account
  seasonal patterns in child care usage and the
  options and constraints this presents for
  families.
• While many families summer and school-year
  arrangements are similar, the increase in number
  of hours in care most likely means families spend
  more on child care in the summer.
• There are few surveys that provide any detail
  about summer child care usage. Additional data is
  needed to better understand seasonal child care
  needs.

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Contact Information

• Lynda Laughlin
• Housing Household Economic Statistics
• Lynda.L.Laughlin_at_Census.Gov
• Joseph Rukus
• Department of City and Regional Planning
• Jar395_at_Cornell.edu

-Data in this presentation are from a sample, and
therefore are subject to sampling and nonsampling
error.For more information about the source and
accuracy of the data go to http//www.census.gov/s
ipp/source.html. -All comparative states have
undergone statistical testing and are all
significant at the 90-percent confidence level
unless otherwise noted.