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Predictors of help‐seeking in an urban setting: The search for child care
Author(s) -
Powell Douglas R.,
Eisenstadt Jeanne Watson
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/bf00894056
Subject(s) - psychology , referral , health psychology , social psychology , social network (sociolinguistics) , context (archaeology) , interpersonal ties , exploratory research , social work , developmental psychology , public health , medicine , nursing , sociology , geography , archaeology , economic growth , political science , anthropology , law , economics , social media
The aim of this exploratory study was to identify variables which predict how parents search for child care. Structured interviews were conducted with 50 parents of young children who had searched for full-time nonrelative child care. The respondents represented a 1% sample of Detroit parents. Search behaviors were found to be related to perceived neighborhood age, personal social network ties, and income and family structure. Personal social network ties related to contrasting sets of search behaviors, described as cosmopolitan versus parochial help-seeking patterns. However, perceived neighborhood age modified the relationship between social network ties and search behaviors in that the contrast between cosmopolitan and parochial help-seeking patterns was found only in neighborhoods where most residents had lived more than 10 years (established areas). The findings point to the need for multivariate investigations of the relationship between neighborhood context and patterns of help-seeking, especially in regards to the role of personal social networks. Implications of the findings for the design of a local child care information and referral service are discussed.