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Child care in rural areas: Needs, attitudes, and preferences
Author(s) -
Shoffner Sarah M.
Publication year - 1986
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/bf00935356
Subject(s) - ambivalence , child care , variety (cybernetics) , health psychology , rural area , psychology , nursing , ideal (ethics) , public health , medicine , social psychology , political science , pathology , artificial intelligence , computer science , law
The purpose of this research was to assess the needs and preferences for child care services in rural areas. We examined data from interviews with 525 mothers of children up to 12 years of age in two southeastern states. Results indicated that, while rural mothers expressed a desire for more child care services, many were ambivalent about other-than-mother care. On the one hand, they had limited knowledge about and experience with a variety of child care arrangements; on the other hand, they could identify their preferences for types and specific features of day care they desired. These preferences were summarized to form a hypothetical "ideal type" of child care for rural mothers.