Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Rationality and Society
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hofferth, S. L.
Right arrow Articles by Robins, P. K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

CHOICE CHARACTERISTICS AND PARENTS' CHILD-CARE DECISIONS

Sandra L. Hofferth

Duncan D. Chaplin

Douglas A. Wissoker

Philip K. Robins

Choice models are a key tool of empirically oriented rational choice researchers. However, most researchers do not have the information they need to adequately test their hypotheses and rely solely on individual characteristics of the choosers. The lack of information on the options and constraints parents face may lead researchers to conclude that choices are not rational rather than to question whether they have the appropriate data. This issue is particularly important for researchers interested in modeling child-care choice, since the characteristics of care are more amenable to policy intervention than the characteristics of persons. This paper estimates models of choice of child-care arrangement that include measures of price, quality and availability obtained directly from parents in the National Child Care Survey of 1990. This paper compares alternative estimates of the associations of these characteristics with mode choice. Adding care characteristics to models with individual characteristics improves the explanation of parental child-care choices. Using parent reports of the characteristics of arrangements they used and those they did not use produces results more consistent with expectations than estimates based on predicted values. The results also suggest that having parent reports on the characteristics of alternatives not used improves the precision of estimates of the associations between prices and child-care mode choices. Correcting for selectivity does not appear to be a reasonable substitute when such information is lacking.

Key Words: child care • child/staff ratio • travel time • decision-making • rational choice

Rationality and Society, Vol. 8, No. 4, 453-495 (1996)
DOI: 10.1177/104346396008004006
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 OXF ECON PAPHome page
K. Coneus, K. Goeggel, and G. Muehler
Maternal employment and child care decision
Oxf. Econ. Pap., April 1, 2009; 61(suppl_1): i172 - i188.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Work Employment SocietyHome page
M. Debacker
Care strategies among high- and low-skilled mothers: a world of difference?
Work Employment Society, September 1, 2008; 22(3): 527 - 545.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Journal of Family IssuesHome page
T. Van Der Lippe, K. Tijdens, and E. De Ruijter
Outsourcing of Domestic Tasks and Time-saving Effects
Journal of Family Issues, March 1, 2004; 25(2): 216 - 240.
[Abstract] [PDF]