Child care for low-income school-age children: Disability and family structure effects in a national sample

A secondary analysis of data from the National Survey of America's Families was conducted to explore the use and quality of child care of a nationally representative sample of low-income school-aged children, stratified by disability status and family structure. Measures of care included hours spent in care, hours of self-care, number of care arrangements used per week, costs of care, type of primary care arrangement, and whether parents arranged their work around care. Both family structure and children's disability status influenced the use and quality of care, with children of single parents, and particularly disabled children, seemingly at greatest risk for adverse developmental outcomes related to the care they received.