Mothers' Work Schedules and Children's Participation in Center-Based Early Care and Education: The Role of Publicly...

A key goal of publicly funded early care and education programs (ECE) programs-i.e., child-care subsidy, Head Start, and public pre-kindergarten programs-is to increase children in low-income families' participation in high-quality and center-based ECE in order to improve children's development and reduce income-based disparities in child outcomes. Yet, one reason why low-income children might be less likely to participate in center-based ECE than their higher-income counterparts is because their mothers are more likely to work a nonstandard schedule, and these programs typically operate on a daytime weekday schedule. Although publicly funded ECE programs have increased participation in center-based ECE among children from low-income families, it is unknown whether these effects are concentrated among children whose mothers work a standard schedule or also translate to children whose mothers work nonstandard schedules. In this study, we used data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to estimate associations between public spending on ECE programs and children's participation in center-based ECE, focusing on heterogeneity by mothers' work schedules. We found that public ECE spending was associated with higher rates of center-based ECE participation among young children whose mothers worked standard and nonstandard schedules. Among 3-4-year-old children, gaps in center-based ECE participation between children whose mother worked a nonstandard versus standard schedule were small or nonexistent at high levels of ECE spending. Our findings suggest that publicly funded ECE programs increase low-income children's center-based ECE participation regardless of mothers' work timing.