Beginning in the round 5 Youth Questionnaire, female respondents who had children (biological, adopted, and step-) were asked a series of questions on child care (see questions beginning with YCCA). [Note: For round 5, respondents were asked about children who were under 13 years old; the age restriction to under age 7 begins in 2004 (round 8)] Respondents who were mothers also reported on the number of hours they were in school, work, or training or traveling to one of these. Beginning in round 10, child care questions were also asked of male respondents.

An expanded set of child care questions has been asked in selected rounds (9, 12, 15 and 17). In the expanded question series, the mother was asked to report, for each child, child care arrangements used, mode of care, hours in each child care arrangement, location of care (for those in the care of a relative), travel time to care, and the amount paid for care. These female respondents also answered questions about who was responsible for taking the child to care and picking the child up from care.

In all rounds, these respondents reported on whether an employer, outside agency, or anyone other than the respondent paid for all or part of the care. If another entity did pay, the respondent told which employer, outside agency, or person paid and how much they contributed toward the care.

In rounds 5, 9, 12, 15 and 17, female respondents born in 1983 or 1984 who had no children, and all women with children who did not use relatives as a source of child care, were asked a series of questions related to relatives and child care. These respondents reported on the number of relatives within 15 and 45 minutes of the respondent's home and on the possibility of these relatives caring for the respondent's children. Respondents then answered questions on the amount of pay a relative would require to provide child care, if any.

The extended child care section in rounds 5, 9, 12, 15 and 17 also asked these women how much they would expect to pay for someone to come to their home to care for their child and how much they would be willing to pay. Similar questions were asked about family day care and child care centers. For both of these types of care, respondents reported on the travel time to the closest center, the amount they would expect to pay, and the amount they would be willing to pay to use the services.

For the questions about relatives in the child care section, the definition of "relative" included in-laws and relatives of the child's father.

Comparison to Other NLS Surveys: Information on child care has been collected from the NLSY79, Children of the NLSY79 age 15 and older, and the Original Cohorts. Data include types and locations of child care arrangements and extent of child care responsibility. Refer to each cohort's User's Guide for exact survey years and the types of information available.

Survey Instruments: These questions are found in the child care section of the Youth Questionnaire. Question names begin with YCCA for the regular set of questions and YCCAL for the expanded set of questions.