This section describes the child care experiences of child/young adult respondents in their first three years of life. Information about the child care experiences of the children of young adult respondents is summarized in a separate Child Care section under the Marital History, Childcare & Fertility topical area.
Created variables
- CCR0001. CHILD IN REGULAR CHILD CARE DURING 1ST YEAR?
- CCR0002. # OF CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENTS FOR CHILD IN 1ST YEAR
- CCR0003. 1ST CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 1ST YEAR
- CCR0004. # MONTHS USED 1ST CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 1ST YEAR
- CCR0005. 2ND CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 1ST YEAR
- CCR0006. # MONTHS USED 2ND CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 1ST YEAR
- CCR0007. 3RD CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 1ST YEAR
- CCR0008. # MONTHS USED 3RD CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 1ST YEAR
- CCR0009. TOTAL MONTHS USED CHILD CARE 10 HOURS+ PER WEEK FOR CHILD IN 1ST YEAR
- CCR0010. CHILD IN REGULAR CHILD CARE DURING 2ND YEAR?
- CCR0011. # OF CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENTS FOR CHILD IN 2ND YEAR
- CCR0012. 1ST CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 2ND YEAR
- CCR0013. # MONTHS USED 1ST CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 2ND YEAR
- CCR0014. 2ND CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 2ND YEAR
- CCR0015. # MONTHS USED 2ND CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 2ND YEAR
- CCR0016. 3RD CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 2ND YEAR
- CCR0017. # MONTHS USED 3RD CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 2ND YEAR
- CCR0018. TOTAL MONTHS USED CHILD CARE 10 HOURS+ PER WEEK FOR CHILD IN 2ND YEAR
- CCR0019. CHILD IN REGULAR CHILD CARE DURING 3RD YEAR?
- CCR0020. # OF CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENTS FOR CHILD IN 3RD YEAR
- CCR0021. 1ST CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 3RD YEAR
- CCR0022. # MONTHS USED 1ST CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 3RD YEAR
- CCR0023. 2ND CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 3RD YEAR
- CCR0024. # MONTHS USED 2ND CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 3RD YEAR
- CCR0025. 3RD CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 3RD YEAR
- CCR0026. # MONTHS USED 3RD CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT FOR CHILD IN 3RD YEAR
- CCR0027. TOTAL MONTHS USED CHILD CARE 10 HOURS+ PER WEEK FOR CHILD IN 3RD YEAR
A range of both cross-sectional (past four weeks) and retrospective child care information is available in the NLSY79. The mother-report child care sections from the main NLSY79 surveys provide the types of current child care arrangements used for each child in the household, the overall family expenditure for current care, and a retrospective of child care experiences during the first three years of life for all children (of at least 1 year of age) born to the respondent. Only the retrospective information about the first three years of each child's life appears on the Child files. The other cross-sectional child care information can be extracted from the main Youth files and merged.
Retrospective childcare: Created XRND variables
The child-based child care variables that are assigned to the CHILD CARE area of interest (child reference numbers C03564.-C03590.) provide a cumulative updated profile of the child care experiences in the first three years of life for children of at least one year of age. Retrospective questions on child care during the first three years of life for each child were collected in the NLSY79 surveys in 1986, 1988, 1992, and 1994-2014. While child care information was not collected in the 1990 main Youth survey round, it was updated in 1992 or in subsequent rounds through 2014 for mothers not interviewed in 1992.
These variables were reviewed for the 1986-2018 public release. The initial variables for whether or not a child was in childcare during a specific year of life (C03564., C03573., and C03582.) were expanded to include information to help users understand why information is unavailable for that year. The revised variables contain the following categories:
- 1 YES
- 0 NO
- 2 Child did not live with mother in this year of life
- 3 Child adopted out<
- 4 Child deceased
- 5 Mother of child in dropped military oversample
- 6 Mother of child in dropped poor white oversample
- 7 Mother was a non-interview when these questions were asked
- 8 Mother of child deceased before answering these questions
- 9 Child reported or mother interviewed after these questions were discontinued
In the process of assigning these new codes, some errors in the original variables were identified and corrected. These corrections affected less than 5% of children.
Cross-sectional childcare information in the NLSY79 main Youth
Child care information in the 1984 and 1985 NLSY79 main Youth surveys describes child care arrangements used in the past four weeks for the youngest child by parents who were either employed, in school, or in training at the survey date. Location and type of primary and secondary care, hours of use, nature of payment and grandmother care are reported in 1984. Location, type, payment, detail on group arrangements, and hypothetical care are available for 1985. In both years, respondents who are not currently employed but who have an employed spouse report limited information on location and type of care.
The retrospective information collected in 1986 and the current child care information collected between 1984 and 1988 relate to different universes of children and utilize different child care definitions. These distinctions are clarified further in Child Care in the NLSY79 User's Guide. Additional child care information was also collected in the 1982 and 1983 main NLSY79 surveys. The child care data from these two years can be found on the NLSY79 main Youth file.
Important information: Child Care record
Users are reminded that the child-based variables drawn from the mother's retrospective child care record have no noninterview values assigned. They are documented as "XRND" or cross-round variables. Since the variables reference each child, the inputs do not necessarily come from any single interview year.
| Survey Instruments | Information about Child Care during Childhood comes from the mother's main Youth interview. |
|---|---|
| Areas of Interest | Child Care |