Table 15. Percentage of children from birth through age 5 and not yet in kindergarten whose parents rated factors used to select weekly care arrangement for children as "very important," by child and family characteristics: 2005

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Table 15. Percentage of children from birth through age 5 and not yet in kindergarten whose parents rated factors used to select weekly care arrangement for children as "very important," by child and family characteristics: 2005

Characteristic	Number of children (thousands)	Factor rated as "very important" when selecting care arrangement
Characteristic	Number of children (thousands)	Location	Cost	Reliability	Learning activities	Time with other children	Availability of care provider	Number of children in care group
Total	12,325	63	40	89	75	65	75	44

Arrangement Type¹
Relative	3,394	68	48	90	64	39	84	35
Nonrelative	2,291	65	37	90	58	53	80	45
Center-based	6,640	60	36	89	87	82	68	49

Child’s age
Less than 1 year	1,460	65	44	93	65	44	82	47
1-2 years	4,255	68	43	90	70	60	81	45
3-5 years	6,610	60	37	88	81	73	69	43

Child’s sex
Male	6,398	62	40	89	74	65	74	45
Female	5,927	64	39	90	77	65	75	44

Child’s race/ethnicity
White, non-Hispanic	7,082	55	32	89	72	62	70	39
Black, non-Hispanic	2,029	82	59	94	87	73	88	54
Hispanic	2,094	74	48	86	76	69	78	55
Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic	348	72	37	85	81	60	73	41
Other race, non-Hispanic ²	772	62	39	88	75	64	78	42

Family type
Two parents	9,156	60	35	89	73	63	71	42
One parent	2,953	74	53	92	82	69	84	51
Nonparent guardian(s)	216	80	49	90	83	74	91	49

Parents’ language spoken most at home³
Both/only parent(s) speak(s) English	11,071	62	39	90	75	64	75	43
One of two parents speaks English	210	80	47	83	86	79	74	63
No parent speaks English	1,044	75	50	82	74	70	76	59

Mother’s level of education⁴
Less than a high school	723	69	48	80	81	75	80	56
High school/GED	3,103	72	48	90	82	72	79	46
Vocational/technical or some college	3,504	61	46	90	73	65	75	44
Bachelor’s degree	2,840	58	32	89	73	61	69	41
Graduate or professional education or degree	1,900	61	24	91	71	53	73	44

Mother’s school enrollment status⁴
Enrolled	1,894	67	45	90	79	67	79	45
Not enrolled	10,176	63	39	89	75	64	74	44

Mother’s employment status⁴
35 or more hours per week	6,069	68	42	92	76	62	83	46
Less than 35 hours per week	2,976	59	37	88	70	59	70	40
Looking for work	647	75	56	86	86	71	78	46
Not in the labor force	2,378	55	33	86	79	77	59	45

Mother’s work shift⁴^,⁵
Regular shift	7,976	66	41	91	74	61	80	45
Variable shift	1,069	58	39	91	71	62	71	38

Neighborhood conditions⁶
Concern regarding neighborhood health and safety conditions	2,018	68	49	90	78	66	78	51
No concern regarding neighborhood health and safety conditions	10,307	62	38	89	75	65	74	43

Household income
$25,000 or less	2,999	74	54	88	79	71	81	49
$25,001 to $50,000	2,758	64	50	89	77	67	77	45
$50,001 to $75,000	2,635	59	38	90	72	62	72	43
$75,001 to $100,000	1,775	54	27	91	77	63	74	40
$100,001 or more	2,157	60	20	88	71	59	66	42

Poverty status⁷
At or above poverty threshold	10,007	60	37	90	74	63	73	43
Below poverty threshold	2,318	76	53	88	80	72	80	50
¹Center-based arrangements include day care centers, Head Start programs, preschools, prekindergartens, and other early childhood programs. ²"Other race, non-Hispanic" includes children who were multiracial and not of Hispanic ethnicity, or who were American Indian or Alaska Native, or were not Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or Pacific Islander. ³Complete descriptions of the categories for parents’ language are as follows: (1) "Both/only parent(s) learned English as child(ren) or currently speak(s) English in the home," (2) "One of two parents learned English as a child or currently speaks English in the home," and (3) "No parent learned English as a child and both/only parent(s) currently speak(s) a non-English language in the home." ⁴Children without mothers living in the household are not included in estimates related to mother’s education, enrollment, employment status, or work shift. ⁵Work shifts were collapsed into two categories: regular and variable work shifts. A regular work shift is one with set hours. A variable shift is one that changes from days to evenings or nights regardless of whether the hours are set by the employer or the employee. ⁶Parents or guardians respond "yes" or "no" to the question: "Are there any conditions in your neighborhood that make you worried about the health or safety of ((CHILD)/any of the children) in your household?" ⁷Children are considered poor if they were living in households with incomes below the poverty threshold, which is a dollar amount determined by the federal government to meet the household’s needs, given its size and composition. NOTE: Estimates are reported for all children from birth through 5 years of age, and not yet in kindergarten, who are in at least one weekly nonparental care arrangement. If a child had multiple arrangements, the arrangement with the greatest average weekly hours was used. If two arrangements had the same number of weekly hours, one arrangement was randomly chosen by the computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) program. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Early Childhood Program Participation Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (ECPP-NHES:2005).

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