Social exchange in private family day care arrangements

• Main Authors: Perry, Gerald Wesley, Bergman, Elizabeth Margaret, Demas, Marian Alayne, Lowther, William Everett, Milne, Eleanor Elizabeth, Rankin, Sarah Milligan
• Format: Others
• Published: PDXScholar 1967
• Subjects: Day care centers
• Online Access: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/415; https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1414&context=open_access_etds

A study of social exchange between working mothers and their sitters was based on a sample of terminated family day care arrangements in Portland, Oregon (1966-67). The sample, provided by the Multnomah County Public Welfare Commission and the Day Care Exchange Project of northwest Portland consisted of the arrangements of 27 mothers and 23 sitters. Review of the literature on family day care revealed a paucity of research on the relationship between mothers and sitters in such arrangements. The purpose of the study was to test the hypothesis that continuity of a family day care arrangement is a function of the independent variables of satisfaction with and dependence on the arrangement. Respondents were interviewed in relation to three phases of their family day care arrangement: formation, mainte'nance, and termination. Likert-type attitudes, scales and semi-structured interview schedules were developed. Findings partially confirmed the hypothesis. Using Guttman scale analysis, a scalar relationship was found associating low dependence with high satisfaction. The mothers who showed low dependence and high satisfaction tended to have arrangements of longer duration.