Despite evidence of the benefits of early care and education (ECE) for child development and family employment, the supply of providers is scarce and variable; leading many families with young children to experience limited and inequitable access. To examine the multidetermined nature of access, this study leverages a multidimensional, family-centered definition and a nationally representative sample of families of preschoolers from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Birth Cohort to examine (1) patterns of access-related features present in preschool-age children's ECE arrangements, and (2) child characteristics, household circumstances, and care setting type that may be related to patterns of access. Latent class analysis model enumeration revealed five latent classes of children's nonparental care arrangements along features of accessibility: High Across Most Access Features (26.4 %), Single, Long-Term Provider (30.1 %), Limited Across Most Access Features (11.6 %), Low Affordability, Multiple Providers (10.1 %), and High Affordability, Recent Transition (21.8 %). These results suggested many children were in ECE that met multiple dimensions of access, with others in care arrangements that reflected trade-offs. Children were also differentially classified into types of ECE arrangements in relation to care setting type, race/ethnicity, income, household urbanicity, and parental employment. The implications of investigating ECE access as a multidimensional construct, and recommendations for how ECE providers and policy can more closely align with family needs are discussed.

中文翻译：

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通过以家庭为中心的视角提供早期护理和教育机会的多维模式


尽管有证据表明早期护理和教育 （ECE） 对儿童发展和家庭就业有益，但提供者的供应是稀缺且可变的;导致许多有年幼孩子的家庭经历有限和不公平的机会。为了检查访问的多决定性质，本研究利用多维、以家庭为中心的定义和来自幼儿纵向研究 - 出生队列的全国代表性学龄前儿童家庭样本来检查 （1） 学龄前儿童的 ECE 安排中存在的访问相关特征模式，以及 （2） 可能与访问模式相关的儿童特征、家庭环境和护理环境类型。潜在类别分析模型计数揭示了儿童非父母照顾安排的五个潜在类别以及可访问性特征：大多数访问特征高 （26.4%）、单一、长期提供者 （30.1%）、大多数访问特征有限 （11.6%）、低负担能力、多个提供者 （10.1%），以及高负担性，最近的过渡 （21.8%）。这些结果表明，许多儿童的 ECE 满足了多个维度的访问，而其他儿童的护理安排反映了权衡。儿童还根据照护环境类型、种族/民族、收入、家庭城市化和父母就业分为 ECE 安排的类型。讨论了将 ECE 访问作为多维结构进行调查的意义，以及 ECE 提供者和政策如何更紧密地与家庭需求保持一致的建议。