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Attractiveness of child care and related employer-supported benefits and policies to married and single parents

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Abstract

Changing demographics in the family and in the labor force necessitate creative solutions to the child care coordination problems that face employed parents with young children. The present study explores the appeal to 321 employed parents of various corporate-supported benefits and policies that enable parents to coordinate employment and child care. Major findings from the survey were that fathers as well as single and married mothers find corporate assistance with family matters to be desirable. Employer-supported child care benefits and work schedule policies could motivate a sizable number of employed parents to change jobs in order to receive such assistance. Parents' satisfaction with corporate benefits and policies are related to their job satisfaction, organizational commitment, experience of role strain, and frequency of health symptoms.

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We are grateful for the funding provided by the Spencer Foundation under its Small Grants program and for funds received from the Center for Orange County research, University of California, Irvine. This report is part of a larger program of research being conducted by Ellen Greenberger and Wendy A. Goldberg (co-Principal Investigators) on work, parenting, and the socialization of children; these authors share primary and equal responsibility for the report.

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Goldberg, W.A., Greenberger, E., Koch-Jones, J. et al. Attractiveness of child care and related employer-supported benefits and policies to married and single parents. Child Youth Care Forum 18, 23–37 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01086798

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