Parte independiente

Context factors are the third and last group of relevant socio-demographic factors that affect ECCE provision. They comprise of neighbourhood and community factors, which in turn include socio-economic status of the neighbourhood, built environment, and access to services, transport and amenities. Neighbourhood factors, known also as community-level factors, are dominant

factors that can determine ECCE services. Different theoretical models1 _were

developed to study the relationship between community characteristics and childcare and development, including the Bronfenbrenner's (1979; 1993) ecological model, neighbourhood resource theory (Connor & Brink, 1999), and relative deprivation theory (Higgitt & Memken, 2001). According to Higgitt and Memken (2001), such theories and models help to

conceptualize neighborhoods as varying along four general dimensions: physical infrastructure (e.g., types and quality of housing, use and arrangement of space), socio-demographic characteristics of the population (e.g., income and education levels), institutional resources (e.g., health and social services, child care centers, community centers, churches), and patterns of social organization within the neighbourhood (p.36).

Socio-economic status of the neighbourhood can be discussed in terms of poverty, residential stability, ratio of adult men and women, and the ratio of children under the age of 11 (Queralt & Witte, 1998). Neighbourhood disadvantage is typically exemplified in neighbourhood poverty, the percentage of one parent households, and the concentration of same level of education and employment of residents (Sampson, Morenoff & Gannon-Rowley, 2002). Several studies have argued that economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods are characterized by fewer resources, poor services (Mayer & Jencks, 1989; Jencks & Mayer, 1990) and shortage of quality childcare facilities (Burchinal et al., 2008). Due to the convenience of location, parents in poor neighbourhood choose low quality childcare settings for their children (Sandstrom et al., 2012) or to use informal care arrangements.

According to Harden, Monahan and Yoches (2012), neighbourhood social disadvantage is related to lower childcare quality. Disadvantaged neighbourhoods generally have fewer resources and facilities for children (Wilson, 1987, 1997). They might feature five risk factors as argued by Carta, Greenwood, Baggett, Buzhardt, and Walker (2012) that could affect children: (1) single parent, (2) teenage parents, (3) unemployed, (4) having lower education qualification, and (5) dependence on public assistance.

1 _{Those theories are discussed in details in the next section ‘Theories of Understanding}

In addition to the characteristics of disadvantaged neighbourhoods, Ellen and Turner (1997) have identified six mechanisms of neighbourhood conditions that may influence children directly or indirectly in those areas. These include quality of local services, socialization by adults, peer influences, social networks, exposure to crime and violence, and physical distance and isolation. Therefore, understanding neighbourhood conditions and characteristics is important when planning for childcare provision in terms of policy formation.

Several studies have found a relationship between neighbourhood poverty and childcare availability (Fuller & Liang, 1996; Hirshberg, Huang & Fuller, 2005). The study of Mulligan et al. (2005) found that childcare arrangements vary according to poverty level and geographic location. The study of Burchinal, Nelsonb, Carlsonc and Brooks-Gunnd (2008) also showed that neighbourhood characteristics relate to the type of childcare used by families with toddlers and pre-schoolers. Using a longitudinal sample, the researchers assessed childcare choices (i.e., whether they chose care in centres; childcare homes by non-relative, by relatives, and by parents). Findings of the study revealed that centre care quality was lower in disadvantaged neighbourhoods and higher for publicly funded programs. Furthermore, neighbourhood structural disadvantage was more negatively related to quality when mothers had less education. The findings provide further evidence that public programs of kindergarten and Head Start may be especially important to ensure that children living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods have access to the types of childcare that promote school readiness. Ha and Ybarra (2014) indicated also that poverty as a neighbourhood characteristic was significantly associated with less use of centre-based care than parental care in their study. In addition, high quality care is more limited in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. This can be supported also by Queralt and Witte’s (1998) study which showed that communities with high levels of child poverty and public assistance are more than twice as likely to have no centre care available for their young children, than communities with low levels of child poverty and public assistance.

In short, many factors as reviewed earlier are strongly associated with the likelihood of children receiving non-parental care. Receipt of formal childcare was highest among children aged 3 to 4 as this is the age when children are entitled to

free or subsidized early education in most countries. However, non-parental care was lowest among 0- to 2 years old children, as grandparents and older siblings were the most commonly used informal childcare providers. Children’s ethnic background in contexts with multiple ethnicities was also associated with the likelihood of receiving formal childcare in favour of some ethnic backgrounds. Children in two parents’ and lone parent families differ in attending formal and informal childcare depending on context with welfare policies and universal access. Parents’ employment and higher income are also strong predictors of using formal childcare than non-working families with lower incomes. Besides, the socio-economic status of the neighbourhood including adequate built environment, and access to services, transport and amenities will lead to enhanced opportunities for childcare and development. The main theories and models used to conceptualize the socio- demographic factors affecting ECCE are discussed in the section below, with particular on emphasis on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model.