Self - care Arrangements among School - Aged Children : A Child Care

This study investigates the incidence of self-care arrangements among school-aged children and it examines why some mothers choose this form of child care. The study finds that the incidence of self-care differs by region and family size, and therefore the relevance of aggregate estimates of self-care to the child care policy debate is questioned. Also, mothers' hours of work are found to increase use of self-care. However, accompanying results suggest that maternal work and use of selfcare do not imply that school children are unsupervised (i.e., the "latchkey" child syndrome). Moreover, effects of region, kin, prices, and income may indicate that self-care is a legitimate type of child care that some mothers use. Self-care Arrangements among School-Aged Children: A Child Care Device or Children Left to Their Own Devices? "Historically, the word latchkey has carried negative associations: 'The house key tied around the neck is the symbol of cold meals, of a child neglected and shorn of the security of a mother's love and afection'" (Zucker, 1944).