Associations of formal childcare use with health and human capital development for adolescent mothers and their children in South Africa: A cross-sectional study.
Lucie Cluver, Janina Jochim, Yolanda Mapukata and 7 others
PMID 37287209WHAT IT FOUND
In South Africa, adolescent mothers whose children used formal childcare were more likely to be in school or work, pass a grade, and report positive future goals.
Their parenting scores were higher. Children's language, cognitive and motor scores were higher at older ages in childcare.
Key findings
01Formal childcare use was associated with higher adjusted odds of adolescent mothers being in school, tertiary education or employment (AOR 4.01), passing a grade (AOR 2.08), and holding positive future goals (AOR 1.58).
02Formal childcare use was associated with higher adjusted odds of positive parenting (AOR 1.66), parental limit-setting (AOR 2.00), and positive discipline (AOR 1.77).
03Child development scores did not show a simple overall association: the association changed with child age, and older children in childcare had better scores (interaction AOR 5.04).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Cross-sectional data cannot show that formal childcare caused the outcomes; reverse causality is possible. Parenting outcomes were self-reported and may be affected by social desirability; some items may not fit very young children. The sample came from two health districts in South Africa's Eastern Cape, so generalisability to other settings is unknown. Final analyses used 776 adolescent mothers and 837 children after exclusions for non-adolescent pregnancy, not being primary caregiver, missing childcare or housing data, children under 4 months, and child age limits. The child development result depended on age, so it cannot be read as one overall effect.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest. Funding was provided by the Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement, the UK Department for International Development, the UK Department of Health and Social Care, the Global Challenges Research Fund, the H2020 European Research Council, the International AIDS Society, the Leverhulme Trust, the Medical Research Council, the Oak Foundation, Research England, and the Wolfson Foundation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that formal childcare caused better outcomes. The study is cross-sectional, and reverse causality is possible: mothers already supported to stay in school or work may be more likely to use childcare. Do not read the child development result as one overall effect either; the main model and the age interaction pointed in different directions.