Changing with the Times? Current Attitudes about Non-Parental Care and Maternal Employment in Relation to Young Children

Participants (N = 226; Mage = 27.2) completed questionnaires about their care history, attitudes toward non-parental care and maternal employment, their preference for working from home, and demographic characteristics. Overall, attitudes toward non-parental care and maternal employment skewed in a positive direction. More time spent in non-parental care in childhood predicted a higher degree of openness to placing future children in non-parental care. Participants showed a preference for the type of childcare they experienced as children. Female participants with a history of non-parental childcare reported significantly more positive attitudes toward non-parental care. Gender, but not history of care, predicted attitudes toward maternal employment, with females reporting significantly more positive attitudes toward maternal employment than males. A negative correlation was observed between preference for working from home and non-parental care openness. Trait agreeableness positively correlated with attitudes toward daycare and maternal employment.