Latino Parent Attitudes about Child
Care/Early Childhood Education Interview Study (LPACI)
Timeline
2005-2008
Research Questions
Research Questions
- What are the early child care and education (ECE) preferences and barriers experienced in accessing child care for low-income Latino families living in Los Angeles County?
- What are the experiences of Latino parents in adapting to the United States and becoming parents, and how do those experiences relate to the use of different types of early child care and education services and parental goals for the child?
Project
Staff
Nora Obregon
Project Support
First 5 LA
David & Lucile Packard Foundation
UC MEXUS
UCLA Institute of American Cultures
Nora Obregon
Project Support
First 5 LA
David & Lucile Packard Foundation
UC MEXUS
UCLA Institute of American Cultures
Project Summary
The Latino Parent Attitudes about Child Care/ECE Interview Study, or LPACI, was conducted with a sub-sample of Latino families from the LA ExCELS study. One hundred and sixteen immigrant mothers from Mexico and Central American countries, as well as U.S.-born Mexican American mothers, were interviewed using an open-ended protocol designed for this study. All the children were of preschool age at the time mothers were interviewed.
The LPACI interview probes parent practices and beliefs as they relate to four interconnected parenting domains: 1) parenting expectations and ideals; 2) early care and education beliefs and practices; 3) childhood experiences of both the focus child and the parent; and 4) reflections on the experiences of adapting to life in the United States and adapting as a parent. A secondary goal of the research is to better understand the cultural nuances that may come into play as parents who themselves were born outside the United States, or who were raised by family members born outside the United States, attempt to access ECE resources. The cultural underpinnings of child care choices are still relatively understudied and not well understood in the field of child development. This study seeks to help bring to light both the real and perceived barriers that low-income and immigrant Latino families confront as they attempt to interface with the system of early child care and education.
The LPACI study is somewhat different from other research conducted at CICCQ in that the interview protocol itself, the way the interviews were conducted, and the analysis all draw heavily from an ethnographic approach. The research was designed in this manner in order to capture the cultural nuances which are less apparent when using fixed-answer protocols or survey methods. LPACI study findings also will be combined with data collected in the LA ExCELS parent study, to fully round out the family, household, and educational contexts within which Latino parents express and enact their child care choices.
