Disparities in the spatial deployment of health assets: The case of childcare in Tennessee

Studies on racial and ethnic health disparities continue to focus on the effects of the area of residence on community health status. Area-level disparities in socioeconomic status, including the differential deployment of health assets, have long been associated with racial and ethnic disparities. This study focuses on the role of socioeconomic status in the spatial deployment of formal and informal childcare in Tennessee. Childcare services are health assets and they play a significant role in the demand for work outside the home by mothers of child-bearing age. The study will examine the spatial location of formal and informal childcare centers in Tennessee counties and determine whether socioeconomic status influences the choice of locations.

Over the past several decades, the increased employment of mothers outside the home has created an unprecedented demand for all forms of childcare in the United States. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that about thirty million infants, toddlers, and pre-school children under the age of six were under center-based care in the United States. Childcare consumption provides women and their children with significant custodial benefits. In addition, formal childcare centers provide developmental and educational benefits. For poor welfare mothers, childcare availability is, perhaps, the single most important determinant of their ability to take advantage of welfare-to-work opportunities.

County data on formal and informal childcare will be obtained from the Tennessee Department of Human Services while socioeconomic status data will be obtained from the US Census Bureau.