TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION WITH CHILDREN AS PART OF THE SELF-CARE ARRANGEMENT - A RESEARCH NOTE

Children in self-care (latchkey) arrangements have been portrayed as a population at risk, and this has recently led to research investigati ons, social policy discussions, and legislative proposals. This study examines selected characteristics of mother, child, and family, and th e amount of time children spend in self-care, for their influences on the use of the telephone to communicate with children in self-care. Th e analysis builds on earlier studies that indicate the importance of t ime, child's age, and mother's employment for understanding the growin g phenomenon of self-care. The results of multiple regression analyses are presented and discussed. As expected, the age of the child is the most important variable in predicting the length of time spent in sel f-care. The age of the child and the length of time spent in self-care are the strongest predictors of telephone communication with children in self-care arrangements.