Working parents - What factors are involved in their ability to take time off from work when their children are sick?

Background: A series of studies has demonstrated that sick children fare be tter when their parents are present. Objective: To examine working conditions that determine whether parents can spend time with and become involved in the care of their children when the y are sick. Design: Survey with a multivariate analysis of factors influencing parental care of sick children. Participants: Mixed-income urban working parents aged 26 to 29 years partic ipating in the Baltimore Parenthood Study. Results: Only 42% of working parents in our sample cared for their young ch ildren when they became sick. A multivariate logistic regression analysis w as conducted to predict which parents stayed at home when their children we re sick. Those parents who had either paid sick or vacation leave were 5.2 times as likely to care for their children themselves when they were sick. Of parents with less than a high school education, 17% received paid leave, compared with 57% of parents with a general equivalency diploma, 76% of pa rents with a high school diploma, and 92% of parents with more than a high school education (P < .001). Conclusions: The finding that many parents were unable to care for their si ck children themselves is important for pediatric care. While low-income ch ildren are more likely to face marked health problems and to be in need of parental care, they are more likely to live in households in which parents lack paid leave and cannot afford to take unpaid leave.