Childcare in Chile. The role of ethnicity and socioeconomic inequalities

Abstract

1887/26094 Chile has embarked on a road that must lead to the reduction of inequality gaps for the population. A public policy called Chile Growths With You has focused on an increase in the breadth of coverage of non-maternal care through childcare centers to provide equal opportunities in early childhood and onwards. This dissertation focuses on the quality of the early childcare environment in Chile and the role of ethnicity and socio-economic inequality. Ninety-five mother-child dyads were followed in their first year of life to examine changes in the attachment relationship and quality of the home environment, dependent on type of care (maternal care versus center daycare) and ethnicity (Mapuche versus non-Mapuche). Our results show that differences in quality of the home environment between the two ethnic groups are very small and that Mapuche families are distinguished from the majority group by lower income and lower maternal education. Fulltime daycare has no negative consequences for the attachment relationship and the quality of the home environment. Moreover, a positive change in attachment security was found but only for Mapuche children who attended daycare.