Child Care Use,Earnings, and Reenlistment Desires of Wives of Enlisted Soldiers in the U. S. Army

The U S . Army manages more than 600 Child Development Centers and about 12,000 Army-licensed Family Care Homes with a daily attendance of more than 80,000 children. This article analyzes use of child care services in relation to Army wives' earnings, their satisfaction with Army life, and their desire for their husbands' reenlistment in the Army. Data for wives (n = 1,007) of enlisted soldiers from a 1987 U.S. Department of the Army Survey of Families were used to estimate a system of four simultaneous equations. These data were comparable with similar data collected in 1992. Results revealed that the first criterion variable of child care use was associated positively with the wives' earnings and negatively with the age of the youngest child. The second criterion variable of wives' earnings was related positively to the use of child care services. The third criterion variable of wives' satisfaction with Army life, however, related negatively to their dissatisfaction with the cost of Army child care services. The fourth criterion variable of the wives' satisfaction with Army life was related positively to their desires for their husbands' reenlistment in the Army. Other studies suggest that a wife's desire for her husband's reenlistment has a great influence on his decision to stay. Therefore, the military policy makers might increase Army wives' satisfaction with Army life by lessening dissatisfaction with the cost of child care services, perhaps by reducing user charges for them.