Childcare in transition: evidence that patterns of childcare differ by degree of market integration in north-western Tanzania

Women around the world receive help with childrearing, much of which would have come from kin throughout most of human history. Market integration leads to less kin-dense social networks which may transform patterns of allomaternal care. Yet, few empirical studies have quantified the role of market integration in childcare patterns. We test the hypothesis that higher levels of market integration will be associated with (i) lower probability of receiving allomaternal support from kin; and (ii) higher probability of receiving support from non-kin. Using a survey of 808 children under 5 years from Mwanza, Tanzania, we test for differences in childcare arrangements between a less market integrated village and more market integrated town. We consider two types of allomaternal care, low-intensity and high-intensity, from seven sources: fathers, siblings, maternal grandparents, paternal grandparents, maternal aunts and uncles, paternal aunts and uncles and distant/non-kin. In the town, fathers, siblings, and paternal kin had lower odds and distant/non-kin had higher odds of providing care than in the village. Care from maternal kin was not associated with village/town residence. Market integration may disrupt paternal kin-orientated childcare arrangements, but not care from maternal kin, who may overcome greater physical distances to maintain contact. Distant/non-kin appear to substitute for the reduced support from kin in the town. We contribute data on an often assumed, but rarely tested, hypothesis: that market integration is associated with lower likelihood of help from kin, finding mixed support for this hypothesis.