Individual datasets that do not belong to any series.
The survey examined the circumstances of families in Finland with five-year-old children regarding arrangements for early childhood education and childcare, health and development, and family life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Guardians were asked about these themes at three time points: at the time of response (November 2020-January 2021), during the COVID-19 state of emergency in spring 2020, and in January 2020 prior to the state of emergency. The information for all three time points was collected retrospectively in a single survey.
First, respondents were asked about their five-year-old child's childcare and early childhood education arrangements at different time points, their satisfaction with these arrangements, any changes that occurred, and the reasons for those changes. In addition, respondents were asked about their employment situation and changes during the state of emergency due to COVID-19, such as changes of workplace, working hours, and the increase in remote work.
Next, respondents were asked about their own and their child's health, as well as their use of services intended for families. They were also asked about work-family balance, the division of labor between spouses, and parenting. Finally, respondents were asked about their views on the COVID-19 pandemic and early childhood education measures during the pandemic.
Background variables include, among others, the respondent's age group, gender, type of municipality, region of residence, marital status, family composition, and household income, as well as the respondent's and spouse's level of education, economic activity, and employment-related information. Background information on the five-year-old child includes, among others, gender, year of birth, and living arrangements.
The study sample consisted of two components. In the first component, municipalities were purposively selected based on the COVID-19 situation in spring 2020, including areas with both low and high numbers of confirmed cases. The selection also aimed to ensure broad geographical coverage across Finland. The municipalities included Joensuu, Kajaani, Kemi, Lappeenranta, Mikkeli, Rovaniemi, Tornio, Turku and Vaasa. All parents and guardians of children born between 1 October 2014 and 30 September 2015 (approximately five-year-olds) were invited to participate from all selected municipalities except Turku, where a partial systematic random sample was drawn from population register data. Parental contact details were obtained from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency in October 2020. Due to system limitations, data were not available for parents living at a different address than their child. This first component included 7,227 parents representing 4,261 children.
The second component consisted of respondents from the 2019 CHILDCARE survey, which targeted parents of children born during the same period. Parents who had consented to follow-up contact were invited to participate (N = 1,609, 1,286 children). Updated contact information was retrieved from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency in October 2020.
In total, 8,836 parents (5,648 children) were invited to participate. The survey was conducted between November 2020 and January 2021 as an online survey (Webropol) in Finnish, Swedish and English, with a paper questionnaire available in Finnish. Two reminders were sent, the latter including a paper questionnaire. A total of 1,850 parents (1,603 children) responded, yielding a response rate of 20.9% at the parent level and 28.4% at the child level.