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[tisogai]

Please help me figure out the three underscored parts.

Types of care arrangements were classfied as child care center, child care home (any home-based care outside the child's own home except grandparent care), in-home care (any care in the child's own home except by fathers or grandparents), grandparent care, and father care. On the basis of these reports, two variables were created: the proportion of 3-4month intervals from 3 to 54 months of age (16 epochs in all) in which the child received care in a center and the proportion of epochs in which the child was in a care home.

Also, what are "these reports" here and what is "epochs" here??

Thanks.

[CP]

Apparently the parents or other care givers answered periodic questions (hence made their reports to the investigators) about the type of care the child was given--the five types listed in the first sentence.

The researchers took the information every three or four months from the parents of children beginning age 3 months until they were age 54 months (4-1/2 years). There are 16 such intervals (called epochs by these researchers) per child.

The researchers then counted how many of those 16 epochs each child spent getting care in a center, and how many getting care in a care home. Call the first number A and the second number B. Then they just calculated A / 16 and B / 16 for each child, to find out roughly how much time these preschoolers spent in a care center or a care home. The rest of the time they must have been with their mothers, grandparents, or fathers.

You sure are reading some advanced stuff! Going to be a developmental psychologist?
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