Effects of Employment‐Based Programs on Families by Prior Levels of Disadvantage

Alderson, Desiree Principe; Gennetian, Lisa A.; Dowsett, Chantelle; Imes, Amy E.; Huston, Aletha C.

doi:10.1086/592360

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Studies reported no significant differences between intervention groups on adult depressive symptoms although depression again moderated the economic impacts in the SSP (51). Some new subgroup findings emerged including higher risk of depression among the most disadvantaged mothers compared to moderately disadvantaged mothers (53). …”

Section: Results: Policy Overviews and Health Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Social and Economic Policies Influence Health? A Review

et al. 2014

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Although social and economic policies are not considered part of health services infrastructure, such policies may influence health and disease by altering social determinants of health (SDH). We review social and economic policies in the US that have measured health outcomes among adults in four domains of SDH including housing and neighborhood, employment, family strengthening/marriage, and income supplementation. The majority of these policies target low-income populations. These social policies rarely consider health as their initial mission or outcomes. When measuring health, the programs document mental health and physical health benefits more than half the time, although some effects fade with time. We also find considerable segregation of program eligibility by gender and family composition. Policy makers should design future social policies to evaluate health outcomes using validated health measures; to target women more broadly across the socioeconomic spectrum; and to consider family caregiving responsibilities as ignoring them can have unintended health effects.

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Section: Results: Policy Overviews and Health Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Social and Economic Policies Influence Health? A Review

et al. 2014

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“…Prior level of disadvantage was also consequential. Pooling data from several of the state experiments mentioned above, Alderson, Gennetian, Dowsett, Imes, and Huston (2008) found that employment‐based programs had no significant effects on children's achievement and behavior for the most disadvantaged subgroup of respondents (measured in terms of prior earnings, education, and AFDC receipt), despite the fact that their mothers saw gains in employment, earnings, and household income. Children in the moderately disadvantaged groups, whose mothers enjoyed similar gains, however, achieved more in school.…”

Section: Families In Poverty In the Context Of Welfare Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

Poverty and the American Family: A Decade in Review

Edin

Kissane

2010

J of Marriage and Family

113

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Because of dramatic levels of economic volatility and massive changes in welfare policies, scholars in this decade worried anew about whether our official poverty measure, adopted in the 1960s, is adequate. Poverty's causes continued to be debated, with demographic factors often pitted against policy and maternal employment changes. Some scholars focused on events that trigger spirals into poverty or poverty exits. The literature on consequences of poverty featured new techniques for identifying underlying processes and mechanisms. Researchers also explored “neighborhood effects” and focused on poverty deconcentration efforts. Finally, scholars produced a voluminous literature on the efforts to reform welfare and their subsequent effects.

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“…Indeed, it is likely that changes in income have stronger effects on children in low-income families, who may be more vulnerable to material deprivation and stress (Alderson, Gennetian, Dowsett, Imes, & Huston, 2008). A study by Dearing, McCartney, and Taylor (2006) provides some evidence for this hypothesis.…”

Section: The Effects Of Income On the Development Of Low-income Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meeting the basic needs of children: Does income matter?

Gennetian

Castells

Morris

2010

Children and Youth Services Review

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We review existing research and policy evidence about income as an essential component to meeting children’s basic needs—that is, income represented as the purest monetary transfer for increasing the purchasing power of low income families. Social scientists have made great methodological strides in establishing whether income has independent effects on the cognitive development of low-income children. Our review of that research suggests that a $1,000 increase in income has positive, but small, effects on children, rarely exceeding 1/10th of a standard deviation change in outcomes for children. We argue that researchers are well-positioned for more rigorous investigations about how and why income affects children, but only first with thoughtful and creative regard for conceptual clarity, and on understanding income’s potentially inter-related influences on socio-emotional development, mental, and physical health. We also argue for more focus on the effects of income transfers, including when conditional on employment, as compared to more targeted direct investments in children. We end with a description of two-generation and cafeteria-style programs as the frontiers of the next generation in income-enhancement policies, and with the promise of insights from behavioral economics.

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Effects of Employment‐Based Programs on Families by Prior Levels of Disadvantage

Cited by 14 publications

References 44 publications

Do Social and Economic Policies Influence Health? A Review

Do Social and Economic Policies Influence Health? A Review

Poverty and the American Family: A Decade in Review

Meeting the basic needs of children: Does income matter?

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