The effect of child support on the labor supply of custodial mothers participating in TANF

Cuesta, Laura; Cancian, Maria

doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.05.006

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In the case of women experiencing TANF, when fathers substitute formal supports for informal supports, women and their children receive fewer benefits owing to the requirement that they assign their rights to child support to the state. There is increasing evidence that allowing custodial, TANF recipients to keep child support payments has no effect on women's participation in the labor force (i.e., does not detract from the welfare-to-work schema) [22,123], may reduce family conflict such as child abuse [124], and increases the likelihood that paternity will be established [125]. In light of the rising number of single-parent families in the United States [126] and TANF's social goals, the potential benefits of maintaining a mandatory child support participation policy and providing limited monetary pass-throughs should be reconsidered.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women’s Lived Experiences with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): How TANF Can Better Support Women’s Wellbeing and Reduce Intimate Partner Violence

Spencer

Lemon

Komro

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Women experiencing poverty are more likely to face intimate partner violence (IPV), poor health, and stigma. IPV survivors are overrepresented among those who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a conditional cash program serving families experiencing poverty. More generous TANF policies may be protective against IPV, but a greater insight into TANF’s effect could be gleaned through a contemporaneous study that examines intersecting determinants of wellbeing and engages community interpretation of findings. Using an adapted Family Stress Model framework and analyzing data through an intersectional and community-based lens, we explore the impact of TANF on women’s wellbeing through in-depth, semi-structured interviews during the COVID-19 pandemic with 13 women who had TANF experience in three U.S. states. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis in MAXQDA and researchers facilitated three member-checking events to enhance validity of result interpretation. Four themes emerged: (1) Low cash and conditional benefits provided limited short-term “relief” but contributed to poverty and hard choices; (2) TANF benefit levels and conditions increased women’s dependence on others, straining relationships; (3) Women undertook extraordinary measures to access TANF, largely to fulfill their roles as mothers; and (4) TANF stigma creates psychological stress, differentially experienced by African Americans. Increasing TANF cash benefits and other cash transfers for those experiencing poverty, adopting solely state funded TANF programs, increasing funding for TANF administration, addressing TANF stigma and racialized narratives, and allowing optional child support participation or a larger “pass-through” of child support are important steps toward making TANF more protective against IPV.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women’s Lived Experiences with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): How TANF Can Better Support Women’s Wellbeing and Reduce Intimate Partner Violence

Spencer

Lemon

Komro

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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“…For instance, in the absence of child support payments, resident parents may increase their participation in the labor market, which ultimately means that our measure of pre‐child support income is not entirely accurate. While there is very little research on the effects of child support in Latin America, and virtually no study that has looked at the effect of child support on resident parents' labor supply, recent evidence for the USA indicates that nonresident parents' monetary transfers do not affect resident parents' likelihood of working for pay and or the number of hours worked (Cuesta & Cancian, ). A second limitation is that we are not accounting for the effects of child support payments on children living with nonresident parents who are paying child support.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The antipoverty effectiveness of child support: Empirical evidence for Latin American countries

2018

Self Cite

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In this article we examine the role of child support in the economic well‐being of children in single‐parent families in Latin America. We use the Luxembourg Income Study wave IX and the 2012 Colombian Quality of Life Survey to answer three questions: (1) Are children in single‐parent families more likely to be poor than children in two‐parent families? (2) What is the relative importance of different income sources in the income packages of these families? and (3) Are child support transfers improving the economic well‐being of children in single‐parent families? Our results show that children in single‐parent families are disproportionally poor relative to two‐parent families in Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay. For other countries, poverty rates are similar (Guatemala and Peru), or higher in two‐parent families than single‐parent families (Mexico). Labor income is the most important income source for both types of families in all of these countries. However, child support represents between 20% and 39% of total income among families receiving this transfer. The largest antipoverty effectiveness of child support is also observed among these families. Child support brings between 30% and 55% of children receiving this transfer out of poverty.

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“…Worsened postunion dissolution outcomes among children have been linked to a wide variety of factors, including parental conflict and parenting styles, non-coresident fathers' involvement, and economic hardship (Amato and Gilbreth 1999;Cuesta and Cancian 2015;Cuesta and Meyer 2014;Holden and Smock 1991;Jenkins 2008;Kiernan and Hobcraft 1997). However, the expected direction of postseparation or divorce outcomes cannot be directly predicted.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, since it partly depends on behavioral responses from custodial mothers, the final results are ambiguous. In order to compensate for their loss of income and other economic resources, mothers might increase their labor supply, move to a smaller house, return to their household of origin, or repartner (Amato 2000;Cuesta and Cancian 2015;Mooney, Oliver, and Smith 2009;Jenkins 2008;Liu, Esteve, and Treviño 2016).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short‐ and Medium‐Term Effects of Parental Separation on Children's Well‐Being: Evidence from Uruguay

Bucheli¹,

Vigorito²

2023

Population & Development Rev

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There is limited quantitative research on the effect of parental union dissolution on children's well-being in developing countries. We use three waves of an Uruguayan longitudinal study that follows a cohort of first graders at public primary schools in 2004 to study the short-term (at age 13) and medium-term (at age 19) effects of parental separation on school attendance, grade repetition, completed years of schooling, socioemotional status, time devoted to a broad range of activities, and labor force participation. We carry out a difference-in-difference fixed-effects estimation comparing children of married or cohabiting couples that remained together versus a similar group of children whose parents separated after 2004. In contrast to studies for developed countries, socioemotional well-being remains unchanged. However, union dissolution worsens boys' educational outcomes in the short and medium term, whereas girls are only affected in the short term. Since lower educational attainment is difficult to reverse, it can result in reduced earnings during adulthood and in this way contribute to the intergenerational transmission of disadvantages. We also explore a set of potential moderators, including household income, maternal employment, access to durable goods, and public transfers, which suggest that worsened educational outcomes are closely connected to post-separation economic hardship.

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The effect of child support on the labor supply of custodial mothers participating in TANF

Cited by 10 publications

References 11 publications

Women’s Lived Experiences with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): How TANF Can Better Support Women’s Wellbeing and Reduce Intimate Partner Violence

Women’s Lived Experiences with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): How TANF Can Better Support Women’s Wellbeing and Reduce Intimate Partner Violence

The antipoverty effectiveness of child support: Empirical evidence for Latin American countries

Short‐ and Medium‐Term Effects of Parental Separation on Children's Well‐Being: Evidence from Uruguay

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