The long‐term effects on children and adolescents of a policy providing work supports for low‐income parents

Abstract

New Hope, an employment-based poverty-reduction intervention for adults evaluated in a random-assignment experimental design, had positive impacts on children’s achievement and social behavior two and five years after random assignment. The question addressed in this paper was the following: Did the positive effects of New Hope on younger children diminish or even reverse when children reached the challenges of adolescence (eight years after random assignment)? Small positive impacts on school progress, school motivation, positive social behavior, child well-being, and parent control endured, but impacts on school achievement and problem behavior were no longer evident. The most likely reasons for lasting impacts were that New Hope families were slightly less likely to be poor, and children had spent more time in center-based child care and structured activities. New Hope represents a model policy that could produce modest improvements in the lives of low-income adults and children.

A Life at the Intersection of Science and Social Issues

“…Its motto was “If you work, you should not be poor.” We assessed children in New Hope and children in a control group 2, 5, and 8 years after their parents were randomly assigned. Overall, the program had positive and lasting (albeit modest) impacts on social behavior, achievement, and attitudes about school and work, especially for boys . The gender difference was unexpected, and a companion ethnographic study of New Hope families helped us understand a possible reason—parents, worried about their boys getting in trouble, invested extra resources in them.…”

How Do Promise Neighborhoods’ Strategies Align With Research Evidence on Poverty and Education?

“…Standardized test scores remained higher 2 years after the program, but gains faded 3 years later. Even 5 years after the program, however, treatment group parents reported higher levels of school engagement and school expectations and were more optimistic about the future (Huston, Walker, Dowsett, Imes, & Ware, 2008).…”

Is implementation fidelity associated with improved access to care in a School-based Child and Family Team model?

“…Maternal depression, substance use and other emotional or psychological ailments can also impede youth's ability to succeed in school, as can poverty. Addressing caregiver needs may help them better care for their children (Huston et al, 2011). Supports for caregivers with children with physical, emotional or behavioral ailments may enable them better cope with their child's needs (Lightfoot & LaLiberte, 2011).…”