Child support and welfare dependence: A multinomial logit analysis

The relation between welfare dependency and receipt of child support is investigated with data from a special supplement to the Current Population Survey. The impact of receiving child support on a family's welfare status is estimated and the types of families for which child support enforcement policies may have the greatest impact are identified. Overall, the results indicate that receipt of child support has a modest impact on reducing welfare dependency. However, the results also indicate that if child support obligations can be established and enforced shortly after a marital dissolution takes place, the likelihood that a family will later become a welfare recipient is significantly reduced.     

The roles of child support enforcement and welfare in non-marital childbearing

This paper examines the effects of stronger child support enforcement and declines in welfare benefits on changes in non-marital childbearing between 1980 and 1996. Economic theory suggests that stricter child support enforcement will increase the costs of children for unwed fathers, making them less likely to have a child outside marriage. Reductions in welfare benefits also are expected to increase the costs of non-marital childbearing for both mothers and fathers. We examine these hypotheses, using aggregate state-level data and fixed effects regression models to identify the effects of policies on non-marital birth rates. We find that both stricter child support enforcement and declines in welfare benefits deter non-marital births. However, the estimated effects of child support enforcement are more robust and larger than those of welfare. The estimates imply that in the 1980–1996 period, increases in child support enforcement led to a decline in non-marital birth rates in the range of 6% to 9%, whereas decreases in welfare benefits led to a decline in the range of 2% to 4%. Received: 28 June 2000/Accepted: 17 September 2001     

The impact of changes in child support policy

This paper measures the impact of child support reforms on payments to divorced mothers and welfare participation rates among them. A Stackelberg model of divorced parents’ behavior is calibrated to data from Wisconsin, where child support payments increased from $2,175.35 to $3,431.77 and welfare participation rates decreased from 33.5% to 9% between 1981 and 1992. Results show that new guidelines accounted for 24.4% and improved enforcement for 74% of the increase in payments. Higher payments accounted for a 3.9-percentage-point decline, decreasing welfare benefits an 8.4-percentage-point decline, and the two combined a 15-percentage-point decline in the welfare participation rate.      

Child care subsidies and the employment of welfare recipients

Changing patterns of maternal employment, coupled with stronger work requirements for welfare recipients, are increasing the demand for child care. For many families, the cost of child care creates a financial burden; for mothers with low incomes and those who are former welfare recipients, these costs may be an insurmountable barrier to employment or economic self-sufficiency. Despite increased public spending in this area, the receipt of any child care subsidy appears to be a relatively rare and uncertain event. In this study, we use data from a sample of low-income single mothers (current and recent welfare recipients in California) to estimate the probability of their receiving child care subsidies and the effect of this probability on labor market activity.     

Examining the Relationship Between Race, Ethnicity, Foreign-Born Status, and Social Capital Among Women on Public Assistance

The purpose of this research study was to examine the relationship between race, ethnicity, foreign-born status, and social capital among single women who use welfare. It was hypothesized that the utilization of various types of social capital would vary by group. This study analyzed Wave 2 (2005–2007) data from the Making Connections Cross-Site Survey database. 1,428 women with no spouse/partner present in the household who indicated use of a TANF/welfare office in the last 12 months were selected for inclusion in the study sample. Structural equation modeling was used to answer this study’s research question. Black women had a higher level of bridging, support giving, and support receiving social capital. Hispanic women had a lower level of bridging social capital. Foreign-born women had a higher level of bonding and value sharing social capital. Implications for policy, social work practice, and research are discussed.     

The effect of child support enforcement on child support payments

This paper examines the effect of state child support enforcement legislation on child support received from absent fathers by ever-married women due support in 1978 or 1981. The analysis is based upon data from the 1979 and 1982 March/April Match files of the Current Population Survey, two nationally-representative surveys of the eligible child support population, combined with a data set assembled by the authors on child support enforcement techniques available in each state. Based upon probit estimates and OLS estimates corrected for sample selection bias, we find that expedited processes and liens (against real and personal property), as well as wage withholding laws in effect for at least three years, increased the amount of child support received in 1981. In general, enforcement is more effective at increasing the amount received than the probability of receiving something, and is more effective for Blacks than for nonBlacks.     

Effects of child support and welfare policies on nonmarital teenage childbearing and motherhood

This paper is an assessment of the impact of child support enforcement and welfare policies on nonmarital teenage childbearing and motherhood. We derive four hypotheses about the effects of policies on nonmarital teenage childbearing and motherhood. We propose that teenage motherhood and school enrollment are joint decisions for teenage girls. Based on individual trajectories during ages 12–19, our analysis uses an event history model for nonmarital teenage childbearing and a dynamic model of motherhood that is jointly determined with school enrollment. We find some evidence that child support policies indirectly reduce teen motherhood by increasing the probability of school enrollment, which, in turn, reduces the probability of teen motherhood. This finding suggests that welfare offices may wish to place greater weight on outreach programs that inform more teenagers of the existence of strong child support enforcement measures. Such programs might reduce nonmarital teen motherhood further and thus reduce the need for welfare support and child support enforcement in the long run.

The effects of welfare and child support policies on union formation

We use data from a new longitudinal survey – the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study – to examine how welfare and child support policies, and local labor market conditions, affect union formation among unmarried parents who have just had a child together. We use multinomial logistic regression to estimate the effects of the policy variables along with economic, cultural/interpersonal, and other factors on whether (relative to being in a cohabiting relationship) parents are not romantically involved, romantically involved living apart, or married to each other about one year after the child's birth. We find that – contrary to some previous research – higher welfare benefits discourage couples from breaking up, while strong child support enforcement reduces the chances that unmarried parents will marry; local unemployment rates do not appear to be strongly associated with union formation decisions after a nonmarital birth.     

Welfare generosity, pregnancies and abortions among unmarried AFDC recipients

Even before the 1996 overhaul of the U.S. welfare system, a number of states had ended the practice of paying extra benefits to families who have additional children while receiving welfare. Proponents believe that this reform can reduce births to recipients, however many worry that it may encourage women to obtain abortions. Using a sample of unmarried AFDC recipients from the NLSY, we estimate a bivariate probit model of pregnancy and, conditional on becoming pregnant, the probability of abortion. Our results lend some support for the proposition that reducing incremental AFDC benefits will decrease pregnancies without increasing abortions. Received: 16 April 1998/Accepted: 11 March 1999     

The effects of welfare and child support policies on union formation

We use data from a new longitudinal survey – the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study – to examine how welfare and child support policies, and local labor market conditions, affect union formation among unmarried parents who have just had a child together. We use multinomial logistic regression to estimate the effects of the policy variables along with economic, cultural/interpersonal, and other factors on whether (relative to being in a cohabiting relationship) parents are not romantically involved, romantically involved living apart, or married to each other about one year after the child's birth. We find that – contrary to some previous research – higher welfare benefits discourage couples from breaking up, while strong child support enforcement reduces the chances that unmarried parents will marry; local unemployment rates do not appear to be strongly associated with union formation decisions after a nonmarital birth.     

Welfare measurement in labour supply models with nonlinear budget constraints

This paper is concerned with the measurement of individual welfare in labour supply models which allow for the impact of income taxation and income support schemes on labour supply decisions. The paper is motivated by the concern over the need to have measures which can be interpreted easily, which can be compared with net income, and which can be meaningfully aggregated. To illustrate the issues we use estimates of a discrete choice model of labour supply for United Kingdom lone mothers to compute alternative welfare measures which might be considered as having intuitive appeal to policy-makers. We compute welfare change based on these measures arising from a recent reform of the child support payments system. Received: 25 February 1997/Accepted: 12 March 1998     

The labor force implications of expanding the child care industry

This paper examines the labor force implications of increased social investment in the child care industry. We have two main conclusions to report. First, expanding the child care industry will remove a major barrier to employment for a sizable number of women. This includes women in middle and upper income families who desire to work for personal fulfillment and to improve their families' lifestyles. But even more so, it includes women in low-income and single-parent families who need to work to maintain a minimal and dignified standard of living and who might otherwise remain dependent on welfare benefits for their own and their families' subsistence. Second, expanding the child care industry will help employers cope with a range of personnel problems they will increasingly face as the U.S. undergoes a major transition in the 1990's from being a labor surplus economy to being a labor shortage economy.     

The experiences of pregnant women attending a specialist service and using methamphetamine

BackgroundPregnant women attending the Specialist Drug and Alcohol Service in Perth use methamphetamine as their primary drug of choice. This is the only tertiary service for pregnant and postnatal women with complex Alcohol and Other Drug Use in Western Australia. It is a midwifery-led multidisciplinary team. Many of the women struggle with addiction, polysubstance use, co-occurring mental health, family and domestic violence, complex trauma and fear of Child Protection and infant removal. Therefore, the aim of this study was to understand the impact of methamphetamine use of pregnant women attending the service and explore and highlight the potential barriers to engagement and follow-up.MethodsA qualitative study informed by phenomenological methods was undertaken using semi-structured interviews with 20 women with methamphetamine use attending the service in order to explore and understand the experience of using methamphetamine in pregnancy and the postpartum period. A thematic analysis was undertaken with data from the women in the study (n = 20) to identify key themes.ResultsKey themes that emerged from the women’s experiences detail their resilience and experience with methamphetamine and the impact that methamphetamine has on their life. A key concern for women regarding methamphetamine use and engagement with specialist services was the welfare of their child(ren). Agencies charged with child protection was a barrier to treatment because women feared disclosure of methamphetamine use would result in loss of child custody. Themes highlighted the multiple layers of adversities, and trauma from childhood to adulthood including, co-occurring drug use, mental health and life histories of trauma (abuse, violence, and neglect; intergenerational trauma; intergenerational drug and alcohol use, and child removal), the omnipresence of methamphetamine, and the impact on pregnancy and mothering.ConclusionWe conclude that understanding the experiences of women and the impact methamphetamine use has on their life is paramount to providing effective and appropriate care to support pregnant women in a trauma-informed and woman-centred approach. Poor engagement in pregnancy care for women with methamphetamine use has significant impacts on mother and infant.     

挤入还是挤出:社会保障对子女经济供养老人的影响——关于医疗保障与家庭经济供养行为

社会保障对子女经济供养老人的影响一直是学术界关注的热点问题。基于实地调研数据,控制其他变量基础上,重点分析社会保障对子女经济供养老人的影响,研究结果显示,社会保障总体上对子女经济供养老人的水平具有挤入效应,老年人获得社会保障总体上将提高子女对其经济供养水平。而解释机制分析则发现,原因在于医疗保障释放了老年人的医疗卫生服务需求,进而增加了相应支出,并最终导致子女增加了经济供养支出。进一步分析发现了该效应的群体差异性,而该效应实质是医疗卫生资源和服务分配的阶层性差异,根源在于现行医疗卫生制度存在的各种弊病。在研究结论基础上,提出了建立公平的健康保障与福利改进体系等思考。     

Childhood events and circumstances influencing high school completion

This paper is an empirical exploration of the effects of a variety of family and economic circumstances experienced during childhood on one indicator of success in young adulthood--high school completion. The estimates suggest that parental education and mother's work are positive and significant determinants of high school completion, whereas growing up in a family with more children (who compete for resources), being persistently poor and on welfare, and moving one's residence as a child have significant negative impacts on high school completion. The effects of some family stress and economic events differ depending on the age of the child when they occur. The results support the economic model of investment in children, as well as the welfare culture and socialization models.     

The determinants of paternity establishment and child support award rates among unmarried women

This paper examines the relationships between several child support policies, paternity establishment, and child support award rates among never-married women. We use several state policies and practices in place throughout the 1980s to examine their effectiveness at increasing paternity establishment rates and at increasing the proportion of unmarried women who have child support awards. We also examine the direct relationship between paternity establishment rates and child support award rates. We estimate these relationships using a variety of specifications, using cross-state variation in child support enforcement to identify the effects of policies. To date, child support remains largely the province of state family law, and, although policies have changed dramatically in response to two decades of federal mandates, state laws and practices still vary.     

The Role of Family Policy in Explaining the International Variation in Child Subjective Well-Being

The article proposes an innovative analyse for cross-national differences in the subjective child well-being introducing new indicators and measures. This dimension addresses the issue of welfare support to parents and child early education. The question of this research is to what extend family policies can explain the variability of subjective child well-being components in different European countries. Based on this question, the two objective of this proposal are: (1) to review the existing literature with respect to conceptualization, measurement, and correlates of children’s subjective well-being, with a special emphasis on the context of family policies and family well-being in different European welfare states, and (2) to analyse the relation between these policies and subjective child well-being. In order to get these aims we have elaborated two indexes: the index of child subjective well-being and family policy index. Data for HBSC (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children) for the first index and data from OECD Family Database is used to build these indicators. We found that the index of child subjective well-being is comparatively higher in those countries where family policies are more generous in the areas of preschool education, family services, family spending and duration of paid parental leave.     

Couple childbearing plans and births in Sweden

We use data from a nationally representative sample of Swedish couples to estimate effects of partners’ childbearing plans on the rate of subsequent childbearing. Only 11% of the couples in this sample expressed plans in opposite directions (plan to have a child versus not to have a child), but 24% had differing levels of certainty about their plans. Of the couples in which both partners said they definitely planned to have another child, 44% had a child within two years. If neither partner planned to have another child, less than 2% of couples had a birth. The figure was 6% if the partners had opposing childbearing plans. Thus, both men and women exerted veto power over further childbearing. Disagreements were equally likely to be resolved in favor of the woman as of the man, and effects of partners’ plans on the birth hazard did not depend on the couple’s gender arrangements, family ideologies, or marital status. We discuss these results in the context of Sweden’s public support for gender equality and for childrearing, its pervasive contraceptive regime, and its high rates of cohabitation. We also argue for the collection of data from partners in future family and fertility surveys.     

The Type of Support that Adult Children Solicit from Their Mothers in European Welfare Systems

The objective of this article is to examine if the kind of relationship and the support which mothers offer adult children living outside the home can be explained by different welfare systems and structural indicators. Propositions derived from intergenerational relationship theories and national welfare typologies have been analysed and indicate that there are structural variables that influence the type of relationship and support offered. The data we have used is from the survey “Social Relations and Support Systems”of the International Survey Programme. We selected those respondents whose mothers were alive and did not reside in the same dwelling, a total of 9,261 interviewees. The results of a factor analysis reduce the relationship between mother and child to two dimensions. Both dimensions are correlated with structural factors and make it possible to situate countries based on different welfare models consistent with the literature.     

Attitudes of welfare recipients toward marriage and childbearing

The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) put the need for attitudinal change at the center of efforts to help welfare recipients become economically independent, avoid out-of-wedlock childbearing, and embrace marriage. In this paper, we focus specifically on attitudes, analyzing both differences in values and attitudes between welfare recipients and other women on the cusp of reform, as well as the effects of TANF reforms in two states on the attitudes and behaviors of women subject to the reforms. National data reveal few differences in values and attitudes between welfare recipients and other women once background characteristics are held constant. A majority of both groups believes that prospective parents should marry, but single parents can raise a child as well as married parents. Personal aspirations for marriage and further childbearing also are fairly similar. These similarities may be one reason that the literature has shown TANF to have limited effects on marriage and childbearing. A second set of analyses investigates the degree to which welfare recipients in Delaware and Indiana report that reforms affected their aspirations for marriage and childbearing. Self-reported impacts are greater for fertility than marriage attitudes. Even among those who report their attitudes were affected by reform, recipients appear to have difficulty acting on their marital and childbearing desires, dampening any effects on behavior. These findings reinforce the current sense among researchers and policy makers that more direct reforms are needed to have a substantial effect on marriage and out-of-wedlock childbearing.