Family Wealth and Adolescent Physical Health
January 13, 2025
Inequalities in the distribution of wealth among families with children may have deleterious health consequences, especially for adolescent children. This review discusses what is known about wealth-related inequalities in adolescent physical health and proposes four psychosocial mechanisms that may explain how wealth shapes adolescent physical health.
Net Worth Poverty and Child Well-Being: Black–White Differences
November 28, 2024
This study examines how net worth poverty and its subcomponents of asset and debt poverty relate to Black and White children’s academic and behavioral outcomes.
Intergenerational Effects of a Casino-Funded Family Transfer Program on Educational Outcomes in an American Indian Community
September 17, 2024
Using data on families who received cash transfers as part of a casino-funded family transfer program introduced in a Southeastern American Indian Tribe in the late 1990s, the authors find that large cash transfers have the potential to reduce intergenerational cycles of poverty-related educational outcomes.
The Effect of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Maternal Assessments of Children’s Early Language and Socioemotional Development: Experimental Evidence from U.S. Families Residing in Poverty
August 26, 2024
This study uses data from the Baby’s First Years randomized control trial to identify the causal impact of unconditional cash transfers on maternal reports of early childhood development.
Regular Monthly Cash Gifts in the Baby’s First Years Study: Program Design and Families’ Experiences
August 22, 2024
This brief summarizes findings from The Baby’s First Years study, examining the design and delivery of the BFY cash gift and how families experience and use the BFY cash gift. The BFY cash gift design provides an example of how cash transfers can be delivered in a way that can center families and entrust them with using the money as they see fit to support their families.
The Expanded Child Tax Credit and Low-Income Families’ Food Insecurity: Associations Across and Within Months of Receipt
August 11, 2024
Examination of the impact of the Child Tax Credit on families’ food security by family size and participation in other federal programs. Results suggest that the effectiveness of cash payments like the CTC in reducing economic hardships may depend on family characteristics like receipt of other federal benefits and household size.
Poverty Reduction and Childhood Opportunity Moves: A Randomized Trial of Cash Transfers to Low-Income U.S. Families with Infants
August 5, 2024
This study uses data from the Baby’s First Years (BFY) randomized trial to examine whether an unconditional cash transfer causes families to make opportunity moves to better quality neighborhoods.
Child-Directed Speech in a Large Sample of U.S. Mothers with Low Income
July 29, 2024
Using data from Baby’s First Years, this paper assesses the causal impact of monthly, unconditional cash transfers on child-directed speech and child vocalizations among a large, racially diverse sample of low-income U.S. mothers and their 1-year-olds.
Regular, Monthly Unconditional Cash Gift Increases Families’ Investments in Young Children
June 21, 2024
This brief summarizes findings from The Baby’s First Years study, examining the ways in which a monthly unconditional high-cash gift has been used to support children’s learning and development. Results from the study highlight that such aid resulted in investments in children by increasing parents’ spending on child-specific goods and time spent on early learning activities.
Effects of a Monthly Unconditional Cash Transfer Starting at Birth on Family Investments Among US Families with Low Income
June 21, 2024
How does unconditional income for families in poverty affect parental investments for their young children? During the first 3 years of this study, high-cash gift households spent more money on child-specific goods and more time on child-specific early learning activities than the low-cash gift group.
Unconditional Cash and Breastfeeding, Child Care, and Maternal Employment among Families with Young Children Residing in Poverty
Journal Articles |
Families and Parenting
Poverty and Inequality
Social Emotional Health and Well-Being
May 24, 2024
This study—the first randomized controlled trial of early childhood poverty reduction in the United States—investigates how increased economic resources affect 1,000 low-income US mothers’ breastfeeding, child-care, and employment practices and the ability to meet their intentions for these practices in the first year of their infant’s life.
Beyond Parental Wealth: Grandparental Wealth and the Transition to Adulthood
May 7, 2024
Young adulthood encompasses a number of decision points around education, employment, and fertility. To capture this complexity, this study examines how multigenerational wealth is related to four outcomes: college attendance, steady employment, early nonmarital birth, and idleness.
Impact of Monthly Unconditional Cash on Food Security, Spending, and Consumption
April 3, 2024
New data from the Baby’s First Years study provide a look at family food security and how families with low incomes allocate additional funds, including spending on food.
The Impact of Monthly Unconditional Cash on Food Security, Spending, and Consumption: Three Year Follow-Up Findings from the Baby’s First Years Study
April 3, 2024
This paper summarizes previously published findings coupled with new analyses of data through the third year of follow-up on the effects of a monthly unconditional cash gift on outcomes related to food security, spending, and consumption from the Baby’s First Years study.
Monthly Unconditional Income Supplements Starting at Birth: Experiences Among Mothers of Young Children with Low Incomes in the U.S.
March 2, 2024
Recently, U.S. advocates and funders have supported direct cash transfers for individuals and families as an efficient, immediate, and non-paternalistic path to poverty alleviation. This article address questions and concerns about how such programs are implemented.
Family Cash Transfers in Childhood and Birthing Persons and Birth Outcomes Later in Life
February 15, 2024
Using data from a quasi-random natural experiment of a large family cash transfer among an American Indian tribe in rural North Carolina, this paper examines whether a positive disruption in socioeconomic status during childhood improves birthing person/perinatal outcomes when they become parents themselves.
Beyond Parental Wealth: Grandparental Wealth and the Transition to Adulthood
December 14, 2023
This study considers the multigenerational consequences of wealth transmission for the transition to young adulthood.
Contraception Use and Satisfaction Among Mothers with Low-Income: Evidence from the Baby’s First Years Study
Journal Articles |
Families and Parenting
Poverty and Inequality
Social Emotional Health and Well-Being
October 6, 2023
Low income can lead to limited choice of and access to contraception. This study examined whether an unconditional cash transfer (UCT) impacts contraceptive use, including increased satisfaction with and reduced barriers to preferred methods, for individuals with low income. Receipt of monthly UCTs did not impact contraception methods, perceived barriers to use, or satisfaction.
Unconditional Cash Transfers and Maternal Assessments of Children’s Health, Nutrition, and Sleep: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Journal Articles |
Families and Parenting
Poverty and Inequality
Social Emotional Health and Well-Being
September 29, 2023
Among children experiencing poverty, a monthly cash gift affected healthy food intake, but not health or sleep.
Education Gradients in Parental Time Investment and Subjective Well-Being
September 28, 2023
College-educated mothers spend substantially more time in intensive childcare than less educated mothers despite their higher opportunity cost of time and working more hours. This study looks at one reason this may be by testing the hypothesis that college-educated mothers enjoy childcare more.
Black Reparations and Child Well-Being: A Framework and Policy Considerations
September 20, 2023
This working paper provides a child-centric framework for reparations and the resulting
policy considerations and implications for child descendants of enslaved African Americans.
Associations Between Maternal Stress and Infant Resting Brain Activity Among Families Residing in Poverty in the U.S.
September 15, 2023
Findings from this study suggest that, among families experiencing low economic resources, maternal reports of stress are associated with differences in patterns of infant resting brain activity during the first year of life.
Intergenerational Effects of a Family Cash Transfer on the Home Environment
August 22, 2023
A family cash transfer in childhood that had long-term effects on individual functioning did not impact the home environment of participants who became parents. Rather, parents in both groups were providing home environments generally conducive to their children’s growth and development.
Cross-Sector Intervention Strategies to Target Childhood Food Insecurity in North Carolina
July 7, 2023
Health care systems are increasingly prioritizing food insecurity interventions to improve health, but it is unclear how health systems collaborate with other sectors that are addressing food insecurity. This study evaluated existing collaborations and explore opportunities for further cross-sector engagement.
The Buffering Effect of State Eviction and Foreclosure Policies for Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States
June 19, 2023
The COVID-19 pandemic spurred an economic downturn that may have eroded population mental health, especially for renters and homeowners at risk of housing loss. Findings show that individuals who reported difficulty keeping up with rent or mortgage had increased anxiety and depression risks but that state eviction/foreclosure bans weakened these associations.
The Role of Public and Private Food Assistance in Supporting Families’ Food Security and Meal Routines
May 6, 2023
“Backpack” food programs administered through public schools send non-perishable foods home with children to supplement school meals. Power Packs Project (PPP) is a unique backpack program, in that it provides fresh food. This study is the first to examine the effect of picking up a Power Pack in a given week on parent and child food insecurity and meal routines.
Day-to-day Variation in Adolescent Food Insecurity
April 1, 2023
Food insecurity among adolescents is not static but varies from day to day. This daily variation is greater for economically disadvantaged youth.
Unconditional Cash Transfers for Families with Children in the U.S.: A Scoping Review
February 23, 2023
This paper reviews the economic research on U.S. safety net programs and cash aid to families with children and what existing studies reveal about its impacts on family investment mechanisms and children’s outcomes.
“It’s Like Night and Day”: How Bureaucratic Encounters Vary Across WIC, SNAP, and Medicaid
February 16, 2023
Research characterizes public assistance programs as stigmatizing and stressful (e.g., psychological costs) but obscures differences across programs or the features of policy design that contribute to varied bureaucratic encounters.
Net Worth Poverty and Adult Health
February 1, 2023
This study broadens the traditional focus on income as the primary measure of economic deprivation by providing the first analysis of wealth deprivation, or net worth poverty (NWP), and adult health.
Practitioners in North Carolina’s TANF and Related Income Assistance Programs Offer Perspectives on Latino Families’ Experiences
December 20, 2022
This brief is part of a series to examine state-level policies that relate to social service and safety net programs and the ways in which state and federal policy implementation at the local level may affect the reach of program benefits among Latino families.
Earned Income Tax Credit Receipt By Hispanic Families With Children: State Outreach And Demographic Factors
December 6, 2022
In this study, researchers found that states’ granting of drivers’ licenses to undocumented people, availability of government information in Spanish, and employer mandates to inform employees were associated with higher EITC receipt among Hispanic families. These findings showcase ways in which information and outreach at the state level can support the equitable receipt of tax refunds and similar types of benefits distributed through the tax system.
Parents as Earners: What Parental Work Means for Parenting and the Role of Public Policy
December 1, 2022
Lisa Gennetian and Anna Gassman-Pines’ chapter in The Cambridge Handbook of Parenting focuses on families with young children age 0-5 and considers the context of work and employment for parents, the role of child care and early education as supports for working parents, and the theoretical and empirical linkages between parents’ work contexts and parenting.
How Charter Schools Undermine Good Education Policymaking
November 10, 2022
In this policy memo, Ladd argues that charter schools disrupt four core goals of education policy in the United States, namely: 1) establishing coherent systems of schools, 2) attending to child poverty and disadvantage, 3) limiting racial segregation and isolation, and 4) ensuring that public funds are spent wisely. Ladd offers policy recommendations to better meet these challenges.
Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Pandemic-Era Unemployment Insurance Access: Implications For Health And Well-Being
Journal Articles |
COVID-19
Families and Parenting
Poverty and Inequality
Social Emotional Health and Well-Being
November 7, 2022
During the COVID-19 pandemic, workers not identifying as White non-Hispanic in our sample were more likely to get laid off than White workers. However, these workers were less likely than White workers to receive unemployment insurance at all. Among those who were laid off, these workers and White workers experienced similar increases in material and mental health difficulties and similar gains when they received unemployment insurance.
‘I don’t know nothing about that’: How “Learning Costs” Undermine COVID-Related Efforts to Make SNAP and WIC More Accessible.
November 1, 2022
Scholars have focused on administrative burden or the costs of claiming public benefits. Learning, psychological, and compliance costs can discourage program participation and benefit redemption. Although policy changes during COVID-19 were poised to reduce compliance costs and ease conditions that create redemption costs in each program, the learning costs of policy changes prevented many program participants from experiencing the benefits of these policy transformations.
Comprehensive Support and Student Success: Can Out of School Time Make a Difference?
October 1, 2022
The author investigates the effects of a multiyear program, StudentU, on the early high school outcomes of participating students by exploiting data from oversubscribed admissions lotteries. Results suggest that comprehensive services delivered outside of the regular school day have the potential to improve the educational outcomes of disadvantaged students.
Net Worth Poverty and Child Development
September 7, 2022
These findings provide evidence that net worth poverty has negative associations with children’s development. Net worth poverty predicts lower reading and applied problem scores and increased behavioral problems.
Net Worth Poverty and Child Development
September 6, 2022
This study provides evidence that net worth poverty has negative associations with children’s development.
Impact of a Universal Perinatal Home-Visiting Program on Reduction in Race Disparities in Maternal and Child Health
Journal Articles |
Families and Parenting
Poverty and Inequality
Social Emotional Health and Well-Being
August 23, 2022
This study demonstrates that a universal approach to early family intervention can have positive population impact while also reducing disparities in outcomes.
Measuring Educational Opportunity in North Carolina Public School Districts
August 19, 2022
This research brief examines two measures of educational opportunity in North Carolina public school districts, average achievement and achievement growth. The first measure— average achievement—indexes the average level of student achievement at a single point in time. The second measure—achievement growth—indexes the rate of growth in student achievement over time.
Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Case Positivity and Social Context: The Role of Housing, Neighborhood, and Health Insurance
August 18, 2022
This paper analyzed how housing, neighborhood, and health insurance explain disparities in case positivity between and within racial-ethnic groups in Durham County, North Carolina, finding that housing, neighborhood, and health insurance had a significant role in producing racial-ethnic disparities in COVID-19 case positivity.
Unconditional Cash and Family Investments in Infants: Evidence from a Large-Scale Cash Transfer Experiment in the U.S.
August 1, 2022
A key policy question in evaluating social programs to address childhood poverty is how families receiving unconditional financial support would spend those funds. Economists have limited empirical evidence on this topic in the U.S. We find that the cash transfers increased spending on child-specific goods and mothers’ early-learning activities with their infants.
The Effects of the Emeryville Fair Workweek Ordinance on the Daily Lives of Low-Wage Workers and Their Families
August 1, 2022
Emeryville, California’s Fair Workweek Ordinance (FWO) aimed to reduce service workers’ schedule unpredictability by requiring large retail and food service employers to provide advanced notice of schedules and to compensate workers for last-minute schedule changes. The FWO decreased working parents’ schedule unpredictability and improved their well-being, decreased parents’ days worked while increasing hours per work day, and parent well-being improved.
Three Reasons Why Providing Cash to Families With Children Is a Sound Policy Investment
May 13, 2022
This paper, co-authored by Lisa Gennetian, provides three reasons why giving cash to families with low incomes is a sound policy investment for families and children. (It focuses on why cash is important, not which policy option is the optimal mechanism for distributing cash to families.)
Marriage, Kids, and the Picket Fence? Household Type and Wealth among U.S. Households, 1989 to 2019
April 25, 2022
Researchers examine net worth by the intersection of gender, parental, and relationship status during a period of increasing wealth inequality and family diversification using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances from 1989 through 2019. Despite changing social selection into marriage and parenthood, married parents consistently held a wealth advantage over demographically similar adults in other household types.
The impact of a poverty reduction intervention on infant brain activity
January 24, 2022
Data from the Baby’s First Years study, a randomized control trial, show that a predictable, monthly unconditional cash transfer given to low-income families may have a causal impact on infant brain activity.
Evaluation of a Family Connects Dissemination to Four High-Poverty Rural Counties
January 12, 2022
Home visiting is a popular approach to improving the health and well-being of families with infants and young children in the United States; but, to date, no home visiting program has achieved population impact for families in rural communities. The current report includes evaluation results from the dissemination of a brief, universal postpartum home visiting program to four high-poverty rural counties.
Understanding Patterns of Food Insecurity and Family Well-Being Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic Using Daily Surveys
September 1, 2021
This paper investigates economic and psychological hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic among a diverse sample of socioeconomically disadvantaged parents and their elementary school-aged children. Longitudinal models revealed that food insecurity, negative parent and child mood, and child misbehavior significantly increased when schools closed; only food insecurity and parent depression later decreased.
Increasing Instability and Uncertainty among American Workers Implications for Inequality and Potential Policy Solutions
August 20, 2021
Anna Gassman Pines, Elizabeth Ananat, and Yulya Trushinovsky wrote a chapter in the book Who Gets What? The New Politics of Insecurity. In the chapter, they identify how recent trends combine to increase instability and uncertainty among low-wage workers, discuss the effects of instability and uncertainty on workers and families, and consider potential policy solutions.
“It Was Actually Pretty Easy”: COVID-19 Compliance Cost Reductions in the WIC Program
August 13, 2021
Studies identify one element of compliance costs—quarterly appointments—as a barrier to continued WIC participation. This article draws on 44 in-depth qualitative interviews with participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to examine how WIC participants perceived the reduction of compliance costs following the implementation of remote appointments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. WIC participants reported satisfaction with remote appointments and a reduction in the compliance costs of accessing and maintaining benefits.
Childhood Wealth Inequality in the United States: Implications for Social Stratification and Well-Being
August 1, 2021
Wealth inequality—the unequal distribution of assets and debts across a population—has reached historic levels in the United States, particularly for households with children.
Behind the Findings: Policies that Contribute to Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Net Worth Poverty
July 1, 2021
This brief summarizes the findings from Net Worth Poverty in Child Households by Race and Ethnicity, 1989–2019 in the Journal of Marriage and the Family and offers historical context for U.S. policies that have contributed to racial and ethnic differences in net worth poverty in child households.
Maternal Imprisonment and the Timing of Children’s Foster Care Involvement
Book Chapter |
Child Welfare
Families and Parenting
Poverty and Inequality
Social Emotional Health and Well-Being
May 25, 2021
Beth Gifford, Megan Golonka and Kelly Evans wrote a chapter of the book, Children with Incarceratead Mothers Separation, Loss, and Reunification. The chapter summarized findings of their study that examined the timing of mother’s incarceration in relation to her children’s involvement with social services, contributory factors leading to foster care placement, and foster care discharge outcomes.
Improving Access to Critical Nutrition Assistance Programs
May 1, 2021
Participants of the study pointed to a number of actionable recommendations to increase program participation and enhance the participant experience in the nutrition assistance programs SNAP and WIC: Federal and state WIC programs should strengthen vendor management to improve the shopping experience. State and local agencies should develop peer programs to educate WIC participants on…
Insurance Barriers, Gendering, and Access: Interviews with Central North Carolinian Women About Their Health Care Experiences
May 1, 2021
Women face unique logistical and financial barriers to health care access.
“It Takes a While to Get Used to”: The Costs of Redeeming Public Benefits
April 1, 2021
Scholars have examined how administrative burden creates barriers to accessing public benefits but have primarily focused on the challenges of claiming benefits. Less is known about the difficulties beneficiaries face when using public benefits, especially voucher-based public assistance programs. Examining redemption costs can help clarify when and where beneficiaries experience burdens, reasons behind discontinuity in program participation, and why public programs fail to meet objectives.
Lower neural value signaling in the prefrontal cortex is related to childhood family income and depressive symptomatology during adolescence
Journal Articles |
Adolescence to Adulthood
Families and Parenting
Poverty and Inequality
Social Emotional Health and Well-Being
April 1, 2021
Lower family income during childhood is related to increased rates of adolescent depression, though the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood.
Experiences of Hispanic Families with Social Services in the Racially Segregated Southeast: Views from Administrators and Workers in North Carolina
February 19, 2021
While we expected to find that Hispanic families may be disadvantaged by decentralized service delivery in a manner that is similar to the experiences of African American families, workers instead note significant resources that help facilitate Hispanic families’ access to programs.
Work Schedule Unpredictability: Daily Occurrence and Effects on Working Parents’ Well-Being
Journal Articles |
Families and Parenting
Poverty and Inequality
Social Emotional Health and Well-Being
February 1, 2021
Family science has long considered the ways in which parents’ experiences in the workplace can affect families.
Reimagining Policing: How Community-Led Interventions Can Improve Outcomes for Domestic Violence and Mental Health Calls
January 1, 2021
In response to police killings of Black people and the ensuing protests that took place in communities across the country in 2020, media coverage in North Carolina and in much of the nation this past year has focused heavily on instances of police violence and the protests and counterprotests that have since occurred throughout the…
Net Worth Poverty in Child Households by Race and Ethnicity, 1989–2019
November 26, 2020
This study is the first to examine net worth poverty, and its intersection with income poverty, by race and ethnicity among child households in the United States.
Working Families’ Experiences of the Enduring COVID Crisis: Snapshot from Midsummer
November 1, 2020
Key Takeaways: Economic instability remains high among hourly service workers — from both job and household income loss. Food insecurity has increased significantly among working families. Safety net programs can help families maintain their incomes and reduce food insecurity, however benefits are not reaching everyone. Keeping vulnerable families afloat during the pandemic will require policymakers…
“New Normal” for Children and Families: Developing a Universal Approach with a Focus on Equity
Policy Briefs |
COVID-19
Early Care and Education
Families and Parenting
Poverty and Inequality
Race Equity
Social Emotional Health and Well-Being
August 1, 2020
This brief provides an overview of the various channels through which COVID-19 has affected the lives of children and families, and proposes 4 key actions to help communities heal and build stronger, equitable systems: Create a “new” public health system centered upon a universal approach to care with a focus on equity. Invest in early…
The Added Benefit of North Carolina’s Evictions Moratorium: Protecting Vulnerable Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic
June 1, 2020
Key Takeaways: Government officials halted housing evictions in North Carolina as a response to the COVID-19 crisis. We analyze administrative data on evictions from the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts and on public school children in Durham to identify characteristics of children who experience eviction. Our analysis shows that an additional benefit of the…
State of Empowerment: Low-Income Families and the New Welfare State
February 21, 2020
Carolyn Barnes uses ethnographic accounts of three organizations to reveal how interacting with government-funded after-school programs can enhance the civic and political lives of low-income citizens.
Mothers’ and Fathers’ Time Spent with Children in the U.S.: Variations by Race/Ethnicity Within Income from 2003 to 2013
February 10, 2020
Using data from the American Time Use Survey, we examine the empirically underexplored ways in which racial and ethnic identity shapes parental time use.
Professionals, friends, and confidants: After-school staff as social support to low-income parents
March 1, 2019
Policy makers, practitioners, and researchers have emphasized the importance of supportive relationships between staff and parents in early childhood education settings and schools.
WIC Recipients in the Retail Environment: A Qualitative Study Assessing Customer Experience and Satisfaction
November 27, 2018
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program is an important intervention for prevention and treatment of obesity and food insecurity, but participation has dropped among eligible populations from 2009 to 2015.
Multifaceted Aid for Low-Income Students and College Outcomes: Evidence From North Carolina
August 10, 2017
We study the evolution of a campus-based aid program for low-income students that began with grant-heavy financial aid and later added a suite of nonfinancial supports.