Means-Tested Safety Net Programs and Hispanic Families: Evidence from Medicaid, SNAP, and WIC.

Hispanic families have historically used means-tested assistance less than high-poverty peers, and one explanation for this may be that anti-immigrant politics and policies are a barrier to program participation. We document the participation of Hispanic children in three antipoverty programs by age and parental citizenship and the correlation of participation with state immigrant-based restrictions. Hispanic citizen children with citizen parents participate in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid more than Hispanic citizen children with noncitizen parents. Foreign-born Hispanic mothers use Medicaid less than their socioeconomic status would suggest. However, little evidence exists that child participation in Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) varies by mother's nativity: foreign-born mothers of Hispanic infants participate in WIC at higher rates than U.S.-born Hispanic mothers. State policies that restrict immigrant program use correlate to lower SNAP and Medicaid uptake among citizen children of foreign-born Hispanic mothers. WIC participation may be greater because it is delivered through nonprofit clinics, and WIC eligibility for immigrants is largely unrestricted.

Children and the Elderly: Wealth Inequality Among America's Dependents.

Life cycle theory predicts that elderly households have higher levels of wealth than households with children, but these wealth gaps are likely dynamic, responding to changes in labor market conditions, patterns of debt accumulation, and the overall economic context. Using Survey of Consumer Finances data from 1989 through 2013, we compare wealth levels between and within the two groups that make up America's dependents: the elderly and child households (households with a resident child aged 18 or younger). Over the observed period, the absolute wealth gap between elderly and child households in the United States increased substantially, and diverging trends in wealth accumulation exacerbated preexisting between-group disparities. Widening gaps were particularly pronounced among the least-wealthy elderly and child households. Differential demographic change in marital status and racial composition by subgroup do not explain the widening gap. We also find increasing wealth inequality within child households and the rise of a "parental 1 %." During a time of overall economic growth, the elderly have been able to maintain or increase their wealth, whereas many of the least-wealthy child households saw precipitous declines. Our findings suggest that many child households may lack sufficient assets to promote the successful flourishing of the next generation.

"His" and "Hers": Meeting the Economic Bar to Marriage.

Scholars have suggested that low-income parents avoid marriage because they have not met the so-called economic bar to marriage. The economic bar is multidimensional, referring to a bundle of financial achievements that determine whether couples feel ready to wed. Using the Building Strong Families data set of low-income parents (n = 4,444), we operationalized this qualitative concept into a seven-item index and examined whether couples who met the economic bar by achieving the majority of the items were more likely to marry than couples who did not. Meeting the bar was associated with a two-thirds increase in marriage likelihood. The bar was not positively associated with cohabitation, suggesting that it applies specifically to marriage. When we examined different definitions of the bar based on whether the mother, father, or both parents contributed items, all variants were associated with marriage, even if the bar was based on the mother's economic accomplishments alone. When mothers contributed to the economic bar, they reported significantly higher relationship quality. Our results reinforce the importance of the multidimensional economic bar for marriage entry, highlighting the role of maternal economic contributions in low-income relationships.

Midpregnancy Marriage and Divorce: Why the Death of Shotgun Marriage Has Been Greatly Exaggerated.

Conventional wisdom holds that births following the colloquially termed "shotgun marriage"-that is, births to parents who married between conception and the birth-are nearing obsolescence. To investigate trends in shotgun marriage, we matched North Carolina administrative data on nearly 800,000 first births among white and black mothers to marriage and divorce records. We found that among married births, midpregnancy-married births (our preferred term for shotgun-married births) have been relatively stable at about 10 % over the past quarter-century while increasing substantially for vulnerable population subgroups. In 2012, among black and white less-educated and younger women, midpregnancy-married births accounted for approximately 20 % to 25 % of married first births. The increasing representation of midpregnancy-married births among married births raises concerns about well-being among at-risk families because midpregnancy marriages may be quite fragile. Our analysis revealed, however, that midpregnancy marriages were more likely to dissolve only among more advantaged groups. Of those groups considered to be most at risk of divorce-namely, black women with lower levels of education and who were younger-midpregnancy marriages had the same or lower likelihood of divorce as preconception marriages. Our results suggest an overlooked resiliency in a type of marriage that has only increased in salience.

Effects of statewide job losses on adolescent suicide-related behaviors.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the impact of statewide job loss on adolescent suicide-related behaviors. METHODS: We used 1997 to 2009 data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the Bureau of Labor Statistics to estimate the effects of statewide job loss on adolescents' suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and suicide plans. Probit regression models controlled for demographic characteristics, state of residence, and year; samples were divided according to gender and race/ethnicity. RESULTS: Statewide job losses during the year preceding the survey increased girls' probability of suicidal ideation and suicide plans and non-Hispanic Black adolescents' probability of suicidal ideation, suicide plans, and suicide attempts. Job losses among 1% of a state's working-age population increased the probability of girls and Blacks reporting suicide-related behaviors by 2 to 3 percentage points. Job losses did not affect the suicide-related behaviors of boys, non-Hispanic Whites, or Hispanics. The results were robust to the inclusion of other state economic characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: As are adults, adolescents are affected by economic downturns. Our findings show that statewide job loss increases adolescent girls' and non-Hispanic Blacks' suicide-related behaviors.

Beyond Parental Wealth: Grandparental Wealth and the Transition to Adulthood.

This study considers the multigenerational consequences of wealth transmission for the transition to young adulthood. Using a wider set of outcomes than has previously been considered, and by analyzing parental and grandparental wealth simultaneously, this work underscores the salience of multiple generations of wealth as a predictor for young adult well-being. Data comes from the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics on a sample of youth followed from mid-adolescence until the age of 20. Results from linear regression models indicate that parental wealth was associated with increases in the probability of college attendance and steady employment and inversely associated with the likelihood of nonmarital birth and idleness. Grandparental wealth predicted non-educational outcomes at least as well as parental wealth did and explained more variance in young adults' outcomes when parental wealth was lower. The association between parental wealth and non-educational outcomes suggest that wealth may inform young adults' broader life course by predicting outcomes other than college attendance. Grandparental wealth may serve a compensatory function for children with low parental wealth. Results suggest that persistently low wealth across multiple generations may impede the successful transition to young adulthood.

Net worth poverty and adult health.

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. Net worth poverty-having wealth (assets minus debts) less than one-fourth of the federal poverty line-likely exacerbates the negative effects of income poverty (IP). In 2019, one-third of US households were net worth poor, with substantially higher rates among Black (60%) relative to White (25%) households. We estimate longitudinal growth curve (i.e., linear mixed effects) models to test how NWP, IP, and the interaction of the two predict a diverse set of health measures. We also consider whether NWP resulting from either low assets or high debts is more predictive of health outcomes and test for heterogeneous associations by race. Data come from Panel Study of Income Dynamics on 8,962 individuals ages 25 to 64, observed between 2011 and 2019 (n = 26,776). Adjusting for income poverty, net worth poverty, relative to no poverty, was associated with a one-quarter to one-third increase in the likelihood of reporting poor self-rated health, psychological distress, and work limitations. Simultaneously experiencing both NWP and IP was associated with the largest deficits. Both asset-driven (low asset) and debt-driven (high debt) NWP reduced health, but asset-driven NWP had stronger associations (e.g., a 5-percentage point increase of being in poor health, twice that of debt-driven). White, relative to Black, adults exhibited statistically larger associations for psychological distress (4.3 vs 1.1 percentage points) and work limitations (3.7 vs. 1.5 percentage points). White and Black adults who were jointly net worth and income poor exhibited the most disadvantage. Findings underscore how wealth is a critical component of financial deprivation and that wealth deprivation, particularly the lack of assets, merits attention in socioeconomic studies of health inequalities.

The Buffering Effect of State Eviction and Foreclosure Policies for Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States.

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred an economic downturn that may have eroded population mental health, especially for renters and homeowners who experienced financial hardship and were at risk of housing loss. Using household-level data from the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey (n = 805,223; August 2020-August 2021) and state-level data on eviction/foreclosure bans, we estimated linear probability models with two-way fixed effects to (1) examine links between COVID-related financial hardship and anxiety/depression and (2) assess whether state eviction/foreclosure bans buffered the detrimental mental health impacts of financial hardship. Findings show that individuals who reported difficulty paying for household expenses and keeping up with rent or mortgage had increased anxiety and depression risks but that state eviction/foreclosure bans weakened these associations. Our findings underscore the importance of state policies in protecting mental health and suggest that heterogeneity in state responses may have contributed to mental health inequities during the pandemic.

Marriage, Kids, and the Picket Fence? Household Type and Wealth among U.S. Households, 1989 to 2019.

Evidence on how parenthood impacts household wealth in the United States has been inconclusive, partially because previous studies have decontextualized parenthood from gender, marital, and relationship status. Yet, insights from economic sociology suggest that wealth-related behaviors are shaped by the intersection of identities, not by a binary classification of parental status. We 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, we show that aggregate comparisons between parents and non-parents mask substantial wealth variation across nine household types. Despite changing social selection into marriage and parenthood, married parents consistently held a wealth advantage over demographically similar adults in other household types. Married parents' wealth advantage descriptively arises from homeownership, perhaps because the combined spousal and parental identities are normatively and culturally associated with homeownership.

Net Worth Poverty and Child Development.

The authors investigate whether net worth poverty (NWP) reduces children's well-being. NWP-having wealth (assets minus debts) less than one fourth of the federal poverty line-is both theoretically and empirically distinct from income poverty (IP) and is the modal form of poverty among children. Data come from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its Child Development Supplement on children ages 3 to 17 years observed between 2002 and 2019. The authors use linear mixed-effects models to investigate the associations among NWP, IP, and four cognitive and behavioral outcomes. NWP reduces children's cognitive scores and was associated with increases in both problem behavior scores. Negative associations for NWP are similar in magnitude to those found for IP. Much of the NWP effect operates through asset deprivation rather than high debt. The results illustrate the potential risks many children, previously overlooked in studies of IP, face because of wealth deprivation.

Breastfeeding and the child cognitive outcomes: a propensity score matching approach.

To estimate the effect of breastfeeding initiation and duration on child development outcomes. 3,271 children and their mothers participating in the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics provide data for these analyses. Main outcomes include Woodcock Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised (WJ-R) test score (letter word, passage comprehension, applied problem, and broad reading), and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) test score at the 2002 survey. Controlled variables include family, maternal, and child characteristics, many of which can be traced back to the year the child was born. The analytic technique is propensity score matching with multiple imputations. After using propensity scores to adjust for confounding factors, breastfeeding initiation showed statistically significant effects but the practical scale remains small. Breastfeeding duration showed a non-linear effect on those outcomes and most of the effects are not significant. The effects of breastfeeding on child's cognitive outcomes are modest in practical terms. The non-linear effects suggest that selection into breastfeeding may account for the increased score of children who are breastfed.

Heightened immigration enforcement impacts US citizens' birth outcomes: Evidence from early ICE interventions in North Carolina.

We examine how increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities impacted newborn health and prenatal care utilization in North Carolina around the time Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act was first being implemented within the state. Focusing on administrative data between 2004 and 2006, we conduct difference-in-differences and triple-difference case-control regression analysis. Pregnancies were classified by levels of potential exposure to immigration enforcement depending on parental nativity and educational attainment. Contrast groups were foreign-born parents residing in nonadopting counties and all US-born non-Hispanic parents. The introduction of the program was estimated to decrease birth weight by 58.54 grams (95% confidence interval [CI], -83.52 to -33.54) with effects likely following from reduced intrauterine growth. These results are shown to coexist with a worsening in the timing of initiation and frequency of prenatal care received. Since birth outcomes influence health, education, and earnings trajectories, our findings suggest that the uptick in ICE activities can have large socioeconomic costs over US-born citizens.

Net Worth Poverty in Child Households by Race and Ethnicity, 1989-2019.

OBJECTIVE: 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. BACKGROUND: Scholarship on economic scarcity for children has largely concentrated on income deficits and thus leaves open important questions about wealth deficits. METHOD: Data come from the 1989-2019 waves of the Survey of Consumer Finances, on households with at least one resident child under the age of 18. Net worth poverty is measured as household net worth, defined as total assets minus total debts, that is less than one-fourth of the federal poverty line. RESULTS: In 2019, 57% of Black and 50% of Latino child households were net worth poor. The majority of these households were not income poor. Racial and ethnic differences in net worth poverty (unlike those for income poverty) persist even when sociodemographic variation predicting income poverty is controlled for. CONCLUSION: Net worth poverty is so prevalent in the lives of non-White children that, after sociodemographic characteristics are controlled for, Black and Latino child households have about the same probability of not being poor as they do of being net worth poor. IMPLICATIONS: A focus on income deprivation alone will overlook the precarious economic conditions related to family net worth and ignore growing disparities by race and ethnicity.

A Penny on the Dollar: Racial Inequalities in Wealth among Households with Children.

The dynamics of racial/ethnic wealth inequality among U.S. families with resident children (child households) have been understudied, a major oversight because of wealth's impact on child development and intergenerational mobility. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (2004-2016), the authors find that wealth gaps between black and white households are larger in, and have grown faster for, child households relative to the general population. In contrast, black-white income gaps for child households have remained largely unchanged. Wealth trends for black and Hispanic child households have diverged, and by 2016, Hispanic child households had more net worth than black child households. Between 2004 and 2016, home ownership rates and home equity levels for black child households decreased, while educational debt increased. In 2016, black child households had just one cent for every dollar held by non-Hispanic white child households. These findings depict the extreme wealth fragility of black child households.

Social Class Divergence in Family Transitions: The Importance of Cohabitation.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined trends in familial transitions by maternal education and whether transitions rose because of changes in prevalence (the share of children exposed to a relationship state, either marriage or cohabitation) or churning (the number of entrances and exits conditional on being exposed to a relationship state). BACKGROUND: Children's experiences of transitions, an important predictor of well-being, have leveled off in recent decades. Plateauing in transitions may reflect heterogeneity by socioeconomic status. METHOD: Data came from the National Survey of Family Growth on firstborn children observed from ages 0 to 5 among mothers aged 15 to 34 at the time of the child's birth (N = 7,265). Kitagawa methods decomposed changes in transitions into those attributable to changes in prevalence and churning. Analyses were conducted separately by maternal education. RESULTS: Children born to lower and moderately educated women experienced an increase in transitions because cohabitation increased in prevalence rather than a change in the number of exits and entrances from cohabiting unions. Among this disadvantaged group, children exposed to cohabitation experienced much more churning than children exposed to marriage. Children born to mothers with a 4-year degree did not experience an increase in transitions and predominantly experienced stable parental marriages. CONCLUSION: Transitions only plateaued for children born to highly educated mothers, whereas transitions rose for less-advantaged children. Transitions appear to be another aspect of early family life experiences that contributes to diverging destinies.

Low-income Childless Young Adults' Marriage and Fertility Frameworks.

We investigate how low-income young adults without children understand marriage and fertility. Data come from the Becoming Partners and Parents Study (N=69) a qualitative study of African-American adults ages 18-22 in a midsize southern city. This is the first study to analyze young, low-income, childless and unmarried Black respondents' frameworks (i.e., internal understandings of the world) of marriage and fertility. In contrast to research conducted on parents, our research on childless adults indicated a narrative in which there were close connections between marriage and fertility and an economic-bar adhered to both marriage and childbearing. Respondents also believed that childbearing was meaningful and provided purpose, but that it was morally questionable if the parent was not financially stable. Our results suggest that prior findings related to meanings of family formation and childbearing for low-income parents may not extend to those without children.

Local Job Losses and Child Maltreatment: The Importance of Community Context.

A growing body of literature suggests that economic downturns predict an increase in child maltreatment. However, to inform policies and practices to prevent and intervene in child maltreatment, it is necessary to identify how, when, and under what conditions community-level economic conditions affect child maltreatment. In this study, we use North Carolina administrative data from 2006 to 2011 on child maltreatment reports and job losses to distinguish effects on maltreatment frequency from effects on severity, identify the timing of these effects, and test whether community characteristics moderate these effects. To isolate effects of unanticipated job losses and to control for potential confounding factors, we use a fixed effects regression approach. We find that, though job losses did not affect the frequency of reports, job losses increased the share of reports that were relatively severe. This effect endured for 9 months following job losses and was only evident in economically disadvantaged communities.

They Should Say "I Don't": Norms About Midpregnancy Marriage and Job Loss.

This study examined effects of local economic conditions on individuals' attitudes toward midpregnancy marriages using an experimental vignette method. Adults (N = 460) were each shown two vignettes about a hypothetical couple expecting a baby; within each vignette pair, vignettes randomly varied as to whether the couple lived in a community that had recently experienced job losses or had stable employment. Respondents indicated if the couple should and will get married before the baby's birth. Results showed that worse local economic conditions led people to believe that marriage would be less common. Among more socio-economically disadvantaged respondents, if the hypothetical couple lived in a community with job loss, fewer respondents also thought that the couple should marry. In contrast, among more socioeconomically advantaged respondents, slightly more respondents thought that the couple should marry. When economic conditions worsen, low-socioeconomic-status individuals may believe that financial prerequisites for marriage become harder to meet.

Connecting child care quality to child outcomes: drawing policy lessons from nonexperimental data.

Effective early childhood intervention and child care policies should be based on an understanding of the effects of child care quality and type on child well-being. This article describes methods for securing unbiased estimates of these effects from nonexperimental data. It focuses on longitudinal studies like the one developed by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Early Child Care Research Network. This article first describes bias problems that arise in analyses of nonexperimental data and then explains strategies for controlling for biases arising from parental selection of child care. Next, it comments on attrition in longitudinal studies and outlines some strategies for addressing possible attrition bias. Finally, it discusses the need to translate "effect sizes" derived from these studies into the kinds of cost and benefit information needed by policy makers.