Concurrent Participation in Federally-Funded Welfare Programs and Empowerment toward Economic Self-Sufficiency

Abstract

All rights reserved.iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I hereby thank the members of my committee for their support, patience, and guidance, all of which were essential to achieving this work. I have been appreciative of their gentle but firm direction throughout the realization of the comprehensive papers, the dissertation proposal, and the dissertation itself. Dr. Barbara Thomlison contributed significantly to the development of this dissertation, mainly in terms of the research rationale, selection of relevant theories and critical analysis of the literature. Dr. Paul H.Stuart was instrumental in identifying poverty as a social problem and tracing the historical development of relevant U.S. social welfare policies put forth to address the problem. Dr. Chris Girard brought a critical perspective in the refinement of the theoretical perspectives, the hypotheses, and the methodology used in this project. although eligible for these benefits-did not receive them. Based on the premises of the theory of policy design and social construction, the culture of poverty theory, the racial classification model, and the social control thesis, the following two hypotheses were formulated: (1) Low-income households who receive one or more lower-tier federal means-tested benefits will be less likely to attain and maintain economic self-sufficiency vii than their counterparts who do not participate in federal welfare programs and (2) Lowincome households that enroll in more welfare programs will have worse self-sufficiency outcomes than their counterparts that participate in fewer programs. The survey respondents were measured repeatedly over a 56-month period to assess whether welfare receipt impacts their household income steadily beyond 150 percent of the federal poverty level, after controlling for known predictors. Findings from binomial logistic regression displayed medium effect sizes indicating that participation in public assistance did decrease the likelihood of attainment and maintenance of economic self-sufficiency among low-income American households. These findings were interpreted within the context of pre-existing differences that may have existed between the intervention group and the comparison group which were not accounted for in the multivariate analysis.