Impact of Mothers' Welfare Program on Childrens' Outcomes

Exploring the relationship between welfare participation in childhood and depression in adulthood in the United States

“…In addition, when using propensity score radius matching, a significant gender difference was observed (See Table 5, column C), indicating that females who came from welfare-recipient families had both significant higher depression scores and a higher probability of being diagnosed with depression. Consistent with previous studies on the subject (e.g., Dooley and Prause, 2002; Kalil et al, 2001; Knab et al, 2006; Pande, 2014), this study found that females from welfare families reported higher incidences of depression compared to non-recipient females. Although low income young women appear to be receiving diagnoses of depression, the current analysis does not describe whether or not they are receiving adequate treatment.…”

Welfare participation and depression among youth in the United States: A systematic review

“…A majority of the 15 studies (n = 8) used a cross-sectional research design, and collected or analyzed one wave of data (e.g., Bachman et al, 2015;Cook et al, 2004;Nebbitt et al, 2014). One study used a longitudinal design to collect 17 waves of annual data over a 17-year study period (Gavin et al, 2011), and six studies used two waves of data (e.g., pre-and post-test design) to examine the relationship between welfare participation and depression over time (e.g., Knab et al, 2006;Pande, 2014;Sullivan & Decoster, 2001).…”

“…Five studies documented a relationship between the either the AFDC or TANF income assistance welfare programs and youth depression. Of these five studies, three studies focused on the AFDC program, which was in operation from 1935 to 1996 when superseded by TANF (Dooley & Prause, 2002;Kalil et al, 2001;Pande, 2014). One study focused on the relationship between TANF and youth depression (Sullivan & Decoster, 2001), and one study was conducted during the period of welfare reform, and thus, documented the relationship of both the AFDC and TANF programs to youth mental health (Gavin et al, 2011).…”

“…Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977) was the most frequently used measure, appearing in six studies. The original CES-D has 20 items, and the full scale was used in four studies (Dooley & Prause, 2002;Kalil et al, 2001;Nebbitt et al, 2014;Pande, 2014). Other studies used one of the several revised shorter versions, and this review yielded three: the CES-D 19-item scale (Rhee et al, 2005), the CES-D 11-item scale (Go, 1999), and the CES-D 7-item scale (Dooley & Prause, 2002).…”

“…Most samples examined in the reviewed studies were composed primarily of female participants. Seven of the 15 studies were gender specific and used female-only samples (e.g., Cook et al, 2004;Dooley & Prause, 2002;Gavin et al, 2011;Kalil et al, 2001;Knab et al, 2006;Pande, 2014;Sullivan & Decoster, 2001). In the remaining 8 studies, females composed at least half of the study sample.…”