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Published on: January 12, 2018
Welfare reform and female headship
John M Fitzgerald1, David C Ribar
1Department of Economics, Bowdoin College, 9700 College Station, Brunswick, ME 04011-8497, USA. jfitzger@bowdoin.edu
Welfare reforms, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) waivers, did not significantly impact women's decisions to become single mothers. The study found little evidence linking these policies to changes in female headship rates.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Economics
- Sociology
Background:
- Recent welfare reforms focused on employment, but also influenced family structure decisions.
- Policies like welfare waivers and TANF aimed to alter recipients' life choices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the impact of welfare reform waivers and TANF on women's decisions to become unmarried heads of families.
- To control for local economic and social factors influencing these decisions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized pooled data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (1990, 1992, 1993, 1996).
- Employed logit models for female headship incidence and Cox proportional hazard models for entry/exit rates.
- Controlled for state-specific economic and social conditions.
Main Results:
- Found minimal consistent evidence that welfare waivers influenced female headship.
- No significant correlation observed between policy changes and decisions on family structure.
Conclusions:
- Welfare reforms and TANF programs showed little effect on women's transitions to unmarried family headship.
- Policy impacts on family structure decisions require further investigation, considering other societal factors.
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