Public Assistance Recipients Research Articles

Childhood household dysfunction, school performance and psychiatric care utilisation in young adults: a register study of 96 399 individuals in Stockholm County

BackgroundExposure to childhood household dysfunction increases the risk of psychiatric morbidity. Although school performance also has been linked with psychiatric morbidity, limited research has considered school performance as a mediating...

Economic and Psychological Characteristics of Debt Delinquentsamong Community Center Users

This study explored the economic and psychological characteristics of debt delinquents among community center userss. For empirical research, the study conducted a survey of 429 users from 6 community service center users in Seoul, Gyunggi and Chungnam areas in South Korea, and frequency analyses and Two-way ANOVA were carried out. The major findings are as follows: Firstly, compared with the non-debt delinquent group, the debt delinquent groups' household income, financial capability and self-esteem were significantly lower while financial stress was much higher. Second, such differences between both groups appear among public assistance recipients. Third, the level of financial stress with debt delinquents was higher than those with public benefits, while the level of self-esteem appears exactly the opposite.

Street‐level Bureaucrats' and the General Public's Deservingness Perceptions of Social Assistance Recipients in Finland

AbstractPerceptions of deservingness are crucial when we attempt to explain public support for welfare policies or try to understand the development of modern welfare states. These perceptions also reveal the status of a particular population group in society and the social cohesion between marginalized groups and the general public. In this article, we are concerned about whether perceptions of the deservingness of social assistance recipients vary between different street‐level bureaucrat groups, citizens and those individuals who have received social assistance or whose family members have been recipients of social assistance at some stage of their life. We focus on the nature of the impact of various individual level factors in these perceptions. The studied street‐level bureaucrats are social workers in municipalities, deacons of the Church of Finland and benefit officials of the Social Security Institution of Finland. Two nationwide surveys among street‐level bureaucrats (N = 2,124) and citizens (N = 1,883) are used. Descriptive statistics and rank ordered logistic regression are utilized. According to the results, street‐level bureaucrats and the general public perceive social assistance recipients in quite a positive way. However, there are clear differences between and within these groups. Street‐level bureaucrats' attitudes towards social assistance recipients are more positive than those among the public. However, benefit officials have a more critical stance on the deservingness of social assistance recipients than social workers and deacons. Those who have received social assistance are more positive than those who have not had these experiences. Age, education and political identification further explain the attitudes of bureaucrats and citizens.

A comparison of maternal and neonatal outcomes of pregnancy with mental disorders: results of an analysis using propensity score-based weighting

To assess and compare maternal and neonatal outcomes of pregnancy with or without mental disorders. We performed a retrospective cohort study of births at our institution from January 2009 to December 2011, which included all live singleton births during these 3 years. Women emergently transferred to our institution in the middle of their pregnancies were excluded. Associations between mental disorders and perinatal outcomes were estimated using statistical analysis, and multivariable analysis was performed using propensity score-based weighting. A total of 1,166 women were included, 152 (13.0 %) of whom had mental disorders. Comparison of maternal characteristics showed that women with mental disorders were significantly more likely to be multiparous, smokers, recipients of public assistance, unmarried, and to have inadequate perinatal care. Comparison of perinatal outcomes showed that preterm births (PTB) before 37 weeks were significantly increased in women with mental disorders (10.5 vs. 6.0 %, P = 0.037). There were no significant differences in low birth weight (LBW), pregnancy-induced hypertension, and gestational diabetes mellitus. Multivariable analysis using propensity score weighting showed that after adjusting for other factors, women with mental disorders were more likely than women without mental disorders to have PTB before 34 weeks [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 4.79, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.49-15.4; P = 0.009], PTB before 37 weeks (adjusted OR 2.46, 95 % CI 1.62-3.69; P < 0.001), or LBW (adjusted OR 1.83; 95 % CI 1.32-2.55; P < 0.001). Maternal mental disorders were associated with adverse birth outcomes and socioeconomic disadvantage.

Financial Literacy and Economic Empowerment of Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence: Examining the Differences Between Public Assistance Recipients and Nonrecipients

Financial literacy helps build economic empowerment and self-sufficiency among economically vulnerable groups. This article explores the effect of financial literacy on the economic empowerment of survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) and investigates whether the relationship might differ for women receiving public assistance. Using survey data from 120 survivors of IPV, regression models examine the direct and interactive effects of financial literacy and public assistance receipt. Findings indicate that though being a public assistance recipient seems to be related to higher levels of economic empowerment, this effect disappears when controlling for financial literacy levels and their interaction with benefit status.

Malnutrition in older adults on financial assistance in an urban Asian country: a mixed methods study.

The objectives of the present study were to assess the nutritional status, identify factors for malnutrition risk and evaluate barriers to adequate nutrition among recipients of the Public Assistance (PA) scheme for socio-economically disadvantaged Singaporeans. Using a cross-sectional study design, we assessed PA recipients' malnutrition risk using the DETERMINE Nutritional Health checklist and the full Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA), as well as their nutritional knowledge, co-morbidity burden, depression risk, instrumental and basic activities of daily living (IADL and BADL), and awareness and utilization of available food services. In-depth interviews were also conducted on malnourished individuals (MNA score < 17) to understand barriers to adequate nutrition. Homes of community-living older adults and nursing homes of institutionalized older adults. All PA recipients aged ≥55 years in Central Singapore District. Four hundred and sixty-five of 511 (91·0 %) eligible PA recipients participated in the study. The prevalence of malnutrition in the study population was 2·8 %. However, 50·3 % were at risk of malnutrition. Among community-dwelling respondents, the risk of malnutrition was independently associated with age >75 years, currently unmarried, BADL impairment, depression risk and BMI < 19·0 kg/m2. Qualitative analysis revealed that financial, social and physical barriers and lack of knowledge were the main contributors to poor nutritional status. Only half were aware of subsidized food services and education increased interest in utilizing food services. Among nursing home respondents, those who were BADL impaired were more likely to be at risk of malnutrition. Among PA recipients, the prevalence of malnutrition is low but the risk of malnutrition is high. Education on adequate nutrition and food services are recommended.

They Say Cut Back, We Say Fight Back! Welfare Activism in an Era of Retrenchment By Ellen Reese Russell Sage Foundation. 2011. 288 pages. $42.50 cloth

Unsurprisingly, Ellen Reese's account of collective challenges to welfare reform in the 1990s and 2000s does not end in the triumph of welfare activists over the political actors who, with sometimes barely concealed disdain for the recipients of public assistance, sought to make welfare more restrictive by toughening eligibility criteria and imposing new work requirements on recipients. Reese does not claim that a clear-cut victory was within reach of welfare activists. Instead, she seeks to understand the conditions under which activists in Wisconsin and California—particularly in Milwaukee and Los Angeles, the two largest cities of those states—were able to gain some, mostly small-scale, benefit expansions, funding increases and exemptions for particular populations under welfare reform. These efforts were important not only because they made a difference in real people's lives, but also because they sowed the seeds for potentially powerful alliances between welfare activists and two other constituencies: labor and immigrants.

Seeking new strategies: Recent challenges for social work in public measures targeting poverty in Japan

In recent years, Japan has pursued two paths to deal with the growing number of welfare recipients: ‘second safety net programs’ that pre-empt reliance on the public assistance system and ‘self-reliance programs’ for current public assistance recipients. This paper examines the effectiveness of these programs. Its findings suggest that the relationship between social work practice and the success of poverty measures should be explored further. It is necessary to develop a methodology to evaluate the efficacy of social work practices in reducing poverty and social exclusion.

A New Strategy for Reducing Selection Bias in Nonexperimental Evaluations, and the Case of How Public Assistance Receipt Affects Charitable Giving

Prior research considers the extent to which public assistance recipients' charitable activity differs from the habits of the general population. Although receiving public assistance is negatively associated with donating money, the relationship to volunteering is unclear. In response to challenges overcoming selection bias, we conducted a multivariate cluster‐based subgroup analysis to reduce bias in our claims about the ways in which public assistance receipt affects charitable activity. This innovative approach to dealing with the problem of selection bias has implications and applications across the social sciences.

Material Assistance: Who Is Helped by Nonprofits?

Although a vast amount of literature on the characteristics of public assistance recipients exists, little is known about the characteristics of the clientele of nonprofits that provide material assistance. This study examines the question of who receives material assistance from nonprofits. Three panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (1996, 2001, and 2004) adult well-being module were used to see if the use of nonprofit assistance is associated with individual and household characteristics, type of material hardship, and the use of other sources of assistance. Results show that poverty status, education, area of residence, and public program participation have a significant association with nonprofit material assistance, regardless of the type of material hardship and the use of other sources of assistance. These associations stayed relatively stable during the years of observation. It is interesting that households headed by an individual with college education were more likely than those headed by an individual without a high school diploma to receive material assistance from nonprofits. These findings may help nonprofits develop appropriate assistance programs and reach target populations. KEY WORDS: low-income households; material assistance; material hardship; nonprofits; social service ********** Material hardship is a condition of failure to meet the minimum levels of very basic goods and services, such as food, housing, and medical needs (Beverly, 2001, p. 143). In the United States, one in every 10 people lives in material hardship (Beverly, 2001). To help those with material hardship, government at various levels and nonprofit groups provide a wide range of material assistance. During the recent economic downturn, the need for material assistance rose and an increasing number of people turned to nonprofits for assistance (Ducey, 2009). Despite the important role of nonprofits in social assistance historically and currently (for example, Allard, 2008; Lipsky & Smith, 1989; Young, 1999), little is known about the clientele of the nonprofit sector (Allard, 2008). Two reasons may account for this. First, nonprofit assistance is still small in size and scope relative to public assistance, although this is changing as the partnership between government and nonprofits grows (Salamon, 1995; Young, 1999). Second, as noted by Allard, the local nature of service providers poses a challenge to research on nonprofit groups, and this is partly reflected by the lack of nationally representative data on the use of nonprofit assistance by individuals. Despite how little we know about the clientele of the nonprofit sector, a huge gap can be seen in the extent of material hardship and the availability of material assistance to the needy. Because of this, nonprofits are expected to play a larger role in social assistance to the needy (Alexander, Nank, & Stivers, 1999; Salamon, 1995). For this to happen, we need to look closely at who receives material assistance from nonprofits and what factors are associated with the use of nonprofit assistance. An inquiry into these questions will not only benefit nonprofits as they try to develop appropriate assistance programs and reach target populations, but also inform policymakers of the similarities and differences between the clientele of the nonprofit sector and that of the public sector. The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), which incorporates questions regarding nonprofit assistance, makes it possible to closely study the clientele of nonprofit assistance. Three panels of the SIPP (1996, 2001, and 2004) were used by the current study to examine the characteristics of nonprofits' clients and the determinants of the use of nonprofit assistance by families with material hardship. BACKGROUND Theoretical Perspectives As is widely recognized, nonprofit assistance is distinct from other sources of assistance, such as government, family, and friends. …

Alternative Employment Strategies for Hard-to-Employ TANF Recipients: Final Results from a Test of Transitional Jobs and Preemployment Services in Philadelphia

This report presents final, four-year results from a rigorous evaluation of two different employment strategies for hard-to-employ public assistance recipients in Philadelphia. An earlier report discussed findings after one and a half years of follow-up. The study is part of the Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project, which is testing innovative employment strategies for various groups facing serious obstacles to steady work. The Hard-to-Employ project is sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with additional funding from the U.S. Department of Labor. It is being conducted under contract to HHS by MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, along with the Urban Institute and other partners.

An Exploratory Study on Changes in the Lives of Public Assistance Recipients after the Self-Sufficiency Program Participation

An Exploratory Study on Changes in the Lives of Public Assistance Recipients after the Self-Sufficiency Program Participation

The Health-related QOL of Late Middle-aged Public Assistance Recipients and Related Factors

The Health-related QOL of Late Middle-aged Public Assistance Recipients and Related Factors

The effects of medical factors on transfer deficits in Public Assistance in Japan: a quantile regression analysis

In countries where local governments are heavily involved in financing health care for the indigent, regional disparities in local revenues may adversely affect the access of the poor to medical care. It is thus important to examine how central governments provide funds for such local medical needs. In Japan, local governments finance all medical costs for the poor through their Public Assistance (PA) programs. Using the unique mechanism of the Japanese system of central grants, I construct a measure of "transfer deficit" which shows the portion of the PA expenditures that fails to be secured by the central grants. The distribution of such a measure provides important information to assess the regional equity in financing local programs. The results suggest a compromise on the regional equity in financing medical care for the indigent. Then, I explore the determinants of the deficit measure by performing a quantile regression analysis. Since no effects of potential determinants imply that the central grants well accommodate changes in local needs, finding such effects helps evaluate the performance of the transfer system. The results shows that, among others, the number of PA households and the factors related to mental illness of PA recipients have positive impacts that attenuate toward the top of the conditional quantile of the transfer deficit. I elaborate on plausible causes of such attenuating responses.

SP5-24 Family, school and social life of public assistance recipients with illness/disabilities in Kagoshima, Japan

BackgroundsAccording to the 2008 report by Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, the number of households receiving public assistance was nearly 1.2 million, and elderly households accounted for 46% of...

Gender-Specific Barriers to Self-Sufficiency Among Former Supplemental Security Income Drug Addiction and Alcoholism Beneficiaries: Implications for Welfare-To-Work Programs and Services

ABSTRACT This study examines barriers to economic self-sufficiency among a panel of 219 former Supplemental Security Income (SSI) drug addiction and alcoholism (DA&A) recipients following elimination of DA&A as an eligibility category for SSI disability benefits. Study participants were comprehensively surveyed at six measurement points following the policy change. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine full-sample and gender-specific barriers to economic self-sufficiency. Results indicate that access to transportation, age, and time are the strongest predictors of achieving self-sufficiency for both men and women leaving the welfare system. Gender-specific barriers are also identified. Future research needs to assess the generalizability of these results to other public assistance recipients.

George Huntington Williams (1892–1992): Baltimore's Commissioner of Health

GEORGE HUNTINGTON WILLIAMS was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1892. He received his bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1915 and his MD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1919. William Henry Welch, who was one of the founding professors at the School of Medicine as well as a close friend of the Williams family, personally persuaded the young man to make a career in public health.1 Williams entered the first class of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1918, and in 1921 graduated with a doctorate in public health. After graduation, and again with the advantage of Welch's guidance and influence, he worked under Hermann Biggs (a former student of Welch and a friend who was perhaps the most powerful and progressive health reformer of the period) for 10 years as a district state health officer for the New York State Health Department. In 1930, the newly elected mayor of Baltimore, Howard Jackson, decided to begin the search for a new commissioner of health. The city's then commissioner of health, C. Hamson Jones, was elderly and in poor health. Jackson turned to Welch (who had long been grooming Williams for the position) for advice, and their consultation resulted in Williams being given a temporary assignment in the city health department. When Hamson Jones died in 1932, Williams was duly appointed commissioner. In the article excerpted here, he speaks of the challenges he and other health officers faced during the Depression. Williams brought new energy to the job. Whereas some commissioners of health owed their loyalty to a political leader, a party machine, or the economically powerful, Williams owed his loyalty to Welch, who had groomed him; the Hopkins professors who had taught and inspired him; and the example of Biggs, who had shown him what an effective public health organization should be. Williams nurtured good relationships with successive mayors and used the media brilliantly to promote the public's health. He started a weekly health program on a local radio station and began a constant stream of health education messages through leaflets, newspapers, and a popular health department monthly magazine, the Baltimore Health News. By recommending Williams, Welch set the stage for future cooperation between the city Department of Health and the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. Williams and Welch selected an area around the school—to be called the Eastern Health District—as a training area for public health students and personnel, and a demonstration unit for developing and testing new public health procedures. The whole enterprise was generously funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.2 Williams used the Eastern Health District as a testing ground for public health initiatives in the city, such as the development of prenatal care and well-baby clinics, medical care for recipients of public assistance, lead paint abatement, rat control, and rehabilitation of old and dilapidated housing. In 1945, the Eastern Health District was used to help evaluate the new and successful treatment of syphilis by the “miracle drug” penicillin. Williams served as commissioner of health for 30 years and retired in 1962. In 1992, he died in Baltimore, the city he loved, at 99 years of age.

Attitudes toward Traditional Marriage: A Comparison of TANF Recipients and a General Population of Adults

Marriage enhancement programs enacted under the federal Healthy Marriage Initiative imply that marriage behaviors and attitudes of poor women are different from those of the middle class, and that the cash assistance program is an appropriate venue to change these attitudes. A population of long-term recipients of public cash assistance and a random sample of general population adults were compared regarding views toward traditional marriage. The general population was significantly more aligned with views of traditional marriage, but when factors that directly affect marriage attitudes and behaviors were controlled for, views on traditional marriage were similar for the two groups. Study findings suggest that attitudes toward marriage are not necessarily related to economic status.

Regulating the Reproduction and Mothering of Poor Women: The Controlling Image of the Welfare Mother in Television News Coverage of Welfare Reform

This analysis demonstrates that the controlling image of the welfare mother was ubiquitous in television news coverage of U.S. welfare reform from 1992–2007. This controlling image consists of racist stereotypes of women on public assistance as childlike, hyperfertile, lazy, and bad mothers. In the discourse on welfare reform, these stereotypes were deployed to support policies intended to control poor women's reproduction and mothering. The welfare mother image was central to framing the debate in terms of the responsibility of public assistance recipients rather than the structural constraints that lead to families to require public assistance.

Household Composition and Individual Characteristics among Recipients of Public Assistance

Household Composition and Individual Characteristics among Recipients of Public Assistance