Receipt Of Social Assistance Research Articles

A Welfare Trap? The Duration and Dynamics of Social Assistance Use among Lone Mothers in Canada

In the late 1990s, the Canadian social assistance policy changed to focus on reducing "dependency" or long-term receipt. Using data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (1996-2001) and event history models, we investigate the duration of social assistance receipt for lone mothers and other household heads. We find that lone mothers' education and labor force experience were less important predictors for their duration on social assistance than their previous marital history. Although receipt was generally short term, we find evidence of negative duration dependence, or a "welfare trap," after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. This indicates one way in which a welfare receipt is not only the result of particular life course trajectories but also shapes lives.

Adapting to Russia's New Labour Market: Gender and Employment Behaviour by Sarah Ashwin (review)

184 SEER, 87, I, JANUARY 2OO9 inter-penetrating, public/private spheres and spaces (her analysis similarly calls into question simple distinctions of conformity/dissidence), and conceive such complex, intriguing phenomena of Soviet social life in contemporary reflexive terms of a 'second world (vtoroi mir) overlapping with and existing alongside official life,which provided both inspiration and counterpoint' (p. 246). The final chapter, by Susan Costanzo, examines the role of the late 1950's popular press as interlocutor as well as intermediary in social debates on the value of art in personal development and collective progress, and reveals telling anxieties regarding the purpose, and danger, ofmaking private conduct an issue of public concern. The volume is a timelyand compelling critical examination of the range of strategies by which social actors ? both 'ordinary citizens' and state officials ? negotiated, manipulated, subverted and ingeniously accommodated formal structures in their pursuit of personal goals, in the process obscuring or rede fining the distinction between commodities, actions, interests and outcomes private and public. Itwill be required reading for scholars and students of Soviet cultural and social history. School of History Nick Baron Universityof Nottingham Ashwin, Sarah (ed.). Adapting toRussia's New LabourMarket: Gender andEmploy mentBehaviour.Roudedge Contemporary Russia and East Europe Series, 5. Roudedge, London and New York, 2006. xi + 228 pp. Tables. Notes. Bibliographies. Index. ?70.00. Following ten years of catastrophic decline, the Russian economy has enjoyed ten years of rapid growth. However, the benefits of growth, which has been driven by risingworld prices of energy and metals, have been very unevenly distributed. The erosion of pensions and welfare benefits means that the population is increasingly dependent on the ability of household members to earn wages, but formany this ability is severely restricted by the conditions of Russia's 'wild' labour market. Although average wages have almost doubled, they have still not reached the level achieved before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Wage inequality reached Latin American proportions in the 1990s and has continued to increase, so a substantial proportion of the population is stillnot able to earn a livingwage, let alone support any dependents. About one-sixth of the population stilldoes not have a money income sufficient tomeet their basic physiological survival needs. While the non-payment ofwages has declined from the epidemic proportions of the 1990s, at the end of 2006 workers in large and medium organizations were still reported to be owed $200 million in unpaid wages. The revised Labour Code inprinciple extends protection toworkers by regulating working conditions, limiting working hours, providing guaranteed overtime pay, holidays and sick and maternity leave, but these protective measures are routinely ignored by employers and are rarely enforced. The perennial REVIEWS 185 question raised byRussia's unrestrained capitalism is,how do Russian workers survive? This is the question direcdy addressed by Sarah Ashwin and her colleagues in this timely book, which focuses on gender differences in employment behaviour. Russian women earn about two-thirds as much as do Russian men. While most Russian commentators regard the limited earning opportunities of Russian women as a result of their lower commitment to the labour market, Western feminists tend to regard the disadvantages ofwomen as a result of the gender discrimination which is rife inRussia's labour market. Ashwin and her colleagues are not content with either of these facile explanations and have undertaken systematic research into gender differences in employment behaviour in order to uncover the subjective and objective determinants of such differences. Their research isbased on a longitudinal study ofmatched samples of 120men and 120women in fourRussian citieswho, at the begin ning of the research, were in a precarious labour market situation: graduating from educational institutions; working in derelict enterprises and organiza tions; registered unemployed; and in receipt of social assistance. Respondents were regularly interviewed four times over a period of two years. The inter view materials were then subjected to systematic analysis by the research teams from theperspective of gender discrimination, work orientations, labour market behaviour, the use of networks and career trajectories, which are the focus of substantive chapters of this book. The framework of the research is laid out in two introductory chapters by Ashwin, which review the research methodology and...

The Dynamics of Social Assistance Receipt: Measurement and Modelling Issues, with an Application to Britain

We model the dynamics of social assistance benefit receipt in Britain using data from the British Household Panel Survey, waves 1–15. First, we discuss definitions of social assistance benefit receipt, and present information about the trends between 1991 and 2005 in the receipt of social assistance benefits, and in annual rates of transition into and out of receipt. Second, we review potential multivariate modelling approaches especially the dynamic random effects probit models that are used in our empirical analysis and, third, discuss sample selection criteria and explanatory variables. Fourth, we present our regression estimation estimates and interpret them. The final section contains a summary of the substantive results, and highlights some lessons concerning application of the analysis for other countries and some methodological issues.

Change over Time in the Intergenerational Transmission of Social Disadvantage

A major goal of social democratic welfare states has been to reduce the impact of social origin on the life chances of individuals. If the universalistic and egalitarian policies of these states were successful, we would expect the effect of social origin on social disadvantage to decline across cohorts. We study the impact of parental income during childhood and adolescence on four forms of social disadvantage in Norway. These are receipt of social welfare assistance, unemployment, low educational attainment, and becoming a teenage mother. The data consists of a maximum of 30 complete birth cohorts. Our results indicate that there is a systematic impact of parental income at all levels of the income distribution. Those originating in the poorest families do not stand out as a marginal group. The prevalence of youth employment, teenage motherhood, and low educational attainment decreases during the period we study, whereas receipt of welfare benefits is more stable over time. If we focus on relative inequality, however, intergenerational transmission of social disadvantage does not decline over time. The impact of parental income is rather stable or even slightly increasing.

What could explain the dramatic rise in out-of-home placement in Finland in the 1990s and early 2000s?

Objectives Despite exceptionally favourable economic conditions and school children's outstanding educational attainment the number of children placed outside their home in Finland has increased rapidly in the 1990s and early 2000s. This study identifies factors that are related to a child's risk of placement outside the home in Finland and tries to explore possible explanations for an increase in the share of children placed outside the home. Methods A regression analysis was applied to study the share of children placed outside the home and suggested risk factor indicators on sub-regional level. The use of sub-regional data from SOTKAnet indicator bank allowed us to test indicators for seven areas, namely family structure (single parenthood), receipt of social assistance, unemployment, parents' alcohol and substance abuse, parents' mental health, domestic violence and abortion. Educational level, number of social workers and domestic migration were included as background factors. Results Child placement outside home in Finland is most clearly associated with long-term economic hardships. However, the results indicate that the rate of change in the share of children placed outside the home is associated with alcohol and substance abuse. Conclusions The results suggest that the Finnish success story as a world leader in children's issues has a darker side. A change in the distribution of welfare in Finland seems to place the children in the margin of the society into a more disadvantaged position.

The Epidemiology of Out-of-Home Care for Children and Youth: A National Cohort Study

We used data from several national registers for fifteen entire cohorts (n > 1.5 million) of Swedish children and youth to examine the influence of parental socio-economic background on the risk of entry into out-of-home care. Logistic regression models were used to analyse the statistical impact of twelve background variables, including parental psycho-social risk markers. The results confirm and expand findings from a classic study by Bebbington and Miles, published in 1989. After controlling for other background variables, including parent hospitalizations for attempted suicide, psychiatric disorders or addiction problems, children of single mothers had three to four-fold higher odds of entering care than children from two-parent households. Low maternal education and receipt of social assistance were strongly associated with higher odds for care entries. Aggregations of socio-economic risk factors increased dramatically the risk of entering care. Among pre-school children with mothers who had received basic education only, were unemployed and received social assistance during three consecutive years, one in seven was placed in care before their seventh birthday. Among same-age children from two-parent families whose mothers were educated to post-secondary level, were employed and had not received social assistance for three consecutive years in the middle of the observation period, fewer than one in 2,000 entered care.

Second-Hand Smoke Exposure in Canada: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Association with Respiratory And Cardiovascular Diseases

The aims of the present study were to estimate the prevalence of second-hand smoke exposure in Canada, to identify sociodemographic risk factors for second-hand smoke exposure, and to examine the relationship between second-hand smoke exposure and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Data from the 2000/2001 Statistics Canada Canadian Community Health Survey (n=130,880, aged 12 years or older) were analyzed. Second-hand smoke exposure was based on self-report within the past month. The presence of chronic health conditions was also based on self-report. Because ex-smokers would be expected a priori to have poorer health than never-smokers, the analysis was stratified by previous smoking status. Approximately 25% of never-smokers and 30% of ex-smokers self-reported recent second-hand smoke exposure. The following factors were identified as risk factors for second-hand smoke exposure: men; residences in Quebec, Atlantic Canada and the Territories; younger ages; nonimmigrant status; low education and income levels; social assistance receipt; and households without children younger than 12 years of age. After controlling for potential confounders, both never- and ex-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke had significantly higher odds of self-reporting asthma (20% to 30%) and chronic bronchitis (50%) than those not exposed to second-hand smoke. Among ex-smokers, those exposed to second-hand smoke also had significantly higher odds of self-reporting hypertension (20%) than those not exposed to second-hand smoke. No associations were observed between second-hand smoke exposure and emphysema or heart disease. Self-reported recent second-hand smoke exposure in Canada in 2000/2001 was high, and was associated with asthma, chronic bronchitis and hypertension in never- and ex-smokers. Potential causal associations and public health implications warrant additional research.

The Dynamics of Social Assistance Receipt: Measurement and Modelling Issues, with an Application to Britain

The Dynamics of Social Assistance Receipt: Measurement and Modelling Issues, with an Application to Britain

Does Social Assistance Recipiency Influence Unemployment?

Has the frequency of unemployment a tendency to increase the number of social assistance recipients, or does the relationship work the other way round? This article utilizes Swedish monthly data on aggregated open unemployment and means-tested social assistance recipiency in the period 1991—2004 and proposes a multiple time-series approach based on vector error-correction modelling in order to distinguish between theories about the direction of influence. First, we show that rates of unemployment and receipt of social assistance are co-integrated. Second, we demonstrate that adjustments to the long-run equilibrium are made through adjustments to the receipt of means-tested social assistance. This indicates that the frequency of social assistance recipiency reacts to changes in unemployment rather than vice versa. It is also shown that lagged changes in the number of social assistance recipients do not predict changes in rates of unemployment in the short term. Together, these findings demonstrate that the number of social assistance recipients does not increase the number of unemployed.

Health and social outcomes among children in low-income families and families receiving social assistance—A Swedish national cohort study

We examined health and social outcomes among children related to parental disposable income and receipt of social assistance. Swedish national registry data were used in a longitudinal design. We estimated relative risks and odds ratios for health and social outcomes in Poisson and logistic regressions among 1.2 million children between 1993 and 2002, and adjusted for factors that might affect the associations. Children in families receiving long-term social assistance showed considerably less satisfactory future prospects regarding health-related outcomes—all-cause mortality, suicide attempt, alcohol and drug misuse. Also, and to an even greater extent, the children experienced low educational attainment and social assistance in young adulthood compared with the rest of the population, and also in comparison with other low-income families. Low income was also associated with risk increases, but to a lesser extent. After taking into account the greater proportion of social-assistance recipients in low-income groups, attenuated risk increases remained only regarding future prospects of low education and social assistance. Regarding both low income and months receiving social assistance there was a gradient, at least in the age-adjusted analyses; there were greater risk increases among long-term recipients and among those with low incomes, and lower risk increases among short-term recipients and among those with high incomes.The results indicate that growing up in a family on long-term social assistance is a robust risk marker for compromised long-term development. A policy whereby children and parents receiving long-term assistance are offered access to evidence-based prevention programs in the areas of health, education and skills training appears to be important.

Hospitalizations for acetaminophen overdose: a Canadian population-based study from 1995 to 2004

BackgroundAcetaminophen overdose (AO) is the most common cause of acute liver failure. We examined temporal trends and sociodemographic risk factors for AO in a large Canadian health region.Methods1,543 patients hospitalized for AO in the Calgary Health Region (population ~1.1 million) between 1995 and 2004 were identified using administrative data.ResultsThe age/sex-adjusted hospitalization rate decreased by 41% from 19.6 per 100,000 population in 1995 to 12.1 per 100,000 in 2004 (P < 0.0005). This decline was greater in females than males (46% vs. 29%). Whereas rates fell 46% in individuals under 50 years, a 50% increase was seen in those ≥ 50 years. Hospitalization rates for intentional overdoses fell from 16.6 per 100,000 in 1995 to 8.6 per 100,000 in 2004 (2004 vs. 1995: rate ratio [RR] 0.49; P < 0.0005). Accidental overdoses decreased between 1995 and 2002, but increased to above baseline levels by 2004 (2004 vs. 1995: RR 1.24;P < 0.0005). Risk factors for AO included female sex (RR 2.19; P < 0.0005), Aboriginal status (RR 4.04; P < 0.0005), and receipt of social assistance (RR 5.15; P < 0.0005).ConclusionHospitalization rates for AO, particularly intentional ingestions, have fallen in our Canadian health region between 1995 and 2004. Young patients, especially females, Aboriginals, and recipients of social assistance, are at highest risk.

Social Assistance Receipt and its Importance for Combating Poverty in Urban China

Since the second half of the 1990s economic restructuring in urban China has led to widespread joblessness and income insecurity. The rapid expansion of the system of social assistance, Di Bao, can be understood from this perspective. Using a survey covering large parts of urban China in 2002, we investigate factors affecting receipt and how receipt affects urban poverty. Results from estimating probability models indicate that social assistance receipt is strongly linked to joblessness among household members, the household’s expenditure burden, as well as the lack of financial assets. Further, a long education of the household head and membership in the Communist Party reduces the probability of receiving social assistance while having been sent to rural China during the Cultural Revolution increases it. For some types of households, receipt of Di Bao differs greatly across cities in China. The social assistance payments appear strongly targeted to the poor. However, as the Di Bao payments typically are small and many of the urban poor are not receivers, much urban poverty remains.

How Tight are Safety-Nets in Nordic Countries? Evidence from Finnish Register Data

The non take-up of social assistance bene…ts due to claim costs may seriously limit the anti-poverty eect of these programs. Yet, available evidence is fragmented and mostly relies on interview-based data, potentially biased by misreporting and measurement errors on both bene…t entitlement and income levels used to assess eligibility. In this paper, we use Finnish administrative data to compare eligibility and actual receipt of social assistance by working-age families during the post-recession period (1996-2003). Possible errors due to time-period issues and discretionary measures by local agencies are carefully investigated. Non take-up is found to be substantial -between 40% and 50% - and increasing during the period. Using repeated cross-section estimations, we identify a set of stable determinants of claiming behavior and suggest that the increasing trend is mainly due to a composition eect, i.e. a decline in the proportion of groups with higher claiming propensity. We …nally discuss the targeting e¢ ciency of the social assistance scheme.

Risks and Resources: Social Capital among Social Assistance Recipients in Norway

Based on a nationally representative panel study covering the period 1985–2003, a Norwegian cohort is investigated with regard to the risks of receiving social assistance benefits. Traditionally, welfare dependency, poverty and receipt of social assistance have been explained by beneficiaries’ human capital deficits, the structural or institutional design of the welfare system, or the level of welfare benefits. This article investigates the potentially mediating effects of social capital on the risks of receiving social assistance in youth and young adulthood. In addition, the role of the institutional welfare design on the accumulation of social capital itself is examined. The resulting analyses suggest that even if individuals’ social capital is related to the risks of receiving social assistance, it is rather the respondents’ human capital and welfare recipiency in itself that are the driving force behind paths leading individuals into further social assistance recipiency. The article concludes with an analysis suggesting that the institutional design of the Norwegian social assistance benefits reduces social capital for the beneficiaries.

The integration of child tax credits and welfare: Evidence from the Canadian National Child Benefit program

In 1998, the Canadian government introduced a new child tax credit. The innovation in the program was its integration with social assistance (welfare). Some provinces agreed to subtract the new federally-paid benefits from provincially-paid social assistance, partially lowering the welfare wall. Other provinces did not integrate benefits, providing a quasi-experimental framework for estimation. We find large changes in social assistance take-up and employment in provinces that provided the labour market incentives to do so. In our sample, the integration of benefits can account for between 19 and 27% of the decline in social assistance receipt between 1997 and 2000.

Social disadvantage, mental illness and predictors of legal involvement

The following study evaluates the complex association between legal involvement and mental illness. It describes a population of consumers of community mental health programs, comparing those with legal involvement to those without legal involvement, on a number of demographic, clinical and social indicators. It is a secondary analysis of data collected in studies making up the Community Mental Health Evaluation Initiative (CMHEI) in the province of Ontario, Canada. Legal involvement was a significant issue among community mental health program consumers; about one in five consumers had at least some contact with the legal system in the preceding nine months. Legally involved consumers were more likely to be in receipt of social assistance and be unstably housed than those legally uninvolved. However, there were no significant differences between legally involved and uninvolved consumers with respect to severity of symptomatology, current medication use or number of hospitalization days in the past 9 months. A predictive model compared the differential impact of clinical and social determinants upon legal involvement. Analyses failed to uncover a significant relationship between severity of psychiatric symptomatology and legal involvement. Significant predictors of legal involvement included gender, race, drug use as well as housing instability, and receipt of social assistance. Legal involvement was attributable to factors other than the severity of mental illness; these results challenge assumptions that the most symptomatically severe consumers are most at risk of legal involvement. Accordingly, the rate of legal involvement in a sample of community mental health program users must be considered in a broad context, with particular emphasis on social disadvantage.

Does Neighbourhood Origin Matter? A Longitudinal Multilevel Assessment of Neighbourhood Effects on Income and Receipt of Social Assistance in a Stockholm Birth Cohort

In order to assist decision‐making about the balance between area‐based policies and wider forms of intervention, this paper considers the potential strength of neighbourhood effects on two key welfare outcomes in a Stockholm birth cohort at a time when Swedish welfare policy ambitions were at a peak. Extensive longitudinal multilevel analyses indicate that prior place of residence accounts for only a small proportion of the variation in cohort members' subsequent income and receipt of social assistance. One plausible explanation for this is the success of Swedish comprehensive welfare policies. The only modest impact of the neighbourhood effect seems plausible in a society with relatively far‐reaching equality of social and economic opportunities. The observed non‐effects of neighbourhood composition in this study support the idea of a universal welfare policy that aims at combating social and economic inequality wherever people may live rather than the use of small area‐targeted interventions.

Higher socio-economic status of parents may increase risk for bipolar disorder in the offspring

There are conflicting data regarding the socio-economic risk factors for bipolar disorders. The aim of the present study was to explore the association between the socio-economic status of an individual or the parent and the risk for bipolar disorder. Two Danish registers were merged. From the data source, we extracted those born in 1960 or later, and those with a first-ever admission to, or contact with, Danish psychiatric facilities during 1981-1998 with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Fifty time-matched controls per case were chosen by the incidence-density sampling method. Effects of marital status, occupation, education, income, and wealth, of both subjects and the parents, were estimated using conditional logistic regression. A total of 947 cases were matched to 47 350 controls. Those at high risk of bipolar disorders were: single subjects, those in receipt of social assistance, pension or sickness payments, unemployed, subjects with a shorter educational history, and subjects with lower income. Conversely, parental higher education and higher level of paternal wealth were associated with increased risk. These associations remained significant after adjustment for gender, family history of psychiatric diagnoses, and other socio-economic variables, and are unlikely to be explained by known biases. The associations of lower socio-economic indices of subjects may be explained as a consequence of the disease. The association of higher socio-economic indices of parents may be explained by socio-economic achievement in the family of origin.

How unemployment duration affects social assistance receipt: evidence from Finland

This article reports on a study of the impact of unemployment duration on the probability of becoming a social assistance recipient and on the time spent on social assistance. The data are taken from a local Finnish labour market consisting of the cohort of unemployed people at a given date (n = 2,274). The data are linked to information about the number of months recipients received social assistance during the subsequent year. Count data regression models of the hurdle type are estimated. The results of the analysis suggest that the impact of unemployment duration on the probability of becoming a social assistance recipient is explained to a large extent by changes in the distribution of types of unemployment benefits between people with different lengths of time spent in unemployment. Unemployment assistance recipients are more likely to become social assistance recipients and to spend longer periods on social assistance than are recipients of unemployment insurance because the unemployment benefits for the latter are higher. Among social assistance recipients, time spent on the transfer increases with unemployment duration only for those who are in frequent need of assistance.

Patterns of social assistance receipt in Sweden

This article analyses the situation of Swedish‐born people who became first‐time receivers of social assistance in 1987 and 1992. The macroeconomic situation at the time of entry was rather different for the two cohorts and the number of new entrances increased by almost 50%. Much of the increase consisted of young adults and experience of social assistance has been shown to be fairly widespread among persons under the age of 25. Bridging the period when individuals are supported by their parents to their becoming established as wage earners has become an important function of social assistance in Sweden. The pattern of social assistance receipt is rather heterogeneous across new recipients. The complex pattern of receipt means that the duration of social assistance can appear to vary depending on one's choice of perspective. On the one hand, the median duration of social assistance receipt is as low as two years when an eleven‐year follow‐up period is applied. On the other hand, among people who receive social assistance during a given year, as many as half had entered receipt more than four years earlier.