Government Assistance Protects Low-Income Families from Eviction.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lundberg I
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8011571 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:This paper examines the association between the Great Recession and real assets among families with young children. Real assets such as homes and cars are key indicators of economic well-being that may be especially valuable to low-income families. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4,898), we investigate the association between the city unemployment rate and home and car ownership and how the relationship varies by family structure (married, cohabiting, and single parents) and by race/ethnicity (White, Black, and Hispanic mothers). Using mother fixed-effects models, we find that a one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate is associated with a -0.5 percentage point decline in the probability of home ownership and a -0.7 percentage point decline in the probability of car ownership. We also find that the recession was associated with lower levels of home ownership for cohabiting families and for Hispanic families, as well as lower car ownership among single mothers and among Black mothers, whereas no change was observed among married families or White households. Considering that homes and cars are the most important assets among middle and low-income households in the U.S., these results suggest that the rise in the unemployment rate during the Great Recession may have increased household asset inequality across family structures and race/ethnicities, limiting economic mobility, and exacerbating the cycle of poverty.
| S-EPMC5798834 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Because children from low-income families benefit from preschool but are less likely than other children to enroll, identifying factors that promote their enrollment can support research and policy aiming to reduce socioeconomic disparities in education. In this study, we tested an accommodations model with data on 6,250 children in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort. In general, parental necessity (e.g., maternal employment) and human capital considerations (e.g., maternal education) most consistently predicted preschool enrollment among children from low-income families. Supply side factors (e.g., local child care options) and more necessity and human capital factors (e.g., having fewer children, desiring preparation for school) selected such children into preschool over parental care or other care arrangements, and several necessity factors (e.g., being less concerned about costs) selected them into non-Head Start preschools over Head Start programs. Systemic connections and child elicitation did not consistently predict preschool enrollment in this population.
| S-EPMC4808386 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ImportanceFood insecurity is associated with high health care expenditures, but the effectiveness of food insecurity interventions on health care costs is unknown.ObjectiveTo determine whether the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which addresses food insecurity, can reduce health care expenditures.Design, setting, and participantsThis is a retrospective cohort study of 4447 noninstitutionalized adults with income below 200% of the federal poverty threshold who participated in the 2011 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the 2012-2013 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).ExposuresSelf-reported SNAP participation in 2011.Main outcomes and measuresTotal health care expenditures (all paid claims and out-of-pocket costs) in the 2012-2013 period. To test whether SNAP participation was associated with lower subsequent health care expenditures, we used generalized linear modeling (gamma distribution, log link, with survey design information), adjusting for demographics (age, gender, race/ethnicity), socioeconomic factors (income, education, Social Security Disability Insurance disability, urban/rural), census region, health insurance, and self-reported medical conditions. We also conducted sensitivity analyses as a robustness check for these modeling assumptions.ResultsA total of 4447 participants (2567 women and 1880 men) were enrolled in the study, mean (SE) age, 42.7 (0.5) years; 1889 were SNAP participants, and 2558 were not. Compared with other low-income adults, SNAP participants were younger (mean [SE] age, 40.3 [0.6] vs 44.1 [0.7] years), more likely to have public insurance or be uninsured (84.9% vs 67.7%), and more likely to be disabled (24.2% vs 10.6%) (P?<?.001 for all). In age- and gender-adjusted models, health care expenditures between those who did and did not participate in SNAP were similar (difference, $34; 95% CI, -$1097 to $1165). In fully adjusted models, SNAP was associated with lower estimated annual health care expenditures (-$1409; 95% CI, -$2694 to -$125). Sensitivity analyses were consistent with these results, also indicating that SNAP participation was associated with significantly lower estimated expenditures.Conclusions and relevanceSNAP enrollment is associated with reduced health care spending among low-income American adults, a finding consistent across several analytic approaches. Encouraging SNAP enrollment among eligible adults may help reduce health care costs in the United States.
| S-EPMC5710268 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundBetween 2012 and 2016, development assistance for HIV/AIDS decreased by 20·0%; domestic financing is therefore critical to sustaining the response to HIV/AIDS. To understand whether domestic resources could fill the financing gaps created by declines in development assistance, we aimed to track spending on HIV/AIDS and estimated the potential for governments to devote additional domestic funds to HIV/AIDS.MethodsWe extracted 8589 datapoints reporting spending on HIV/AIDS. We used spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression to estimate a complete time series of spending by domestic sources (government, prepaid private, and out-of-pocket) and spending category (prevention, and care and treatment) from 2000 to 2016 for 137 low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Development assistance data for HIV/AIDS were from Financing Global Health 2018, and HIV/AIDS prevalence, incidence, and mortality were from the Global Burden of Disease study 2017. We used stochastic frontier analysis to estimate potential additional government spending on HIV/AIDS, which was conditional on the current government health budget and other finance, economic, and contextual factors associated with HIV/AIDS spending. All spending estimates were reported in 2018 US$.FindingsBetween 2000 and 2016, total spending on HIV/AIDS in LMICs increased from $4·0 billion (95% uncertainty interval 2·9-6·0) to $19·9 billion (15·8-26·3), spending on HIV/AIDS prevention increased from $596 million (258 million to 1·3 billion) to $3·0 billion (1·5-5·8), and spending on HIV/AIDS care and treatment increased from $1·1 billion (458·1 million to 2·2 billion) to $7·2 billion (4·3-11·8). Over this time period, the share of resources sourced from development assistance increased from 33·2% (21·3-45·0) to 46·0% (34·2-57·0). Care and treatment spending per year on antiretroviral therapy varied across countries, with an IQR of $284-2915. An additional $12·1 billion (8·4-17·5) globally could be mobilised by governments of LMICs to finance the response to HIV/AIDS. Most of these potential resources are concentrated in ten middle-income countries (Argentina, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, and Vietnam).InterpretationSome governments could mobilise more domestic resources to fight HIV/AIDS, which could free up additional development assistance for many countries without this ability, including many low-income, high-prevalence countries. However, a large gap exists between available financing and the funding needed to achieve global HIV/AIDS goals, and sustained and coordinated effort across international and domestic development partners is required to end AIDS by 2030.FundingThe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
| S-EPMC6540601 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Objective:To estimate the level and trend of development assistance for community health worker-related projects in low- and middle-income countries between 2007 and 2017. Methods:We extracted data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's creditor reporting system on aid funding for projects to support community health workers (CHWs) in 114 countries over 2007-2017. We produced estimates for projects specifically described by relevant keywords and for projects which could include components on CHWs. We analysed the pattern of development assistance by purpose, donors, recipient regions and countries, and trends over time. Findings:Between 2007 and 2017, total development assistance targeting CHW projects was around United States dollars (US$) 5?298.02 million, accounting for 2.5% of the US$ 209?277.99 million total development assistance for health. The top three donors (Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the government of Canada and the government of the United States of America) provided a total of US$ 4 350.08 million (82.1%) of development assistance for these projects. Sub-Saharan Africa received a total US$ 3?717.93 million, the largest per capita assistance over 11 years (US$ 0.39; total population: 9?426.25 million). Development assistance to projects that focused on infectious diseases and child and maternal health received most funds during the study period. Conclusion:The share of development assistance invested in the CHW projects was small, unstable and decreasing in recent years. More research is needed on tracking government investments in CHW-related projects and assessing the impact of investments on programme effectiveness.
| S-EPMC6933433 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Housing security is an important determinant of mental ill health. We used a quasinatural experiment to evaluate this association, comparing the prevalence of mental ill health in the United Kingdom before and after the government's April 2011 reduction in financial support for low-income persons who rent private-sector housing (mean reduction of approximately £1,220 ($2,315) per year). Data came from the United Kingdom's Annual Population Survey, a repeated quarterly cross-sectional survey. We focused our analysis on renters in the private sector, disaggregating data between an intervention group receiving the government's Housing Benefit (n = 36,859) and a control group not receiving the Housing Benefit (n = 142,205). The main outcome was a binary measure of self-reported mental health problems. After controlling for preexisting time trends, we observed that between April 2011 and March 2013, the prevalence of depressive symptoms among private renters receiving the Housing Benefit increased by 1.8 percentage points (95% confidence interval: 1.0, 2.7) compared with those not receiving the Housing Benefit. Our models estimated that approximately 26,000 (95% confidence interval: 14,000, 38,000) people newly experienced depressive symptoms in association with the cuts to the Housing Benefit. We conclude that reducing housing support to low-income persons in the private rental sector increased the prevalence of depressive symptoms in the United Kingdom.
| S-EPMC5023793 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Toddler-aged children are vulnerable to unintentional injuries, especially those in low-income families. OBJECTIVE:To examine the effectiveness of an intervention grounded in social cognitive theory (SCT) on the reduction of home safety problems among low-income families with toddlers. METHODS:277 low-income mother-toddler dyads were randomised into a safety promotion intervention (n=91) or an attention-control group (n=186). Mothers in the safety promotion intervention group received an eight-session, group-delivered safety intervention targeting fire prevention, fall prevention, poison control and car seat use, through health education, goal-setting and social support. Data collectors observed participants' homes and completed a nine-item checklist of home safety problems at study enrolment (baseline), 6 and 12?months after baseline. A total score was summed, with high scores indicating more problems. Linear mixed models compared the changes over time in home safety problems between intervention and control groups. RESULTS:The intent-to-treat analysis indicated that the safety promotion intervention group significantly reduced safety problems to a greater degree than the attention-control group at the 12-month follow-up (between-group difference in change over time ?=-0.54, 95% CI -0.05 to -1.03, p=0.035), with no significant differences at the 6-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS:A safety promotion intervention built on principles of SCT has the potential to promote toddlers' home safety environment. Future studies should examine additional strategies to determine whether better penetration/compliance can produce more clinically important improvement in home safety practices. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER:NCT02615158; post-results.
| S-EPMC6252264 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study examined patterns of father involvement and their relations with social, behavioral, and cognitive development among low-income children < 5 years. Latent class analysis on data from 2650 fathers (Mage = 29.35 years) in the Supporting Healthy Marriages program revealed four father involvement patterns: (1) High positive involvement (48%); (2) engaged but harsh discipline (42%); (3) low cognitive stimulation (8%); and (4) lower involvement (2%). The low cognitive stimulation pattern was associated with greater father- and mother-reported child behavior problems and lower child socioemotional and cognitive functioning. The engaged but harsh discipline pattern was associated with more father-reported child behavior problems. These findings highlight the need for active engagement of fathers in parenting interventions to promote child development.
| S-EPMC8699948 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundIncreasing access to health and social services through service-integration approaches may provide a direct and sustainable way to improve health and social outcomes in low-income families.MethodsWe did a community-based randomized trial evaluating the effects of two service-integration practices (healthy family lifestyle and recreational activities for children) among low-income families in Alberta, Canada. These two practices in combination formed four groups: Self-Directed (no intervention), Family Healthy Lifestyle, Family Recreation, and Comprehensive (Family Healthy Lifestyle plus Family Recreation programs). The primary outcome was the total number of service linkages.ResultsWe randomized 1168 families, 50 % of which were retained through the last follow-up visit. The number of service linkages for all three intervention groups was not significantly different from the number of linkages in the Self-Directed group (Comprehensive 1.15 (95 % CI 0.98-1.35), Family Healthy Lifestyle 1.17 (0.99-1.38), and Family Recreation 1.12 (0.95-1.32) rate ratios). However, when we explored the number of linkages by the categories of linkages, we found significantly more healthcare service linkages in the Comprehensive group compared to the Self-Directed group (1.27 (1.06-1.51)) and significantly more linkages with child-development services in the Family Healthy Lifestyle group compared to the Self-Directed group (3.27 (1.59-6.74)). The monthly hours of direct intervention was much lower than the assigned number of hours (ranging from 5 to 32 % of the assigned hours).ConclusionsOur findings are relevant to two challenges faced by policymakers and funders. First, if funds are to be expended on service-integration approaches, then, given the lack of intervention fidelity found in this study, policymakers need to insist, and therefore fund a) a well-described practice, b) auditing of that practice, c) retention of family participants, and d) examination of family use and outcomes. Second, if child-development services are widely required and are difficult for low-income families to access, then current policy needs to be examined.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00705328 . Registered on 24 June 2008.
| S-EPMC4957834 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveTo characterize the electronic media (e-media) use of preschoolers from low-income families comprehensively, in terms of platform interaction potential and content.MethodsParents of 380 preschoolers (mean age, 52.5 ± 3.7 months) from diverse, low-income backgrounds reported on their child's age of exposure to various e-media types, frequency of use, amount of background television, and listed all child shows/cartoons and adult shows/general audience shows the child watches, as well as all electronic games/apps the child plays. We calculated descriptive statistics and conducted latent profile analyses to characterize e-media use.ResultsMost children in the sample began watching TV before age 1 year and nearly half watch child shows/cartoons several times a day or more. Most children began playing games/apps before age 3 years and more than one quarter play games several times a day or more. More than 20% of children are exposed to >3 hours of background TV on a typical weekday and 30% are exposed to this amount on a typical weekend day. A Modest E-Media Use profile characterized most children in the sample (70%). Fewer children were characterized by a High Educational Games profile (14%) or a High Adult TV/Elevated Entertainment Games Use and Background TV profile (16%).ConclusionsCollectively, the 3 profiles reflect heterogeneous use patterns with regard to platform interaction potential and educational quality during the course of a typical week. Additional research is warranted to assess linkages between e-media use profiles and indicators of school readiness in cognitive, academic, and social and behavioral domains in diverse, low-income samples.
| S-EPMC7483376 | biostudies-literature