Marital Quality,Context, and Interaction: A Comparison of Those Currently Receiving Government Assistance with Those Who Are Not

In this study the marital quality of respondents who were currently receiving government assistance was compared with those who were not. Contextual variables (e.g., gender, age, age at first marriage, religiosity, education, etc.) and interactional variables (i.e., escalating negativity, criticism, negative interpretation, withdrawal) were measured as potential correlates with marital quality. Results indicated that those who received government assistance differed significantly from those who did not on all six indicators of marital quality that were measured and on 8 of 11 contextual variables measured. Findings from this study will help policymakers, therapists, and other helping professionals gain an increased awareness of the needs of these two distinct populations and how to target educational programs to best address those needs.     

Government Subsidies and Household Debt Burden After the Great Recession

During the recent Great Recession, US households, especially those with low incomes, faced severe financial distress. Households experiencing economic hardship may turn to receiving government assistance to alleviate the hardship or distress. Receiving government assistance may improve a household’s financial situation as it could be decreasing its reliance on debt or even improving a household’s ability to repay their current debt. We investigated how households’ financial debt obligations were affected by receiving government assistance, as has not been previously analyzed. Given the focus of this research, we included households under 185 % of poverty threshold released by the 2012 US Census Bureau. Results from the 2010 and 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances indicate that government assistance was positively related to the odds of meeting debt-to-income ratio guidelines, implying that government assistance plays an important role in financial security of low-income households. This study provides important insights for researchers and policymakers in the areas of poverty and household finance.     

Continuity and Change in Marital Quality Between 1980 and 2000

We use data from two national surveys of married individuals—one from 1980 and the other from 2000—to understand how three dimensions of marital quality changed during this period. Marital happiness and divorce proneness changed little between 1980 and 2000, but marital interaction declined significantly. A decomposition analysis suggested that offsetting trends affected marital quality. Increases in marital heterogamy, premarital cohabitation, wives' extended hours of employment, and wives' job demands were associated with declines in multiple dimensions of marital quality. In contrast, increases in economic resources, decision‐making equality, nontraditional attitudes toward gender, and support for the norm of lifelong marriage were associated with improvements in multiple dimensions of marital quality. Increases in husbands' share of housework appeared to depress marital quality among husbands but to improve marital quality among wives.     

Making Child Care "Affordable" in the United States

Two alternative federally financed plans are presented as modelsfor a program which would make child care of acceptable quality"affordable" for millions of American families. Taking a cuefrom currently operating state programs, care is defined as"affordable" if it costs parents no more than 30 percent ofthe amount by which their income exceeds the poverty line. Thefirst plan would cost the government $25 billion per year andwould concentrate help on families with incomes up to twicethe poverty line. The second would cost $39 billion per year,would provide higher quality care, and would allow all UnitedStates families to have access to care that was "affordable"by our definition. Costs of these magnitudes preclude financingof any significant part by employers or philanthropies. Whilesome government savings might result from the beneficial effectsof these programs, the main rationale for them rests, not onthe calculation that they will save the government money (althoughthey might), but on the fact that they will prevent considerablemisery to children and their families. Making quality childcare affordable to all families would result in safer, moreeducational, and more enjoyable care for children, and wouldgive a financial boost to families pitifully short of resourcesin a non-stigmatizing way. It would reduce child poverty andreduce enrollment in welfare-type programs. It would also giveparents a chance to particiopate in the world of work and toachieve the gains in resources and status that such a participationwould alllow.     

A Diverging Trend in Marital Dissolution by Income Status

Was the divorce plateau of the 1980s experienced by people of all incomes? Using the 2001 and 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation, this study (N = 13,131) examined if there was a significant income class difference in marital dissolution within 10 years of first marriage and if this difference increased from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. The findings indicated that there was a significant income class difference in marital dissolution and that the difference was growing during the study period. Whereas the dissolution rates of higher income women had gone down, the rates for women with the lowest incomes had significantly increased, especially for Black women after the 1980s, indicating a diverging trend in marital dissolution by income status.     

Household Income and Trajectories of Marital Satisfaction in Early Marriage

Are the marriages of lower income couples less satisfying than the marriages of more affluent couples? To address this question, we compared trajectories of marital satisfaction among couples with a wide range of household incomes. The marital satisfaction of 862 Black, White, and Latino newlywed spouses (N = 431 couples) was assessed five times, each 9 months apart, during the first 4 years of marriage. Lower income couples did not have less satisfying marriages on average, nor did their satisfaction decline more steeply on average. They did, however, experience (a) significantly greater fluctuations in marital satisfaction across assessments and (b) significantly more variability between husbands and wives. If efforts to support the marriages of low‐income couples are to address the unique characteristics of their marital development, these findings suggest that efforts to stabilize their marriages may be more effective than efforts to improve their satisfaction alone.     

Understanding and altering the longitudinal course of marriage

Weak and counterintuitive findings linking couples' interactional processes to marital outcomes have prompted new lines of research on how marriages change. Recent findings reviewed here highlight the value of (a) expanding conceptions of marital interaction by considering how social support and positive affect moderate the effects of problem‐solving skills on changes in marital quality; (b) examining partners' individual strengths and vulnerabilities as antecedents of marital aggression and hostile interaction; and (c) recognizing the central role of chronic and acute circumstances in governing fluctuations in spouses' judgments of marital quality. We outline implications of these findings for ongoing efforts to prevent adverse marital outcomes, and for recent federal initiatives to strengthen healthy marriages among people with low incomes.     

Estimating the Expense of a Mandatory Home- and Community-Based Personal Assistance Services Benefit Under Medicaid

Abstract

Personal assistance services (PAS) are essential for many people of all ages with significant disabilities, but these services are not always available to individuals at home or in the community, in large part due to a significant bias toward institutions in the Medicaid program. This study aims to provide an estimate of the expense of a mandatory personal assistance services (PAS) benefit under Medicaid for persons with low incomes, low assets, and significant disability.

Design and methods: We use year 2003 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to estimate the number of people living in households who would be eligible, based on having an institutional level of need and meeting financial criteria for low income and low assets, combined with additional survey data on annual expenditures under Medicaid programs providing PAS.

Results: New expenditures for PAS are estimated to be $1.4–$3.7 billion per year (in 2006 dollars), depending on the rate of participation, for up to half a million new recipients, more than a third of whom would be ages 65 and older. These estimated expenditures are a tenth of those estimated by the Congressional Budget Office for implementing the Medicaid Community-Based Attendant Services and Supports Act (MiCASSA).

Implications: Creating a mandatory PAS benefit for those with an institutional level of need is a fiscally achievable policy strategy to redress the imbalance between institutional and community-based services under Medicaid.     

State and Local Taxation of the Elderly

Using data from Massachusetts, this paper explores the impact of state and local taxes on the elderly. The combined tax burden from the state personal income and sales taxes and the local property tax are, on average, higher for the elderly than the nonelderly only for those with total incomes under $10,000 and over $75,000. High tax burdens on low-income elderly are primarily attributable to the property tax faced by homeowners. High-income elderly face high burdens because the state income tax rate on capital income is higher than the rate on earned income. Evidence suggests that public policies to reduce the property tax burdens on elderly homeowners have been largely ineffective.     

Increasing access to quality child care for children from low-income families: Families' experiences

Identifying effective strategies for increasing access to quality care for children from low-income families has important implications for society. This study examined the effectiveness of expanding child care assistance for low-income families (capping expenses at 10% of income and raising eligibility to 200% of the federal poverty line) to purchase quality care. Mixed methods documented families' experiences (N = 181) and capitalized on a natural experiment when families lost assistance. Results pointed to improved access to quality care for children from low-income families by: 1) helping low-income families continue utilizing quality providers when incomes dropped, and 2) enabling others to begin utilizing quality providers. Perceived impacts were greatest for families with higher incomes (within the eligibility range), and for those with children ages five and younger. Additionally, parents were able to pay providers the full rate that they charge for care, which may help quality providers continue serving low-income families.     

Impact of Marital Dissolution on Men's and Women's Incomes: A Longitudinal Study

This study adopted a longitudinal framework in examining economic consequences of marital dissolution for men and women. Data collected in the Survey of Labor and Income Dynamics from 1998 to 2005 were used to compare men's and women's incomes for up to 5 years during and after marital dissolution. Marital dissolution was defined as divorce or separation from a spouse or a common-law partner. Results revealed a dramatic drop in women's income and a slight drop in men's income during the dissolution year. One year later, women's income was 80% that of men's; 4 years past dissolution, it reached 85% that of men's. Gender differences in adjusted incomes were statistically significant for up to 3 years postdissolution. These findings suggest that the level of deterioration in women's economic well-being after marital dissolution has not improved in the last 2 decades.     

Estimating the expense of a mandatory home-and community-based personal assistance services benefit under Medicaid

Personal assistance services (PAS) are essential for many people of all ages with significant disabilities, but these services are not always available to individuals at home or in the community, in large part due to a significant bias toward institutions in the Medicaid program. This study aims to provide an estimate of the expense of a mandatory personal assistance services (PAS) benefit under Medicaid for persons with low incomes, low assets, and significant disability. DESIGN AND METHODS: We use year 2003 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to estimate the number of people living in households who would be eligible, based on having an institutional level of need and meeting financial criteria for low income and low assets, combined with additional survey data on annual expenditures under Medicaid programs providing PAS. RESULTS: New expenditures for PAS are estimated to be $1.4-$3.7 billion per year (in 2006 dollars), depending on the rate of participation, for up to half a million new recipients, more than a third of whom would be ages 65 and older. These estimated expenditures are a tenth of those estimated by the Congressional Budget Office for implementing the Medicaid Community-Based Attendant Services and Supports Act (MiCASSA). IMPLICATIONS: Creating a mandatory PAS benefit for those with an institutional level of need is a fiscally achievable policy strategy to redress the imbalance between institutional and community-based services under Medicaid.     

A living wage for former welfare recipients entering employment: The case of Butler County,Ohio

Since the late 1970s, changes in family income in the United States have varied by income category. While the average income of families with children in the top 20% of the income distribution has grown, the average income of families with children in the bottom 20% has declined. Factors contributing to the growing income gap include disparities in wages paid to low-income workers relative to high-income workers, an increase in female-headed single parent families, and a decrease in the value of the minimum wage. Welfare reform will likely only exacerbate this situation. This study synthesizes existing research as well as data from an Ohio county to demonstrate that the minimum wage incomes available to poor families are not sufficient for even basic necessities. In order for former AFDC recipients to become economically independent, government policies must be enacted to increase wages and/or provide income assistance for poor families.     

Child care assistance and nonstandard work schedules

Child care is a necessary work support for many American families, but can be prohibitively expensive for those with low incomes. The federal government provides assistance through direct child care subsidies, but only a fraction of eligible families are in receipt. One factor that may limit access to child care assistance is work schedule. Research suggests that mothers with nonstandard work schedules use relative care more and day care centers less than those with standard work schedules. Research also shows that child care subsidies are disproportionately used for day care centers. This suggests that mothers who work nonstandard schedules may be less likely to receive child care assistance, but little empirical work addresses this question directly. Using data from a cohort of urban, unmarried mothers, this study explores the direct and indirect relationship between work schedule and receipt of child care assistance. The findings suggest that nonstandard work schedules reduce the odds of receiving child care assistance; a relationship mediated entirely by less day care center use among nonstandard schedule workers. The results imply that more flexible child care assistance is needed to meet the needs of these workers, possibly provided outside of the direct-subsidy system.     

Marital Satisfaction in Turkish Remarried Families: Marital Status,Stepchildren, and Contributing Factors

This study aimed to compare marital satisfaction among those of different marital status (first-married, postdivorce remarried, and postbereavement remarried) based on gender; to investigate the effect of decision of divorce on marital satisfaction of postdivorce remarried individuals; to examine the effect of type of death on marital satisfaction of postbereavement remarried individuals; and to examine the effect of stepchildren on marital satisfaction of remarried individuals. It was also intended to investigate the predictive power of demographic and contextual variables on marital satisfaction in different households. The Dyadic Adjustment Scale and an information form were administered to 116 first-married and 223 remarried individuals. To test the hypotheses of the study, analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, and stepwise multiple regression analysis were performed. Results revealed that there was no significant marital satisfaction difference in terms of marital status. Remarried individuals with residential stepchildren had lower marital satisfaction than those with nonresidential stepchildren and those without stepchildren. For first-married individuals, length of marriage and income predicted marital satisfaction. For postdivorce remarried individuals, gender and presence of mutual children were predictors. For postbereavement remarried individuals, length of current marriage and income were significant predictors. For those with stepchildren, only residence of stepchildren significantly predicted marital satisfaction. The findings of the study were discussed in the light of relevant literature.     

The Native‐Immigrant Income Gap among the Self‐Employed in Sweden

During recent years we have observed that non‐western immigrants are overrepresented among the self‐employed in Sweden. A reason for this might be the difficulties faced by immigrants in the labour market. The unemployment rate among non‐western immigrants in Sweden is higher than among natives with similar human capital characteristics. While this is a well‐established result, we do not know much about how self‐employed immigrants perform economically compared to their native counterparts. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse the incomes of self‐employed immigrants and natives in Sweden. We will also discuss possible explanations for the income gap we find. We use Swedish register data for the period 1998 to 2002 and the population studied consists of individuals who have been continuously self‐employed during this period. By performing the analysis on this group of self‐employed we get a measure of the difference among the long‐term self‐employed. The outcome of interest is the average income over the period. Income regressions are estimated using both OLS and quantile regressions. We find that self‐employed immigrants receive significantly lower incomes than their native counterparts when controlling for individual characteristics, industry and start‐up year of the firm. The income gap is larger for non‐western immigrants than for western immigrants. Quantile regressions show that the native‐immigrant income gap is smaller at the top than at the bottom of the income distribution. Several possible explanations for the native‐immigrant income gap are discussed. One possible explanation is that immigrants have a lower reservation wage and accepts staying in business receiving a lower income than comparable natives. Another explanation might be that there is discrimination against self‐employed immigrants that will lead to lower incomes. There can be consumer discrimination or discrimination from banks and real estate owners.     

An Ex-Post View of Inequality of Opportunity in France and its Regions

This paper proposes an ex-post measure of inequality of opportunity in France and its regions by assessing the inequality between individuals exerting the same effort. To this end, we define a fair income that fulfils ex-post equality of opportunity requirements. Unfairness is measured by an unfair Gini based on the distance between the actual income and the fair income. Our findings reveal that the measures of ex-post inequality of opportunity largely vary across regions, and that this is due to differences in reward schemes and in the impact of the non responsibility factors of income. We find that most regions have actual incomes closer to fair incomes than to average income, excepted Ile de France where the actual income looks poorly related to effort variables. Finally, we find that income inequality and inequality of opportunity are positively correlated among regions.     

Health savings accounts and health reimbursement arrangements: assets, account balances, and rollovers, 2006-2010

ASSET LEVELS GROWING: In 2010, there was $7.7 billion in health savings accounts (HSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), spread across 5.7 million accounts. This is up from 2006, when there were 1.2 million accounts with $835.4 million in assets, and 2009, when 5 million accounts held $7.1 billion in assets. AFTER LEVELING OFF, AVERAGE ACCOUNT BALANCE DROPS SLIGHTLY: Increases in average account balances leveled off in 2008 and 2009, and fell slightly in 2010. In 2006, account balances averaged $696. They increased to $1,320 in 2007, a 90 percent increase. Account balances averaged $1,356 in 2008 and $1,419 in 2009, 3 percent and 5 percent increases, respectively. In 2010, average account balances fell to $1,355, down 4.5 percent from the previous year. AVERAGE ROLLOVER DECLINES, WHILE TOTAL ROLLOVERS INCREASE: Despite a decline in the average rollover amount in 2010, total assets being rolled over have been increasing. $4.2 billion was rolled over in 2010, up from $4 billion in 2009. The average rollover increased from $592 in 2006 to $1,295 in 2009, and fell to $1,029 in 2010. The percentage of individuals without a rollover decreased from 23 percent in 2006 to 10 percent in 2009 and increased slightly to 13 percent in 2010. HEALTHY BEHAVIOR MEANS HIGHER ACCOUNT BALANCES AND HIGHER ROLLOVERS: Individuals who exercised, those who did not smoke, and those who were not obese had higher account balances and higher rollovers than those with less healthy behaviors. It was also found that individuals who used cost or quality information had higher account balances and higher rollovers compared with those who did not use such information. However, no relationship was found between either account balance or rollover amounts and various cost-conscious behaviors such as checking pricing before getting services or asking for generic drugs instead of brand names, among other things. DIFFERENCES IN ACCOUNT BALANCES: Men have higher account balances than women, older individuals have higher account balances than younger ones, account balances increase with household income, and education has a significant impact on account balances independent of income and other variables. DIFFERENCES IN ROLLOVER AMOUNTS: Men rolled over more money than women, and older individuals had higher rollover amounts than younger individuals. Rollover amounts increase with household income and education, and individuals with single coverage rolled over a higher amount than those with family coverage.     

Predictors of Divorce Adjustment: Stressors,Resources, and Definitions

We used data from 208 individuals who divorced during a 17‐year longitudinal study to examine factors that predict adjustment to marital disruption. Using stress and coping theory as a guide, we hypothesized that adjustment would be associated with variables reflecting stressors, resources, and people's definitions of the divorce. Contrary to expectations, we found little evidence that stressors (large declines in per capita income, losing friends, or moving) affected divorce adjustment, except among individuals who were not employed. Adjustment was positively associated with income, dating someone steadily, remarriage, having favorable attitudes toward marital dissolution prior to divorce, and being the partner who initiated the divorce. In addition, older individuals showed some evidence of poorer adjustment than did younger individuals.     

Economic Circumstances and Family Outcomes: A Review of the 1990s

This review documents the economic context within which American families lived in the 1990s. Despite nearly full employment and growing income and wealth for many Americans, problem areas included persistent racial gaps in economic well‐being, growing inequality, and declining wages for young men. Women showed stronger income growth than men in the decade, and 2‐earner households became increasingly associated with advantage. We review the consequences of these trends and of economic well‐being generally on 4 dimensions of family outcomes: family formation, divorce, marital quality, and child well‐being. Despite hypotheses suggesting that women's earnings might have different effects on family outcomes than men's earnings, generally the review supports the expectation that both men's and women's economic advantage is associated with more marriage, less divorce, more marital happiness, and greater child well‐being. Important issues regarding measurement, reciprocal relations between family structure and economic well‐being, and race and gender effects remain unresolved.