Unmarried Coparenting in the Context of Poverty: Understanding the Relationship Between Stress,Family Resource Management,and Resilience

Due to rising rates of non-marital birth in the United States, unmarried families have been the subject of extensive research and the target of government funded interventions over the last 15 years. Despite a growing literature on this population, few studies have addressed how unmarried couples coparent in the context of poverty. In the present study we used in-depth interviews with paired mothers and fathers to explore resilience processes in unmarried coparenting. We found that unmarried couples aspired to be good coparents, but the stress of living in poverty and the challenges of parenting young children led some to experience family strain or crisis. Using family stress theory as a framework for organizing the findings, we concluded that family resource management distinguished couples that adapted successfully to the task of coparenting from those that struggled to do so. Implications for theory, future research, and practice are discussed.     

Poverty over the family life cycle

The Panel Study of Income Dynamics is used to investigate vulnerability to poverty over the family life cycle. An examination of 1981–83 interview years reveals that family life cycle stage is a significant predictor of poverty status. Two-parent families are more vulnerable to poverty in the childbearing stage, and also when they are launching children. Female-headed families are more vulnerable to poverty when younger children are present in the household. Reasons for these different vulnerabilities to poverty are given, and the implications of these findings are discussed.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1987 meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society. I would like to thank Joan Aldous, David Klein and Rodney Ganey for their reviews of this paper.Robert C. Tuttle is an assistant professor, Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Wilkes College, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame and includes the economic situations of families, and family policy among his research interests.     

School, Family and County Effects on Adolescents’ Later Life Chances

This paper explores the links between family, school and area background influences during adolescence and later adult economic outcomes. The empirical analysis is based on data covering the period 1979 to 1996, drawn from the 1979 US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. For a sample of individuals aged 14–19 in 1979, we estimate the association between family, school and area characteristics when growing up, on adult earnings capacity and poverty risk. We show that including all these influences jointly, family and school quality generally have significant associations with adult outcomes, but that area influences generally do not.Simon Burgess, Department of Economics, University of Bristol and CASE, 8 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TN, UK; e-mail: Simon.Burgess@bristol.ac.ukKaren Gardiner, Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath, Claverton Down Bath BA2 7AY, UK; e-mail: K.S.Gardiner@bath.ac.ukCarol Propper, Department of Economics, University of Bristol and CASE, 8 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TN, UK; e-mail: Carol.Propper@bristol.ac.uk     

Children with serious emotional disturbance: the impact of poverty and receipt of public assistance on behavior, functioning, and service use

The present study examines the associations between poverty status, receipt of public assistance, service use, and children's mental health. Using a sample of children with serious emotional disturbances, findings from logistic regressions indicated that although no significant associations were found between poverty status and emotional or behavioral problems, families living below the poverty threshold were more likely to receive fewer services, even after controlling for receipt of Medicaid or SSI. Significant associations were also found for child's age, race/ethnicity, caregiver education, Medicaid and TANF receipt, child and family mental-health-risk factors. Poor families were more likely to have older children, be non-white, have fewer years of education, receive public assistance, and have more family mental-health-risk factors, but less child mental-health-risk factors. While a higher percentage of nonpoor families received medication management and residential treatment services, more poor families received support services such as transportation and flexible funds. Implications for the findings are discussed.     

Poverty, inequality, and populist politics in Iran

Despite nearly three decades of revolutionary government rule, poverty and inequality remain the central issues of political debate in Iran. The unexpected electoral victory of Ahmadinejad, the populist candidate in the 2005 presidential election, has been widely attributed to rising poverty and inequity. Using household survey data, I examine the trends in poverty and inequality for the last three decades and show that this thesis is not grounded in facts. Survey data show that poverty has substantially declined in recent years, and is low by international standards and in comparison with pre-revolution years. This finding is consistent with pro-poor policies of the Islamic government, mainly in provision of basic infrastructure such as electricity, safe drinking water, and health. However, the same policies have not been as effective in reducing inequality, which, after an initial decline following the Revolution, has remained basically constant in the post-Revolution period. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Third Annual World Bank Conference on Inequality, Washington, DC, June 5–6, 2006. I wish to thank for comments Francisco Ferreira, Hojat Ghandi, Farrukh Iqbal, Essie Maassoumi, Branko Milanovic, Javad Shirazi, Vijayendra Rao, and two anonymous referees. For able research assistance I am grateful to Ali Hashemi and Marenglen Marku, and for access to survey data to the Statistical Center of Iran. All errors are mine.     

Housing Cost Burden,Poverty Status,and Economic Hardship among Low-income Families

This study examined the relative effects of housing cost burden versus poverty thresholds to explain the economic hardship of low-income families and compared the differences in these effects among White, Black, and Hispanic families with children in the United States of America. The findings from the multivariate analyses indicate that poverty status better explains variations in economic hardship than housing cost burden status. In respect to group differences, association between poverty status and economic hardship score are different between White and Black families. The results of this study raise the issues of housing cost burden and economic hardship that the country’s low-income Black families disproportionately experience relative to their White and Hispanic counterparts.

A model based approach for predicting annual poverty rates without expenditure data

The primus inter pares of the UN-approved Millennium Development Goals is to reduce poverty. The only internationally accepted method of estimating poverty requires a measurement of total consumption based on a time-consuming and resource-demanding measure of household expenditure in an integrated survey over 12 months. Rather than measuring poverty, say, only every fifth year, a model is presented to predict poverty based on a small set of household variables to be collected annually between two 12-monthly household surveys. Information obtained from these “light” surveys might then be used to predict poverty rates. The key question is whether the inaccuracy in these predictions is acceptable. It is recommended that these models be tested at a country level and if the test results are similar to those found here, that this approach be adopted.      

The impact of child support on child health

The broad goals of child support policy are to keep children in single-parent families out of poverty and to make sure that their material needs are met. One potentially important, but relatively understudied, set of measures of child well-being are health outcomes. A fixed-effects analysis of data from the Child and Young Adult file of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth shows that, conditional upon receipt of some amount of child support, higher payment levels are associated with significantly greater odds of having private health insurance coverage and significantly lower odds of poor or declining health status. These effects persist even after controlling for other factors that are likely to be correlated with child support payments, including total family income and paternal visitation patterns.     

The Changing Association Among Marriage,Work, and Child Poverty in the United States, 1974–2010

Marriage and work have long been central to debates regarding poverty and the family. Although ample research has demonstrated their negative association with child poverty, both marriage and work have undergone major transformations over recent decades. Consequently, it is plausible that their association with child poverty may have also changed. Using 10 waves of U.S. Census Current Population Survey data from the Luxembourg Income Study, this study examined the relationships among marriage, work, and relative measures of child poverty from 1974 to 2010. The results indicated that both marriage and work still decrease the odds of child poverty. However, time interactions showed marriage's negative association with child poverty has declined in magnitude, whereas work's negative association with child poverty has increased in magnitude. These findings underscore the historically varying influence of demographic characteristics for poverty. They also suggest the limitations of overemphasizing marriage and the growing importance of work for reducing child poverty in America.     

On the underestimation of migration’s income and poverty impact

In estimating the impact of migration on income and poverty, most existing studies have overlooked the fact that migration changes the size of the household. The ‘corrected’ impact that accounts for changes in household size is presented analytically and is estimated on the basis of data from nationally representative household surveys in Albania and Ghana. The analysis considers three poverty measures and four groups of migrant households: those with internal, international, internal and international, and internal and/or international migrants. The ratio of the corrected to the uncorrected impact on per capita income for Ghana (Albania) averages from 2.7 to 4.5 (2.5–3.8), and the ratio for the poverty impact averages from 2.6 to 4.4 (2.1–6.4). Thus, abstracting from changes in household size may result in a substantial underestimate of the impact of migration on income and poverty.

Marriage,Work, and Racial Inequalities in Poverty: Evidence From the United States

This article explores recent racial and ethnic inequalities in poverty, estimating the share of racial poverty differentials that can be explained by variation in family structure and workforce participation. The authors use logistic regression to estimate the association between poverty and race, family structure, and workforce participation. They then decompose between‐race differences in poverty risk to quantify how racial disparities in marriage and work explain observed inequalities in the log odds of poverty. They estimate that 47.7% to 48.9% of Black–White differences in poverty risk can be explained by between‐group variance in these two factors, while only 4.3% to 4.5% of the Hispanic–White differential in poverty risk can be explained by these variables. The findings underscore the continued but varied association between racial disparities in poverty and labor and marriage markets. Clear racial differences in the origin of poverty suggest that policy interventions will not have uniformly effective impacts on poverty reduction.     

Deservingness,children in poverty,and collective well being

Rising numbers of children and families have been thrust into poverty. However, debates about poverty policies and aid are in fact debates about ourselves—our logic of life and our humanity—as a nation, a culture, a people; and social welfare programs will always be underfunded and of limited effectiveness if people don't believe in them due to their ambivalence and confusion about poverty. Because poor children are innocent and indisputably dependent on adult caretakers, they may be our route out of this malaise. Their circumstance and our aspirations as a nation to be just, fair, and progressive, force us to resolve the confusion, conflict and ambivalence that fuel ineffective and inhumane social welfare policies and practices.     

Socioeconomic status, neighborhood disadvantage, and poverty-related stress: Prospective effects on psychological syndromes among diverse low-income families

Living with persistent poverty is toxic for one’s psychological health. This study examined SES, income, neighborhood disadvantage, and poverty-related stress as predictors of a wide range of psychological problems including anxiety, depression, aggression, relationship problems, physical problems, and trouble with the law. Longitudinal analyses were conducted with a low-income multiethnic sample of 98 families recruited from the greater Denver, CO metropolitan area (300 family members: 136 adults, 82 preadolescents, 82 adolescents) using hierarchical linear modeling to predict all eight ASEBA narrow band syndromes. Analyses showed that poverty-related stress was directly related to anxious/depressed symptoms and social problems and interacted with prior symptoms, contributing to worsening symptoms for delinquency, attention problems, somatic complaints, and anxious/depressed symptoms. Hollingshead SES also had direct predictive effects for certain syndromes, though these effects were in the opposite direction predicted. In contrast, lower income-to-needs predicted more problems as expected. Neighborhood disadvantage also predicted psychological syndromes. Developmental differences are discussed. Our data show that parents are not the only family members who are affected by stress from living in poverty. SES, neighborhood disadvantage and poverty-related stress take a toll on children, adolescents, and adults.     

Political Science Perspectives on Poverty

ABSTRACT

The social science discipline of political science focuses on the study of political systems and political behavior. While political science has not developed a comprehensive theory of poverty, this article reviews political science perspectives related to the causes of poverty (culture of poverty and neo-Marxist theories of class), the role of government in addressing poverty (theories of distributive justice and public support for antipoverty policies), and political participation. The article concludes with recommendations for future research and implications for Human Behavior and the Social Environment curriculum.     

The Relationship of Prisoners,Poverty Measures,and Social Welfare Allocations in Ohio

Abstract

Prisoners are counted in the county in which they are incarcerated, according to U. S. Census Bureau guidelines. This policy is increasingly the subject of academic interest because census data are used for redistricting and for the allocation of federal and state funds based on population and poverty criteria. Using canonical correlation analyses, this study found that fewer prisoners, no prisons in a county, higher ruralness, fewer percentages of persons below poverty, and higher percentages of households receiving social security insurance are associated with lower allocations for case management, lower allocations for health and human services, and lower allocations for criminal justice. Taking into account the cross loadings, having a prison, higher ruralness, and fewer percentages of people below the poverty line remain significant. The author discusses the policy implications of these findings.     

Poverty,exclusion and child protection practice: the contribution of ‘the politics of recognition&respect’

The affective dimensions of poverty, including the impact of wider policy discourses and services that ‘other’ and shame people in poverty, are increasingly recognized. In response, Lister [(2013). Power, not Pity: Poverty and Human Rights. Ethics and Social Welfare, 7(2), 109–123] advocates for ‘a politics of recognition&respect’ that centralizes the voices, participation and lived experiences of those who live in poverty. This paper considers how applying Lister’s theory could improve child protection (CP) social work in England, from a human rights and social justice perspective. The paper draws on findings from an ATD Fourth World participatory research project aimed at updating the course content for a pre-existing social worker training module on poverty awareness. The project brings together families with experience of poverty and CP interventions, social work practitioners and academics.     

Older people and poverty in rural Britain: Material hardships,cultural denials and social inclusions

This paper explores the relations between older people, poverty and place in rural Britain. It develops previous work on rural poverty that has pointed both to the significance of older people within the rural poor population and to their denials of poverty. The paper also connects with recent discussions on the complexity of relations between poverty and social exclusion in later life, as well as key themes emerging from studies of older people in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods. Drawing on findings from a survey of 4000 households in rural Wales and interviews with older people in poverty in three rural places, the paper provides a detailed examination of the materialities and experiences of poverty among older people in rural places. In particular, it highlights how older poor groups construct their lives in complex terms with references made to both social inclusions and exclusions. The research also points to the significance of the socio-cultural contexts of place in shaping older people's understandings of poverty in rural areas.     

Mitigating the effect of family poverty on academic and behavioral outcomes: The role of school climate in middle and high school

The persistent achievement gap between students from poor families and their peers calls for research that examines risk factors associated with poverty and strategies for promoting resilience. Research demonstrates the impact of school climate on behavior and academic achievement, especially in high-poverty schools. The present study examines associations between family poverty, social supports, students' perceptions of school climate, behavior, and grades. Poverty is associated with poor grades and behavior, while positive perceptions of school climate are associated with positive grades and behavior. Perceptions of school climate moderate the association between poverty and behavior, such that students from poor families who perceive a positive school climate exhibit similar behaviors to their peers from higher income families. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed.     

Reexamining the Association of Maternal Age and Marital Status at First Birth With Youth Educational Attainment

We reexamined the association of maternal age and marital status at birth with youth high school completion using data from the Children and Young Adult sample of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and giving attention to multiple age categories and race and ethnic variations. Youth born to older teen mothers were no more likely to graduate from high school than those born to the youngest teen mothers. Although delaying childbirth to young adulthood was associated with greater odds of children's high school completion when compared with the earliest teen births, those born to young adult mothers were disadvantaged when compared with those born to mothers aged 25 years or older. Being born to an unmarried mother was associated with lower odds of high school completion. We found no evidence that maternal age at birth more strongly predicted high school graduation for White compared with Latino and Black youth.     

Poverty and health: older minority women and the rise of the female-headed household

This analysis uses the 1984 Survey on Aging (SOA) supplement to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to compare the relative impacts of poverty and health on the propensity of unmarried older black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white women to live with family. The results reveal that for blacks and Hispanics, economics are more significant than health in determining whether a woman lives with her children. Our findings also show that black unmarried elderly females are more likely than similar non-Hispanic white women to head their households. The literature and our findings suggest that black and Hispanic older women have fewer options in living arrangements than non-Hispanic older women in the event of diminished health.