Long-Term Implications of Welfare Reform for the Development of Adolescents and Young Adults

We draw upon the 3-wave longitudinal dataset called Welfare Children and Families: A Three-City Study to examine the long-term implications for adolescents and young adults (N = 783) of mothers' welfare receipt and labor force participation from 1999 to 2005. In general, changes in mothers' work and welfare patterns were not associated with deterioration or improvement in youth development (ages 16 to 20 years at Wave 3). The few significant associations suggested that youth whose mothers increased employment (net of welfare participation) were less likely to show increases in serious behavior problems and delinquency compared to youth whose mothers were unemployed or employed part-time during the study period. Welfare roll exits (controlling for employment experiences) were unrelated to adolescent and young adult outcomes. Mothers' employment transitions were linked to improvements in household income and mothers' self esteem in addition to reductions in financial strain and their own illegal activities. However, these associations did not explain the relation between maternal employment and youths' improved behavior. These results do not support the predictions of either the supporters or the opponents of welfare reform, an outcome we discuss.     

Subjective Well-being in a Multicultural Urban Population: Structural, and Multivariate Analyses of the Ontario Health Survey Well-being Scale

The validity of a scale, from the OntarioHealth Survey, measuring the subjective senseof well-being, for a large multiculturalpopulation in Metropolitan Toronto, is examinedthrough principal components analysis withoblique rotation. Four factors are extracted. Factor 1, is a stress and strain factor, andconsists of health worries, feeling exhaustedand worn out, and feeling tense. Factor 2,interpreted as a sense of control, consists ofno health worries, and ability to handlefeelings. Factor 3, interpreted as positiveaffect, consists of having an interesting life,feeling cheerful and light-hearted, feelingloved, feeling relaxed and full of vitality. Factor 4 is interpreted as a despondency factorconsists of feeling lonely, having a boringlife, inability to control feelings and feelinglow. The statistic of multiple discriminantanalysis between the variables, sex, age, andethnic groupings, as independent discriminatingvariables and the four factor scores asdependent variables, is calculated. Theresults show that the observed mean variance inthe well-being factor scores cannot beexplained by the respondents being eitherfemale or male, or being a certain age or bybelonging to specific cultural groupings. These results are discussed in relation toother studies on the dimensions of subjectivewell-being.     

The Liberalization of Cannabis Possession Laws and Birth Outcomes: A State-Level Fixed Effects Analysis, 2003–2019

Population Research and Policy Review - As states liberalize their cannabis laws, cannabis use has become more widespread among adults across the United States, including pregnant women. As a...     

Undocumented Mexican immigrants and the earnings of other workers in the United States

This article examines the effects of undocumented Mexican immigrants on the earnings of other workers in geographical labor markets in the Southwest. The number of undocumented Mexicans included in the 1980 census in southwestern SMSAs is estimated. We then estimate the parameters of three specifications of a generalized Leontief production function with various demographic groups as substitutable factors. The statistically significant effects of undocumented Mexicans on the earnings of other groups are positive, but of slight magnitude. Legal immigrants' effects on native white earnings, however, are small and negative. The results are consistent with the possibility that undocumented Mexican immigrants' jobs complement those of other workers. The implications for public policy concerns about the effects of illegal Mexican immigration are discussed.     

Child outcome measures in the study of child care quality

This article assesses whether there are methodological problems with child outcome measures that may contribute to the small associations between child care quality and child outcomes found in the literature. Outcome measures used in 65 studies of child care quality published between 1979 and December 2005 were examined, taking the previous review by Vandell and Wolfe (2000) as the starting point. Serious methodological problems were not pervasive for child outcome measures. However, methodological concerns were most prevalent among measures of socioemotional development. Furthermore, psychometric information on outcome measures was often missing from published reports, and health outcomes and approaches to learning were infrequently studied. Future research should address alignment issues between aspects of quality and the specific child outcomes chosen for study.