Mi-Youn Yang

The Effect of Additional Child Support Income on the Risk of Child Maltreatment

About 6 million children were reported to the child welfare system as being at risk of child abuse or neglect in the United States in 2010. Researchers and policy makers have long recognized that children living in families with limited economic resources are at higher risk for maltreatment than children from higher socioeconomic strata, but the causal effect of income, and particularly child support, on maltreatment risk has been challenging to establish; many of the same factors are associated with child support payment levels, poverty, and child maltreatment risk. Using a random assignment experiment that led to exogenous differences in child support received, the present analysis explores the causal role of a full pass-through and disregard of child support on the risk of child maltreatment. We find that a full child support pass-through, as compared to a partial pass-through, reduces the risk of child maltreatment.

The Effect of Material Hardship on Child Protective Service Involvement

This study employs four waves of survey data on 1,135 families from the Illinois Families Study, a longitudinal panel study of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families in Illinois. This study explores the following issues within this low-income population: (1) whether material hardships are associated with child protective services (CPS) investigations, (2) whether the effect of material hardship on CPS differs by the type of child maltreatment investigated, and (3) whether psychological distress mediates the association between material hardship and CPS involvement. Results from pooled and fixed effects logistic regressions suggest that caregivers who experience material hardship are more likely to become involved in CPS. In general, investigated neglect reports are responsive to particular types of hardship such as housing and food, while investigated physical abuse reports are responsive to levels of hardship regardless of specific types. The association between material hardship and CPS involvement is not fully explained by depressive symptoms or parenting stress. The study results suggest that in order to prevent child maltreatment, it may be necessary to address a familys unmet material needs through economic support interventions.

Work Outcomes for Mothers Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence: the Buffering Effect of Child Care Subsidy

Mothers who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) are at increased risk for experiencing workplace instability in the form of absence from paid employment and job loss. In a cross-sectional study, we investigate if experiences of IPV inhibit work stability among low-income women as well as if the receipt of child care subsidies has a moderating effect on the relationship. Using data from the Illinois Families Study, we tested the relationships between IPV, work outcomes, and recipient of child care subsidies in a series of multivariate regressions. Findings indicate IPV is associated with reduced hours worked among low-income mothers and increased unemployment among low-income mothers. However, both of these relationships are moderated by receipt of child care subsidies suggesting that mothers who experience IPV can maintain employment at the same level as women not experiencing IPV with receipt of child care subsidies. Our findings indicate the importance of receiving child care subsidies among low-income mothers and support subsidy accessibility to survivors of IPV. Results of our study are limited in regard to the age of the data, the cross-sectional use of the data, and the lack of a control group that was not receiving any type of government assistance.