Friday, 14 January 2005 - 8:00 AM

This presentation is part of: Welfare Reform

The Effects of Minnesota's TANF Program on the Well-Being of Children in Hennepin County

Purpose: Although child well-being in the context of welfare reform has received attention in the literature (Duncan & Chase-Lansdale, 2000; Morris et al, 2001; Huston, 2002; Shields & Behrman, 2002), less research has considered the quantity of parents’ work on children’s well-being. This study measures how the amount of work parents undertake over time affects their children’s economic, educational, physical and emotional well-being.

Methods: A stratified random sample of 84 Minnesota Family Investment Program clients in Hennepin County, Minnesota, with oversampling of several immigrant and racial groups, was interviewed in March, 2002. A life history calendar (LHC) collected data spanning 42 months from September 1998 through February, 2002. LHCs allow for more accurate reconstruction and timing of past events than tools that do not use a calendar (Axinn, Pearce, Ghimire, 1998; Caspi et al, 1996). Using this method, retrospective data on parents’ work history and wages, children’s health care, childcare, household moves, and school changes were gathered for every month of the 3½-year study period. Additionally, open-ended questions about children’s emotional well-being, and children’s relationships with their parents were also posed.

Results: Three worker types were identified: extensive, moderate, and minimal. The findings are mixed, with work associated positively with economic and some quality of life measures and negatively with health and emotional well-being variables. The more parents worked, the higher their wages were (extensive workers = $10.69, moderate workers = $9.69, and minimal workers = $7.70, p<.001) and the fewer times their children moved (p<.05). Sixty percent of extensive workers had children in childcare during the study period compared to 53.4% for moderate and 23.5% for minimal workers. Of these parents, 79.2% were very satisfied with their childcare. The more parents worked, the fewer times children moved (p<.05). The amount of work had little impact on school changes. However, children of extensive workers were more likely to have periods of no health insurance (5.86 months) compared to moderate workers (2.10 months), and minimal workers (.01 months) (p<.05). Extensive workers were more likely to report that their children had gone without medical care due to expense (p< .05). Extensive workers were more likely to report that their relationship with their children had been negatively affected (40%) compared to moderate and minimal workers’ assessments (28% and 33.3%, respectively). Likewise, extensive workers were more likely to report that their children’s emotional well-being had been negatively affected (44%), compared to moderate (33.3%), and minimal workers’ reports (28.6%).

Implications for Policy: Although over time, children’s economic well-being may be improved with more work by their parents, their health care coverage and emotional well-being may be compromised. TANF programs need to address the negative health care effects of work requirements on children by pursuing coverage under Medicaid and SCHIP programs that cover low-income children of working parents, and encouraging private employers to offer affordable health care coverage to these workers. Further, the negative emotional impacts of TANF program work requirements on children need further study, to learn the mechanisms of how parents’ employment impacts children.

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