Sunday, 16 January 2005 - 10:15 AM

This presentation is part of: Family Impacts of Poverty

Depressive Symptoms and Employment Status of Low-Income Parents: Findings from a Longitudinal Ethnographic Study

Purpose. The welfare reform legislation of 1996 required parents to work, yet mental health problems have been increasingly broadly identified as "barriers" to finding a job or remaining employed. TANF-era welfare researchers have found that between one-forth and one-third of welfare recipients have serious mental health problems - four to five times the 6.5% incidence found in the general population. This study aimed to examine the relationship between depression or depressive symptoms, the most prevalent form of mental health distress, and employment status among mothers leaving welfare and other similar low-income parents. In contrast to most prior research, this study sample included both male and female parents.

Methods. As a part of a longitudinal ethnographic study of families participating in a national demonstration program, the principal investigator administered the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) to each of the twenty-five married, single, or cohabiting parents at multiple time points during the 3 1/2 year field research period ending in mid-2003. Ethnographic methods of direct and participant observation, informal interviews, systematic in-depth and life-history interviews, and shadowing amplified the CES-D data to yield new information about how depression and employment status intersected among the participating parents. Multiple researchers, multiple analysts and "member checking" resulted in trangulation of data collection and findings.

Results. Depressive symptoms or depression were negatively associated with employment status, irrespective of gender. Both mothers and fathers scored in the "not depressed" category after becoming employed, even during short periods of layoff or job change. Overall, CES-D socres rose after the recession began in Spring 2001, yet most parents remained in the "not depressed" category, although the scores were highest among parents in the hard-hit manufacturing and construction industries, irrespective of gender. By 2003, CES-D scores indicated depression among both fathers and mothers, with fathers scoring as "moderately depressed" and mothers scoring as "mildly depressed." Interpreting these results in the context of the ethnographic data, the 2003 scores were higher because the sustained economic downturn resulted in extended job loss, downward earning even when employed, and volatility in a borader range of industries than was the case in 2001.

Implications. Although sizeable numbers of welfare recipients and other low-income job seekers are vulnerable to depression or depressive symptoms that may interfere with work efforts, screening and assessment practices for depression and depressive symptoms in welfare and workforce programs have been inadequate. Most staff in such programs are not trained to identify mental health conditions. To provide adequate help in job attainment, welfare and workforce program personnel need to be trained to screen specifically for depression, as it is a sensitive area that job seekers do not readily disclose. More important for long-term family economic well-being, work programs need to conduct depression assessments as part of their re-employment services, especially during volatile economic periods.

* Research funded by independent grants to the second author from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

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