Sunday, 16 January 2005 - 10:15 AM

This presentation is part of: Family Impacts of Poverty

Volatality in Family Life: Differences between the Rich and the Poor

OBJECTIVES: American lives are increasingly becoming volatile. Which families encounter greater volatility in living conditions: The rich or the poor? To find answers to this question, we investigated the differential frequencies in changes in (1) income status, (2) family structure, and (3) employment status. METHOD: To accomplish the objectives set forth, data from the 1996 Survey of Income and Program Participation were used. We counted the frequency of changes along these three aspects of life, making observations monthly. The time frame of the 1996 SIPP was 48 months. We differentiated the negative changes from positive changes with regard to employment status and income status. For example, a change from employment to unemployment constituted a negative change; a decline in income by at least 25% was a negative change. We did not group changes in family structures into negative and positive changes. The dependent variables were the numbers of changes along theses three dimensions. The major independent variable was the income class, classifying the respondents into the categories of those below poverty line, between 100-175% of poverty line, and 2d, 3rd, 4th, and 5th quintiles. The control variables were age, gender, race, education, marital status, disability status of the respondents and the number of children at home. Separate regression analyses were performed for both positive and negative changes under each dimension of changes in family living conditions, viz., frequency of changes in income status, changes in family structure, and changes in employment status. Negative Binomial Regression technique was used for data analysis. This statistical procedure is an appropriate one because the dependent variable takes the form of frequency and a sizable proportion of respondents have zero frequencies. FINDIGNS: 1. Lower-income families face greater frequencies of positive AND negative changes in income status than do middle- and higher-income families. 2. Lower-income families face greater frequencies of changes in family structure than do middle- and higher-income families. 3. Lower-income families face greater frequencies of positive AND negative changes in employment status than do middle- and higher-income families. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that poor and near-poor families suffer greater volatility in their lives than the rest of the nation’s families. We expect that the combination of changes in income status, family structure, and employment status in a short span of time must be creating stressful living conditions for low-income families. POLICY IMPLICATIONS: Policy makers should recognize that low-income families in the United States not only have small financial resources, but also are living under considerably volatile living conditions, for which a new innovative, social support system may be called for.

See more of Family Impacts of Poverty
See more of Oral and Poster

See more of Celebrating a Decade of SSWR (January 13 - 16, 2005)