Intergenerational Connections to Child Well-Being: The Human Capital, Hardships and Cultural Strengths of African American Single Mothers on Public Assistance

Background: Most (78%) of African American families with children living in poverty are headed by single mothers, many of whom receive public assistance as they contend with serious material hardships. Studies often fail to acknowledge protective factors available to African American single mothers, such as resiliency, human capital, social welfare programs, and cultural strengths. In fact, African American single mothers often rely on cultural strengths to address poverty hardships and improve life circumstances for their children, though most studies focus on their deficiencies. These protective factors foster strategies for decreasing their current hardships, increasing the likelihood of improved child well-being outcomes, and disrupting the threat of intergenerational poverty.

Methodology: Guided by ecological systems, resilience, and Afrocentric theories, this study’s sample comprised 572 child-mother dyads from Wave 1 of the Survey of Income and Program Participation 2014 Panel, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The mother’s human capital indicators were high school completion, educational attainment, vocational and professional certifications. The mother’s hardship variables were food insecurity, housing insecurity, energy insecurity, and employment barriers. The child’s well-being variables were plays sports, participates in clubs and extra-curricular activities, and school performance indicators. Study analyses include univariate, bivariate, and multivariable logistic regression tests to identify the characteristics, predictive relationships, and moderating factors associated with child well-being. Additionally, the interaction effect of cultural strengths (family engagement, caregiver support, and religious activities) was tested to identify any moderating relationships on child well-being results.

Results: Most African American single mothers on public assistance had completed high school (77%), over one-third had attended college (38%), and a few had earned a bachelor’s degree or higher (4%). Additionally, about one-fifth had earned a vocational certification (17.1%) or professional certification (21.5%). Common hardships reported were food insecurity (38%), housing insecurity (15%), and utility insecurity (15%). After controlling for socioeconomic demographics (age, region, public assistance, job status, and income), children of mothers who had completed high school had higher odds of positive child well-being outcomes. For example, their children will more likely play sports (OR=1.999, p<.001), participate in clubs (OR=5.666, p<.001), and be enrolled in gifted classes (OR=1.614, p<.001). Moreover, the interaction-effect of cultural strengths represented by engagement in religious activities and high school completion produced the most robust results. Model results indicated statistically significant relationships between cultural strengths and reduced odds a child had repeated a grade (OR=.593, p<.001) as well as increased odds that the child played sports (OR=1.242, p<.01).

Conclusions and Implications: Results suggest that in addition to hardships, studies should include cultural strengths and human capital of African American single mothers receiving public assistance. Social welfare stakeholders will benefit from understanding the relationship between child well-being outcomes and the human capital, hardships, and cultural strengths of African American single mothers. Future research will benefit from shifting away from deficit-focused research models to engage in strengths-focused scholarly research that guides stakeholders towards pathways to improve social welfare systems.