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Title: Effects of Maternal Work Incentives on Adolescent Behaviors
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Dave, Dhaval
Corman, Hope
Kalil, Ariel
Schwartz-Soicher, Ofira
Reichman, Nancy
Effects of Maternal Work Incentives on Adolescent Behaviors
Presented: Austin TX, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2019
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Adolescent Behavior; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Extracurricular Activities/Sports; Geocoded Data; Maternal Employment; Monitoring the Future (MTF); State-Level Data/Policy; Substance Use; Volunteer Work; Welfare

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Robert Moffitt’s 2014 PAA address highlighted the need for studies of effects on children of the substantial (and un-reversed) reduction of the cash assistance safety net that took place in the 1990s. This study investigates the effects of welfare reform, which dramatically limited cash assistance for low-income families, on adolescent behaviors that are important for socioeconomic trajectories and represent observable outcomes of the reforms for the next generation as they transition to adulthood. Using two nationally-representative datasets, we exploit differences in welfare reform implementation across states and over time in a difference-in-differences framework to identify causal effects of welfare reform on a range of social behaviors (volunteering, clubs/teams/activities; delinquency, substance use). We investigate differential effects by gender and age and explore maternal employment and supervision as potential mediators. Preliminary results suggest that welfare reform had largely unfavorable effects on adolescent behaviors and do not support longstanding culture of poverty arguments.
Bibliography Citation
Dave, Dhaval, Hope Corman, Ariel Kalil, Ofira Schwartz-Soicher and Nancy Reichman. "Effects of Maternal Work Incentives on Adolescent Behaviors." Presented: Austin TX, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2019.