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Why households eligible for SNAP do not participate has perplexed scholars. Explanations exist, but few explore whether SNAP nonparticipation coincides with private food assistance. Applying an inn...

This study offers knowledge about factors associated with a key type of family change, namely, two- to-three-generation household transformations, which are poorly understood, despite increasing numbers of three-generation households, especially ones headed by females. Using a representative sample of 5,874 Australian children, results showed that the circumstances of children in two-generation households differed greatly by family structure. Thus, before investigating determinants of three-generation household formation, children were first grouped as living in either two-parent or single-mother households. For both groups of children, several factors were found associated with three-generation household formation. In two-parent households, the odds of three-generation household formation decreased with mothers’ ages, fathers’ higher educational attainments, and more children, but increased as children grew older. In single-mother households, the odds of three-generation household formation decreased with mothers’ higher educational attainments, increasing income, and more children, but increased if mothers had never been married and worked more hours. Living in rural areas decreased odds of three-generation household formation for children in both types of households. Overall, grandparents appear to play a relatively more important resource role in three-generation, mother only households than in three-generation, two-parent households.

Using Australian time-diary data, this study examines the effects of child disability on couples' work patterns. Findings show that while mothers' labor force participation, work hours, and exact scheduling of hours of paid employment over a twenty-four-hour day were associated with raising children with disabilities, these areas of fathers' paid work lives were unaffected. Results for control variables confirmed previous findings in the literature on maternal labor supply. This study offers new knowledge on the impact of childhood disability on the organization of work in two-parent families, broadens debate about the work-family dilemma, and promotes inclusion of families raising special-needs children into future research on work and families.

Because of population aging, many governments are placing greater responsibility on older persons to fund their retirement. Within this context, older persons' financial self-sufficiency during times of stress is important to understand. Using data from the 2002 Australian General Social Survey, this article reports on the prevalence of older persons drawing on financial resources to meet the cost of everyday living expenses when current income is insufficient, identifies the kinds of resources older persons draw on to meet the costs of everyday necessities, and estimates the effects of demographic factors on different necessary dissaving strategies. Results indicate that about 11% of older persons find it necessary to employ some type of dissaving strategy and that the factors associated with asset dissaving differ from the factors associated with liability dissaving. Future research needs to examine the effects of unanticipated events on necessary dissaving and alternative motives for dissaving.

Changes in families over the past thirty years have created methodological challenges for research on family variation. Some argue that standard survey methods used for collecting data on families have been outpaced by the transformation of families and hence estimates of family variation are maccurate and opportunities for cross-country comparisons of family variation are hampered. This situation is rectifiable through greater use of relationship matrices. This underused data collection method can precisely portray family variation and facilitate cross-country comparisons. To illustrate the method’s usefulness for family research, relationship matrices data on young persons from Australia and the United States are exploited to: depict individuals’ living arrangements; identify patterns in partnering and childbearing; describe demographic diversity across types of couples; and compare family variation across countries.

This research examines the relationship between disabilities in families and returns to welfare. Past studies of welfare recidivism have long theorized that disabilities played a central role in returns to welfare among former recipients, but lacked data to test the hypothesis. Hypothesis tests support the theory that both child and maternal disabilities, which act as barriers to self-sufficiency, increase rates of TANF re-entry and SSI entry. We show that because past studies did not account for disabilities on the odds of returning to welfare, effects of work, number of children, and past receipt of TANF are somewhat overstated. Our findings add to the literature on welfare recidivism and have implications for welfare reforms that emphasize work and lifetime limits on benefits.

Using data from Australia, health behavior outcomes and the social connectedness of adolescents in immigrant families are contrasted with the outcomes of adolescents in non-immigrant families. Findings suggest that first and second generation adolescents are less likely to drink alcohol and lack social support than third generation adolescents, but more likely not to be physically active and not to have membership to a social club or group than third generation adolescents. Second generation adolescents are more likely to smoke than third generation adolescents. Findings suggest that immigrant adolescents appear protected from negative risks, yet at the same time, do not benefit from Australia's cultural traditions for physical activity and social participation. Across generations, however, social participation and physical activity increase. Lastly, as length of time in Australia increases, the protective effect of the immigrant family against some negative risks wanes. Overall, the assimilation process leads adolescents in immigrant families to adopt Australia's prevailing social customs of health and social behaviors.

Using the Australian Time Use survey (TUS), this study examined time allocation among working parents raising children with disabilities. Findings showed that raising children with disabilities reduced the time working mothers had for leisure activities, but increased the time for socializing activities. Consistent with the literature, the latter effect probably reflects the special need of working mothers raising children with disabilities for strong social networks offering regular support. While a mother's time for personal care was reduced by a child with a disability, a father's time for personal care was unaffected. Thus, mothers were relatively more disadvantaged than fathers in terms of total time for themselves. This study offers new knowledge on the impact of childhood disability on working parents' time for personal care and leisure, activities that can improve their psychological and physical well-being.

Using data from the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey, this study provides timely evidence on the effects of on-site child care at the workplace and employer-provided family leave on worker absenteeism, turnover, and productivity. The study found that workplaces with on-site child care compared with workplaces with no on-site child care had lower rates of absenteeism and higher ratings for worker productivity. Workplaces that had a family leave policy also had lower rates of absenteeism than workplaces that had no such policy in place. Analyses also suggest that workplace characteristics, such as presence of a human-resources manager or union representative, are associated with higher worker productivity. Firm size, mission, and shift work were other predictors of worker performance. The findings argue strongly for an extensive, new workplace survey that can elucidate how parents today manage to abide by new workplace agreements while still handling the demands of family life.

We examine the effects of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's (ACA) prohibition of preexisting conditions exclusions for children on job mobility among parents. We use a difference-in-difference approach, comparing pre-post policy changes in job mobility among privately-insured parents of children with chronic health conditions vs. privately-insured parents of healthy children. Data come from the 2004 and 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Among married fathers, the policy change is associated with about a 0.7 percentage point, or 35 percent increase, in the likelihood of leaving an employer voluntarily. We find no evidence that the policy change affected job mobility among married and unmarried mothers.

Considerable increases in the numbers of children living with grandparents have prompted concerns over their economic well-being and grandparents’ use of welfare programs. Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, I profile the economic well-being of children living with grandparents and estimate the likelihood of receiving two welfare programs: food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Findings suggest that identifying the exact living arrangements of children is pivotal to understanding differences in economic disadvantage and welfare receipt among children living with grandparents. Although children in grandmother-only, no parent present families are the most likely to be poor, they are not the children most likely to receive welfare. The children most likely to receive welfare live with their single mothers and grandparents in three-generation households.

This research examines the relationship between disabilities in families and exits from welfare. Controlling for variations in characteristics known to be associated with welfare exits, this study investigates and documents that specific configurations of disabilities in families are also strongly associated with reduced rates of welfare exits. The impact of a child with a disability on welfare exits is similar to the mother's own disability, with an impact equivalent in magnitude to minority status. The presence of a child with a disability limits the chances that a mother with disability will leave welfare. Our findings add to the literature on welfare dependency and have implications for welfare reforms that emphasize work, self-sufficiency, and reducing poverty.

The dramatic changes in family composition have profound implications for studying relationships of children to other adults in a household. However, methods for studying such relationships have been outpaced by the transformation of families and thus today’s studies, for example, often inaccurately assess whether a child lives with one or two parents and whether he or she is the biological child of those parents. Despite needing increased detail about relationships of children to adults in a household, few surveys gather such data. An exception is the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, which collects detailed household relationship data. Analyses of these data suggest that there is tremendous diversity in Australian children’s living arrangements; that the circumstances of the arrangements are equally varied; and that Australian children are more likely to live with unmarried parents than American children. HILDA could enormously benefit studies of the relationships of children to adults in a household and future family-oriented policies.

This study examined the child care arrangements of children in immigrant families. Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), the study found great diversity in the child care arrangements of children according to their nativity status. Children in immigrant families, especially those in low-income immigrant families, were found less likely to use centre-based child care. Mexican, Asian, and other Hispanic children are also less likely to use centre-based child care. Because quality centre-based child care has been shown to benefit preschool-age children and help prepare them for school, both scholastically and psychologically, less use of centre-based child care among children in immigrant families compared to children in non-immigrant families is a potentially troubling finding. Public policies promoting greater access to and more use of centre-based child care, especially for low-income immigrant families and two-parent immigrant families, may make a significant difference to their children's long-term adaptation, and their children's school readiness and achievement.

Little is known about the determinants of out-of-school childcare arrangements of school-age children. Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, this study compares out-of-school childcare arrangements of children in single-mother and two-parent working families and examines the factors influencing their childcare decisions. Findings suggest that for both types of families, the key factors influencing childcare choices are hours of employment of mothers, degree of economic disadvantage, and children’s ages. We also find that single mothers compensate for absence spouses by using kin disproportionately more for childcare. The study shows that after-school programs are used relatively less than other forms of childcare for schoolchildren. We think that less use maybe associated with the inability of after-school programs to meet the hours of childcare needed by full-time working mothers.

Little is known about the living arrangements of first- and second-generation immigrant children. Using data from the Current Population Survey and a multivariate approach, I compared living arrangements of immigrant children to U.S.-born white children with U.S.-born parents. Findings show, except for foreign-born black and some Hispanic children, that foreign-born children lived with married parents more frequently than did U.S.-born white children with U.S.-born parents. However, by the third generation, a pattern emerged showing a decline in living with married parents among some immigrant children and a rise in living with single parents. The noticeable “downward assimilation” among some second- and third-generation immigrant children fits a theory of segmented assimilation and is concerning because single-parent families confront more social problems and sociodemographic risks.

This paper revisits state intervention in families on behalf of children rather than on behalf of parents. Drawing upon the theory of comparative advantage, the study argues that the reported rise in child abuse and neglect results from parents' lacking the absolute minimum levels of skills needed to sustain a family, not from parents' lacking altruism for children. The analysis has implications for child welfare policies and the sorts of welfare programs families should receive, and questions the efficacy of costly child protection programs. Interestingly, applying the theory of comparative advantage to this unfortunate aspect of family life yields similar conclusions to those reached by others. Most significantly, akin to past studies, this study concludes that the state faces an `agency problem' when it intervenes on behalf of maltreated children, because it cannot fully monitor parents judged as incompetent at raising their children.

Objective. This research examines the claim that states' newfound autonomy to devise their own welfare systems will lead to more intergenerational family dissolution. Critics of welfare reform argue that children residing in states with lower welfare benefits will be more at risk of living apart from parents, as some parents will lack sufficient income to raise children. Methods. Data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation were analyzed employing a discrete-time hazard model. Results. The findings suggest that the risk of children living apart from parents was lower in states offering higher welfare benefits. Also, results indicate that the children at greatest risk of living apart from parents are those who are either newborns or teenagers, are white, or have parents with disabilities. Conclusions. Growing reluctance across all levels of government to provide income support for needy families may accelerate the upward trend in parent-child separation. Results further broaden the literature on household responses to economic setbacks by showing that economic deprivation leads single-parent families to reduce the number of coresident children.

De plus en plus d'enfants vivent dans des foyers dans lesquels les deux parents sont absents. Quels sont les facteurs qui rendent compte de cette tendance a la dissolution familiale? C'est dans cette perspective que les A. repondent aux critiques de leur article precedent point par point. Si les decideurs politiques ont besoin de donnees factuelles pour evaluer les effets de la protection sociale sur la structure familiale, d'autres etudes similaires sont necessaires pour confirmer les resultats obtenus

This study analyzed welfare receipt among children across alternative living arrangements. Findings suggest more variation in patterns of public assistance receipt than previously reported, and that these variations are affected by the presence of cohabiting fathers. Results argue for more precise indicators of children's living arrangements so that levels of welfare receipt among children are comparable. Indicators should categorize children according to whether they live with their married or cohabiting parents. Once children's relationships with coresiding males were determined, findings showed that children living with fathers were less likely to receive public assistance except for supplemental security income. Results confirm that children growing up with unmarried mothers who do not cohabit with adult males are the most likely to receive welfare and the most disadvantaged. Results also show, however, that children living with cohabiting biological parents are more likely to receive welfare than children living with married parents.

Critics of welfare reform claim that children will leave their mother's care in states that restrict benefits because mothers will lack sufficient income to raise children. This article investigates these claims and the relationship between the generosity of welfare benefits and children's living arrangements. I found that mother‐child separations were lower in states with higher welfare benefits, suggesting that higher welfare benefits lower the cost to single mothers of raising children. Given reluctance among states to provide income support for families, this suggests that policies designed to reduce welfare dependence may raise rates of mother‐child separations.

Calls for less government spending and the perception that immigrants disproportionately use public assistance have contributed to the largest overhaul of the U.S. welfare system in 60 years. The new rules affect all needy persons, including immigrants. Drawing on data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, and using a multivariate approach, this study compared use of public assistance programs among immigrants of various ethnic groups, their offspring into the third generation, and native-born White Americans. Our findings show that some immigrant groups, in particular Mexicans and Asians, use public assistance more than native-born Whites with native-born parents. However, by the third generation (with the exception of Mexicans), a striking pattern emerged that showed a steep decline in the probability of using public assistance programs, with West and East Europeans' use, moreover, dropping below that of native-born Whites with native-born parents. Additionally, we found that recent cohorts of immigrants arriving in 1970 or later are more likely to use public assistance than were earlier cohorts of immigrants. The findings are interpreted from the perspective of assimilation.

Little is known about why parents choose kin-provided child care and less is known about how kin-provided child care is related to other forms of in-kind support from relatives close-at-hand. Previous models of the choice of kin-provided child care assumed that the presence of other forms of in-kind support from relatives nearby was inconsequential to estimating effects of economic and demographic factors on the decision to use kin-provided child care. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of the Class of 1972, this study shows that this assumption is incorrect because use of kin-provided child care and intrafamily in-kind resource exchanges are interrelated. When the association between use of kin-provided child care and the presence of other family in-kind exchanges is ignored, the study shows that estimated effects for income, the price of child care, and maternal characteristics are underestimated. The findings provide a better understanding of why parents choose kin-provided child care by confirming that this decision is a part of a larger set of parental decisions about involvement in resource exchanges within extended families. My findings support recent child care bills aiming to increase parental choice of child care provider, broaden the definition of a provider to include non-coresident relatives, and expand price subsidies for kin-provided child care.

Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, this study investigates factors associated with utilization of child care among working mothers raising children with disabilities. Results provide a national-level description of the use of nonparental child care among working mothers raising children with disabilities. Multivariate analyses show that the hours of day care or relative-provided child care used by mothers raising children with disabilities are influenced by demographic and economic factors and by the specific nature of the childhood disability. The study also finds that a child's disability status is less important in a mother's decision to enter the labor force than other factors, such as the mother's own disability status.

This paper considers state interventions in families on behalf of children whose parents are negligent. The state faces an `agency problem' when it intervenes on behalf of neglected children because it cannot fully monitor families; for instance, it can give cash transfers to poor parents, but it cannot observe them and make sure that they spend the money on their children. Consideration of this agency problem leads to three additional considerations: that because of the state's agency problem, legislators have preferred giving in-kind benefits, rather than income transfers, to negligent parents; that society benefits economically from maintaining alternatives to the traditional family, such as foster homes; and that parents neglect their children because they prefer their own consumption over that of their children.

This study investigates determinants of self-care arrangements among school-aged children. The study finds that mothers'hours of work increase the likelihood of self-care arrangements. However, accompanying results suggest that maternal work and use of self-care does not imply school children are unsupervised. Effects of kin, older siblings, the cost of care and use of only maternal care previously suggest that self-care is chosen only when special conditions are satisfied. When those stipulations are meet, self-care has a higher likelihood of use.

This study investigates whether financial agreements between husbands and wives, the cost of child care, mothers' wages, and sources of income, rather than just aggregate income, affect a mother's decision to use child care. This study finds that for working mothers, the price of child care is what matters, not their wages; for nonemployed mothers, the reverse is true. However, similar patterns for income effects are found for all mothers. Husbands' incomes do not affect mothers' child care choices, but mothers' own abilities to pay and sources of nonwage income do affect their child care choices. The only detected effect of spouses' incomes on wives' child care choices occurs when husbands pool their incomes with their wives' incomes. Hence, although market child care is a collective consumption good, not all wives in two-parent families have access to husbands' incomes with which to pay for child care.

All children have two parents, a mother and a father. Yet, only during the past two decades have social scientists and policymakers begun to direct substantial attention toward understanding men’s experience with children and the role that fathers play in child development through the resources, care, and nurturing they give to their children (see Cabrera, Tamis-LeMonda, Bradley, Hofferth, & Lamb, 2000; Eggebeen, in press). The early focus first on the changing circumstances and activities of mothers, and more recently on the lives of children, can be understood as a response to the dramatic increases during the past half-century in mothers’ labor force participation, divorce, out-of-wedlock childbearing, and motheronly family living arrangements (see Hernandez, 1986; 1993). But increasing evidence indicates that fathers’ circumstances and behaviors are consequential for the well-being and development of children and for their transition to adulthood (for overviews, see Cabrera et al., 2000; Hernandez, 1993).