“I Used to Get WIC . . . But Then I Stopped”: How WIC Participants Perceive the Value and Burdens of Maintaining Benefits

This study examines how individuals assess administrative burdens and how these views change over time within the context of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides food to pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under age five. Using interview data from the Baby’s First Years: Mothers’ Voices study (n = 80), we demonstrate how the circumstances of family life, shifting food needs and preferences, and the receipt of other resources shape how mothers perceive the costs and benefits of program participation. We find that mothers’ perceptions of WIC’s costs and benefits vary over time and contribute to program participation trajectories, so many eligible people do not participate; need alone does not drive participation decisions

The Impact of a Poverty Reduction Intervention on Infant Brain Activity

Early childhood poverty is a risk factor for lower school achievement, reduced earnings, and poorer health, and has been associated with differences in brain structure and function. Whether poverty causes differences in neurodevelopment, or is merely associated with factors that cause such differences, remains unclear. Here, we report estimates of the causal impact of a poverty reduction intervention on brain activity in the first year of life. We draw data from a subsample of the Baby's First Years study, which recruited 1,000 diverse low-income mother–infant dyads. Shortly after giving birth, mothers were randomized to receive either a large or nominal monthly unconditional cash gift. Infant brain activity was assessed at approximately 1 y of age in the child's home, using resting electroencephalography (EEG; n = 435). We hypothesized that infants in the high-cash gift group would have greater EEG power in the mid- to high-frequency bands and reduced power in a low-frequency band compared with infants in the low-cash gift group. Indeed, infants in the high-cash gift group showed more power in high-frequency bands. Effect sizes were similar in magnitude to many scalable education interventions, although the significance of estimates varied with the analytic specification. In sum, using a rigorous randomized design, we provide evidence that giving monthly unconditional cash transfers to mothers experiencing poverty in the first year of their children's lives may change infant brain activity. Such changes reflect neuroplasticity and environmental adaptation and display a pattern that has been associated with the development of subsequent cognitive skills

Social Poverty and Relational Resources

Social poverty comes from lacking high-quality, trustworthy, dependable relationships. This is distinct from the experience of financial poverty and has consequences for wellbeing. Without adequately recognizing the multidimensional nature of human needs, we cannot understand individuals’ behavior and motivations, nor can we develop policies that successfully respond to their needs. </jats:p

High School Relationship and Marriage Education: A Comparison of Mandated and Self-Selected Treatment

This study examines whether high school relationship and marriage education can affect students’ relationship skills and if effects vary between sites having mandated and self-selected course participation. Based on an original data set ( n = 222), results show that course exposure can result in a significant, positive change in students’ relationship skills, although only at certain schools and for certain students. Mandated treatment appears to garner better results, those from two-parent families show the most consistent gains in relationship skills across schools, and severely economically disadvantaged school samples appear not to show gains. The importance of these results for practitioners and policy makers is discussed.</jats:p

Parenting in On/Off Relationships: The Link Between Relationship Churning and Father Involvement

AbstractFamily systems theory points to the interconnected nature of dyadic relationships within the family unit, arguing for attention to how the parental relationship shapes their ties to and interactions with their children. Grounded in family systems theory, we consider how relationship churning—defined as being in an on-again/off-again relationship with the same partner—is associated with father involvement. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine how father involvement among relationship churners compares with father involvement among those in three other relationship types (measured during the first five years of the focal child’s life): stably together relationships, stably broken-up relationships, and repartnered relationships. First, we find that churning fathers remain more involved with their 9-year-old children than do parents who stably break up or repartner, but they are less involved than those who are stably together. Second, lower relationship quality among churners—and, to a lesser extent, repartnering and childbearing with a new partner—explains some of the differences in father involvement between churners and the stably together. Third, these differences are most apparent among parents not living together when father involvement is measured. Taken together, the focus on relationship churning extends prior research on the association between relationship transitions and father involvement by separating relationship instability from partner change.</jats:p

Family Instability and Adolescent Relationships: The Role of Parental Relationship Churning

Parental relationship histories are associated with adolescents’ romantic and sexual relationships. However, no research examines the association between parents’ being in an on-again/off-again relationship (churning) and adolescent relationship outcomes, even though a substantial minority of youth experience this form of family instability. Using Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study data, the present study examines how parental relationship histories are associated with adolescents’ dating and sexual experiences. We find that differences in outcomes between adolescents who experience parental relationship churning and adolescents who experience other parental relationship histories are largely explained by variation in adolescent and parental characteristics. These findings suggest that adolescents who experience parental relationship churning are a distinctive group, but for reasons other than their parents’ tumultuous relationship histories. </jats:p