The Development of Low Income Children in the Context of Welfare and Food Stamps

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议研究的总体目标是研究家庭使用公共援助福利，家庭环境和低收入儿童和青少年的发展之间的关联。利用幼儿纵向研究-幼儿园队列的全国代表性数据，这项工作将解决三个具体目标：1）研究父母使用公共援助计划之间的独特关系，包括收入支持（即，TANF）和实物支助（即，食品券），和儿童的身体健康，心理健康和认知发展，2）检查这些关系是否根据计划使用的时间和持续时间而变化，和3）调查公共援助福利和儿童发展成果之间的关系的家庭层次的调解人和调解人。将采用各种分析技术来解决这些目标，包括倾向得分分析，潜在曲线建模，有限混合建模和结构方程建模。这项研究的结果将扩大现有的信息，有关如何公共援助福利低收入家庭收到的儿童的发展，提供了一个微妙的检查如何使用福利的时间和持续时间改变这些关系，并照亮发展过程中，通过宏观层面的政策可以影响儿童的发展。 公共卫生相关性：据广泛记载，低收入家庭的儿童比中产阶级的儿童更容易遇到社会情感、身体和学业方面的困难。本研究探讨低收入家庭的公共援助福利与儿童心理健康、身体健康和认知发展之间的关系。这项工作将有助于不断增长的知识，为旨在优化低收入儿童发展成果的政策和做法提供信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overarching goal of the proposed research is to examine associations between family use of public assistance benefits, family contexts, and the development of low-income children and adolescents. Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, this work will address three specific aims: 1) to examine unique relations between parents' use of public assistance programs, including income support (i.e., TANF) and in-kind support (i.e., food stamps), and children's physical health, mental health, and cognitive development, 2) to examine whether these relations vary according to the timing and duration of program use, and 3) to investigate family-level mediators and moderators of relations between public assistance benefits and children's developmental outcomes. A variety of analytic techniques will be employed to address these goals, including propensity score analysis, latent curve modeling, finite mixture modeling, and structural equation modeling. Results of this research will expand existing information concerning how public assistance benefits received by low-income families relate to children's development, provide a nuanced examination of how timing and duration of benefit use alter these relationships, and illuminate developmental processes through which macro-level policies can affect children's development. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: It is widely documented that low-income children are at greater risk for experiencing social-emotional, physical and academic difficulties than their middle class counterparts. This study examines relations between public assistance benefits available to low-income families and children's mental health, physical health, and cognitive development. This work will contribute to the growing body of knowledge that informs policies and practices designed to optimize developmental outcomes among low-income children.