Children living in lower-income and poor families are more likely to suffer from poor physical and mental health, engage in risky and delinquent behaviors, fare worse academically, and drop out of school than children from more advantaged backgrounds. Higher income does not guarantee protection from these risks, but is associated with a range of…

When Congress reformed the welfare system in 1996, major goals of the legislation were to increase employment and income of needy families and to decrease child poverty. Another major goal was to improve child outcomes through increased parental employment and earnings along with other provisions of welfare reform. However, there was also concern…

This brief examines the factors related to depressive symptoms among mothers and explores the implications for acting out behavior in their third grade children. The authors found that children's acting out (externalizing) behavior in the third grade can be affected by a variety of difficulties in the lives of their mothers. Some of these…