Background: School-based parent involvement is associated with child academic outcomes, positive behaviors, and social skills. Research on school-based parent involvement among low-income mothers is limited and even less understood for low-income mothers who receive financial housing assistance. Objective: This study examined the association…

Background/Context: In light of increasingly common, non-traditional pathways to college enrollment and potential importance of post-secondary education for family wellbeing, this article examines maternal college enrollment. I employ a sociological application of rational action theory in which costs of reentry, probability of success, and…

Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (N = 1,162) and the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (N = 1,308), we estimate associations between material and instrumental support available to low-income mothers and young children's socioemotional well-being. In multivariate OLS models, we find…

Female welfare recipients (n=144) and one child of each were interviewed. High levels of human and psychological capital and lower levels of family social ecology barriers predicted more maternal paid employment and psychological well-being. Analyses of nearly 1,200 welfare mothers' archival records correlated low initial capital with greater…

This manuscript reports on a study of how low-income employed single mothers and young adolescents manage household daily life. Analysis is based on longitudinal ethnographic data collected from families of 35 young adolescents over 3 years following the 1996 welfare reforms. Although mothers worked, young adolescents spent time unsupervised,…

Using the National Survey of Family Growth, we document nonmetropolitan and metropolitan single mothers? economic livelihood strategies. We have three objectives: (1) examine differences in employment, cohabitation, co-residence with other adults, and welfare receipt; (2) evaluate how these livelihood strategies are associated with economic…

This Kids Count report examines statewide trends from 1990 to 1994 in the well-being of Massachusetts' children. The statistical portrait is based on indicators of well-being in five areas: (1) economic well-being of children and their families, including child poverty rate, family income, job loss, earnings of male high school dropouts and…

This study looked at New Chance, a voluntary randomized trial of an intensive program for teenage mothers and their children that operated nationally between 1989 and 1992. The study examined the effects of maternal psychosocial well being, intensity of work and educational pursuits, home environment, and use of childcare on combined experimental…

The New Chance Demonstration, which operated at 16 locations in 10 states in 1989-1992, offered comprehensive education, training, and assistance to teenage mothers who had dropped out of high school. The demonstration, which was designed to increase the young mothers' well-being and long-term self-sufficiency, was subjected to an interim…

This data book from the Children's Defense Fund includes statistics on a range of indicators that measure critical aspects of children's lives in each of the states and the United States as a whole. Statistics are provided in the following categories: (1) population and family characteristics (number of children under age 18 and age 6, number of…

Children's poverty rate in the United States, over 20%, exceeds that of all industrialized nations except Australia. This interdisciplinary book examines the impact of changing public policies on children. Section 1 gives a current and historical overview of children in poverty. Sections 2 through 5 address arenas of possible change from policy…

The 2-year impacts of 11 welfare-to-work programs across the United States were evaluated to determine the relative effectiveness of different approaches to moving individuals from welfare to work. All 11 programs operated under the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Program. Four programs were employment focused (three low-enforcement and one…