Life of poverty
Carl Palmer
Politics, Groups, and Identities, forthcoming
Abstract:
Certain issues in American politics have become racialized by virtue of elite rhetoric and media coverage. When considering these issues, many Americans find themselves, either consciously or unconsciously, relying on their sentiments toward and stereotypes of implicated groups to form opinions. This project seeks to extend research in this domain by considering the extent to which racialized thinking may be offset, or enhanced, due to the presence of other cues. While citizens typically support successful programs while opposing unsuccessful ones, do these patterns persist when program outcomes and sentiments toward program targets conflict? Results from a lab experiment and two survey experiments suggest that while policy cues appear to have a strong and consistent impact on opinion, group stereotypes activated by group cues moderate the effect of policy cues.
---------------------
The Formative Years, Economic Hardship, and Beliefs about the Government’s Role in Lessening Poverty
Colin Campbell
Social Problems, May 2016, Pages 244-265
Abstract:
Existing research on beliefs about government efforts to lessen poverty is limited in two important ways. First, explanations of beliefs about antipoverty efforts largely focus on current contexts. By emphasizing contemporary contexts, existing research overlooks the potentially profound effect of past experiences. Second, most existing research relies on cross-sectional data, which limits understandings of within person change. In the research presented here, I use both cross-sectional and panel data from the General Social Survey to (1) examine how past experiences shape an individual’s belief about what the government should do about poverty and (2) examine whether beliefs about the government’s role in helping the poor are sensitive to changes in micro and macro-economic hardship. Drawing on theories related to the formative years and event driven changes, I find that experiences during late adolescence, increases in macro-level economic hardship, and increases in individual hardship all influence support for government efforts to lessen poverty; however, current objective and subjective economic position is particularly important. Moreover, I find variation in support across different types of government responses to poverty. In particular, welfare is uniquely unpopular, and support for welfare is less responsive to generational experiences or changes in individual level hardship.
---------------------
Yesim Orhun & Mike Palazzolo
University of Michigan Working Paper, March 2016
Abstract:
Households commonly utilize strategies that provide long-term savings for everyday purchases in exchange for an increase in their short-term expenditures. They buy larger packages of non-perishable goods to take advantage of bulk discounts, and accelerate their purchases to take advantage of temporary discounts. We document that low income households are less likely to utilize these strategies even though they have greater incentives to do so. Moreover, results suggest a compounding effect: the inability to buy in bulk inhibits the ability to time purchases to take advantage of sales, and the inability to accelerate purchase timing to buy on sale inhibits the ability to buy in bulk. We find that the financial losses low income households incur due to underutilization of these strategies can be as large as half of the savings they accrue by purchasing cheaper brands. We provide causal evidence that liquidity constraints inhibit the use of these money-saving strategies.
---------------------
Moving to opportunity and mental health: Exploring the spatial context of neighborhood effects
Corina Graif, Mariana Arcaya & Ana V. Diez Roux
Social Science & Medicine, August 2016, Pages 50–58
Abstract:
Studies of housing mobility and neighborhood effects on health often treat neighborhoods as if they were isolated islands. This paper argues that conceptualizing neighborhoods as part of the wider spatial context within which they are embedded may be key in advancing our understanding of the role of local context in the life of urban dwellers. Analyses are based on mental health and neighborhood context measurements taken on over 3,000 low-income families who participated in the Moving to Opportunity for Fair Housing Demonstration Program (MTO), a large field experiment in five major U.S. cities. Results from analyses of two survey waves combined with Census data at different geographic scales indicate that assignment to MTO's experimental condition of neighborhood poverty <10% significantly decreased average exposure to immediate and surrounding neighborhood disadvantage by 97% and 59% of a standard deviation, respectively, relative to the control group. Escaping concentrated disadvantage in either the immediate neighborhood or the surrounding neighborhood, but not both, was insufficient to make a difference for mental health. Instead, the results suggest that improving both the immediate and surrounding neighborhoods significantly benefits mental health. Compared to remaining in concentrated disadvantage in the immediate and surrounding neighborhood, escaping concentrated disadvantage in both the immediate and surrounding neighborhood on average over the study duration as a result of the intervention predicts an increase of 25% of a standard deviation in the composite mental health scores.
---------------------
Jeffrey Clemens
Tax Policy and the Economy, 2016, Pages 163-189
Abstract:
Program linkages and budgetary spillovers can significantly complicate efforts to project a policy change’s effects. I illustrate this point in the context of recent increases in the federal minimum wage. Previous analysis finds that these particular minimum wage increases had significant effects on employment. Employment declines were sufficiently large that the average earnings of targeted individuals declined. Payroll tax revenues, thus, also fell. I find that transfers to affected individuals through programs including unemployment insurance, food stamp benefits, and cash welfare assistance changed little. These programs, thus, offset relatively little of the earnings declines experienced by individuals who lost employment. I discuss how this broad range of spillovers matters for assessing the relevant minimum wage change’s welfare implications.
---------------------
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and food insecurity among families with children
Jun Zhang & Steven Yen
Journal of Policy Modeling, forthcoming
Abstract:
The roles of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and parental resources in household food insecurity (FI) are investigated. For husband-wife families with children, SNAP participation reduces the probability of household FI among adults by 8.8%, but increases the probabilities of low food security by 6.1% and very low food security by 2.7%, both among children. The positive effects cast doubt on effectiveness of SNAP alone and call for additional policy measures to improve FI among children. SNAP participation can be promoted by policy instruments such as broad-based categorical eligibility and simplified reporting, and food security by promoting education and providing employment opportunities.
---------------------
Family Disadvantage and the Gender Gap in Behavioral and Educational Outcomes
David Autor et al.
NBER Working Paper, May 2016
Abstract:
Using birth certificates matched to schooling records for Florida children born 1992 - 2002, we assess whether family disadvantage disproportionately impedes the pre-market development of boys. We find that, relative to their sisters, boys born to disadvantaged families have higher rates of disciplinary problems, lower achievement scores, and fewer high-school completions. Evidence supports that this is a causal effect of the post-natal environment; family disadvantage is unrelated to the gender gap in neonatal health. We conclude that the gender gap among black children is larger than among white children in substantial part because black children are raised in more disadvantaged families.
---------------------
Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status in Relation to Serum Biomarkers in the Black Women’s Health Study
Yvette Cozier et al.
Journal of Urban Health, April 2016, Pages 279-291
Abstract:
Lower neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with higher cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Black women have a higher CVD risk and are more likely to live in poor neighborhoods than white women. We examined the association of neighborhood SES with several CVD biomarkers using data from the Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS), a follow-up study of US black women reporting high levels of education and income. Blood specimens of 418 BWHS participants were assayed for C-reactive protein (CRP), hemoglobin A1C (hgA1C), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. US Census block group data were linked to the women’s addresses to reflect neighborhood SES. Multivariable-adjusted mixed linear regression models that adjusted for person-level SES and for cardiovascular risk factors were used to assess CRP, hgA1C, and HDL levels in relation to quintiles of neighborhood SES. Women living in the poorest neighborhoods had the least favorable biomarker levels. As neighborhood SES increased, CRP decreased (P for trend = 0.01), hgA1C decreased (P for trend = 0.07), and HDL increased (P for trend = 0.19). These associations were present within strata of individual educational level. The present findings suggest that neighborhood environments may affect physiological processes within residents independently of individual SES.
---------------------
Linking systemic arterial stiffness among adolescents to adverse childhood experiences
Stephen Klassen et al.
Child Abuse & Neglect, June 2016, Pages 1–10
Abstract:
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked with cardiovascular disease and early mortality among adults. Most research examines this relationship retrospectively. Examining the association between ACEs and children's cardiovascular health is required to understand the time course of this association. We examined the relationship between ACEs exposure and ECG-to-toe pulse wave velocity (PWV), a measure of systemic arterial stiffness that is strongly related to cardiovascular mortality among adults. PWV (distance/transit time; m/s) was calculated using transit times from the ECG R-wave to the pulse wave contour at the toe. Transit times were collected over 15 heartbeats and the distance from the sternal notch to the left middle toe was used. A total of 221 children (119 females) aged 10–14 years participated in data collection of PWV, hemodynamic and anthropometric variables. Parents of these children completed a modified inventory of ACEs taken from the Childhood Trust Events Survey. Multivariable regression assessed the relationship between ACEs group (<4 ACEs versus ≥4 ACEs) and PWV. Analyses yielded an ACEs group by sex interaction, with males who experienced four or more ACEs having higher PWV (p < 0.01). This association was independent of hemodynamic, anthropometric and sociodemographic variables (R2 = 0.346; p < 0.01). Four or more ACEs is associated with greater arterial stiffness in male children aged 10–14 years. Addressing stress and trauma exposure in childhood is an important target for public health interventions to reduce early cardiovascular risk.
---------------------
Emily Brignone et al.
JAMA Psychiatry, June 2016, Pages 582-589
Design, Setting, and Participants: A retrospective cohort study of US veterans who used Veterans Health Administration (VHA) services between fiscal years 2004 and 2013 was conducted using administrative data from the Department of Defense and VHA. Included in the study were 601 892 US veterans deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan who separated from the military between fiscal years 2001 and 2011 and subsequently used VHA services.
Results: The mean (SD) age of the 601 892 participants was 38.9 (9.4) years, 527 874 (87.7%) were male, 310 854 (51.6%) were white, and 382 361 (63.5%) were enlisted in the Army. Among veterans with a positive screen for MST, rates of homelessness were 1.6% within 30 days, 4.4% within 1 year, and 9.6% within 5 years, more than double the rates of veterans with a negative MST screen (0.7%, 1.8%, and 4.3%, respectively). A positive screen for MST was significantly and independently associated with postdeployment homelessness. In regression models adjusted for demographic and military service characteristics, odds of experiencing homelessness were higher among those who screened positive for MST compared with those who screened negative (30-day: adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.89; 95% CI, 1.58-2.24; 1-year: AOR, 2.27; 95% CI, 2.04-2.53; and 5-year: AOR, 2.63; 95% CI, 2.36-2.93). Military sexual trauma screen status remained independently associated with homelessness after adjusting for co-occurring mental health and substance abuse diagnoses in follow-up regression models (30-day: AOR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.36-1.93; 1-year: AOR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.33-1.66; and 5-year: AOR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.24-1.55). In the fully adjusted models, the interaction between MST status and sex was significant in the 30-day and 1-year cohorts (30-day: AOR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.18-2.02; and 1-year: AOR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.23-1.74), denoting higher risk for homelessness among males with a positive screen for MST.
Conclusions and Relevance: A positive screen for MST was independently associated with postdeployment homelessness, with male veterans at greater risk than female veterans. These results underscore the importance of the MST screen as a clinically important marker of reintegration outcomes among veterans. These findings demonstrate significant long-term negative effects and inform our understanding of the public health implications of sexual abuse and harassment.