This article originally appeared in the August 2003 Harvard Mental Health Letter and is provided courtesy of Harvard Health Publications.

Welfare to work: The effect on children

The federal welfare system was overhauled in 1996 by legislation establishing strict work requirements for mothers of dependent children, with tough sanctions and a five-year lifetime limit on benefits. Since then, hundreds of thousands of poor single mothers have entered the paid work force.

Both proponents and opponents of the policy change were concerned about its effects on children. Proponents said that living on welfare harmed children because it rewarded lack of initiative and increased the risk of behavior problems. They said working mothers would provide higher income and a better example for children. Opponents of the law believed that the reforms would lower the quality of family life by imposing further stress on mothers and reducing the amount of time they could spend with their children.

A study of families who have gone through the welfare-to-work process suggests that children were influenced less than either side predicted. The study included 564 preschool children (ages 2–4) and 895 young adolescents (ages 10–14) in five cities, the vast majority of them African American or Hispanic. Mothers and children were interviewed once in 1999 and a second time 16 months later, in 2001. The mothers answered questions about preschool children’s behavior and overall well-being. Adolescents reported on their own feelings and delinquent behavior, and took reading and arithmetic tests.

The behavior and well-being of preschool children changed hardly at all with their mothers’ welfare or work status — although mothers who went to work did spend, on average, two hours less per day with their children. Among young adolescents, behavior problems, drug and alcohol abuse, depression, and especially anxiety were reduced when their mothers took a job (even for a few hours a week) and increased when their mothers quit work or lost a job. Simply going off or on welfare, by contrast, had little effect.

The authors believe that the higher income and higher self-esteem that went with having a working mother may have been important for adolescents. For preschoolers, the effect of higher income may have been offset by the loss of their mothers’ company.

As the authors point out, their study covers only a 16-month period during an economic boom. They also note that it includes not only women who were obliged to work by the law, but also women who chose to join the labor force.

Chase-Lansdale PL, et al. “Mothers’ Transitions from Welfare to Work and the Well-Being of Preschoolers and Adolescents,” Science (March 7, 2003): Vol. 299, No. 5612, pp. 1548 –52.