Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study

The primary goal of our study, called Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study, is to examine impact of the 1996 federal welfare reform law on low-income families by gathering longitudinal data in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio. Our research goals were: (1) to describe adult strategies developed in response to reform in terms of employment, schooling or training, residential mobility, and fertility; (2) to examine the role of welfare reform on children's health and development, and the influence of reform on children's need for and use of social services; and (3) to make findings accessible to a broad audience.

The study comprises three interrelated components: (1) a longitudinal survey, (2) an embedded developmental study, and (3) an ethnographic study. In addition to William Julius Wilson, the co-Principal Investigators include Ronald Angel of University of Texas at Austin, Linda Burton of Pennsylvania State University, Andrew Cherlin of Johns Hopkins University, P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale of Northwestern University and Robert Moffitt of Johns Hopkins University.

Longitudinal Survey
The longitudinal study involves a random sample survey of families with children in low-income neighborhoods in Boston, Chicago and San Antonio. The study examines how parents respond to new welfare programs in domains such as employment and training, parenting practices, mental health, and use of services, and in turn, how these changes in parents' lives affect children's school readiness and academic success, physical health, and emotional behavioral functioning.

Since 1999, we have completed two waves of survey interviews and child assessments. A third wave of data collection began in Spring 2005. We interviewed a random sample of 2,458 households with children, 38 percent of whom received cash welfare benefits. The criteria for the survey population are as follows: The children were under the age of four or between the ages of 10 and 14 in 1999; the primary caregiver was a woman; the mother self-identified as non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic African-American, or Hispanic of any race; and the family income was between 100 percent and 200 percent of the poverty line.

Embedded Developmental Study (EDS)
The Embedded Developmental Study (EDS) was conducted in order to improve the breadth and depth of the measurement of child development and the key environments of young children. It was directed by Lindsay Chase-Lansdale and involved a team of 25 research scientists, postdoctoral students, graduate and undergraduate students, in addition to the numerous field interviewers hired by RTI. EDS data were collected in Waves I and II or the study. Data include videotaping and coding of children's self-regulation behaviors and of caregiver-child interactions, live observations of child-care settings, interviews with childcare providers, and interviews with fathers.

Ethnographic Study
The purpose of the ethnography is to conduct fine-grained assessments of how, over time, welfare reform policies influence the day-to-day lives of low-income families, including a subset of families with a child who has a moderate to severe mental or physical disability. Families participating in the ethnography reside in the same low-income neighborhoods in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio as families in the survey sample. The ethnography develops descriptions of social processes that are relevant to and affect the success of welfare policies. Of particular interest are the transition from welfare to work and back, "making it" financially, health and health care, parenting, social networks, caring for people who are disabled, and neighborhood effects on all of the above.

The ethnographic sample comprises 256 families with a total of 685 children under 18 years of age and a racial distribution of 42% Hispanic, 40% African American, and 18% non-Hispanic white. Within the sample, 45 of the families were chosen because they had a child 8 years of age or younger with a disability. Families were recruited at formal childcare settings, neighborhood community centers, local welfare offices, churches and other public assistance agencies between June 1999 and December 2000. Ethnographers met with each family an average of once or twice per month for 12-18 months and then met with them every six months thereafter. Topics addressed during the visits include: health and health access; experiences with TANF, SSI, Medicaid, WIC, and other public assistance programs; education, work experiences and future plans; family economics; child development, parenting, intimate relationships; support networks; family routines; and home and neighborhood environments. In addition to these interviews, ethnographers engaged in participant observation with the families. This often involved accompanying the mother and her children to the welfare office, child care setting, doctor, grocery store, or workplace. The last interview with families was completed in June 2003.

The ethnography is directed by Linda Burton and William Julius Wilson. Five senior ethnographers directly manage ethnographic activities at each site: Constance Williams (Boston), Monica McManus (Chicago), Laura Lein (San Antonio), and Debra Skinner for the disability component. The Ethnography team is comprised of over 210 research scientists, ethnographers, qualitative data analysts, systems programmers, and staff.

The ethnography has generated one of the largest qualitative data sets in the United States, with over 45,000 pages of field notes and supporting data (e.g., tapes and diagrams), requiring a highly organized, consistent data management system. Ethnographic data from each of the three cities are coded and archived at the Pennsylvania State University. Qualitative data analyses are continuing.

Click here to access a list of publications and presentations using the data from Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study.

For more information on Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study, please visit the study website at http://www.jhu.edu/~welfare/.