The long-term effects on children and adolescents of a policy providing work supports for low-income parents.
New Hope, an employment-based poverty-reduction intervention for adults evaluated in a random-assignment experimental design, had positive impacts on children's achievement and social behavior two and five years after random assignment. The question addressed in this paper was the following: Did the positive effects of New Hope on younger children diminish or even reverse when children reached the challenges of adolescence (eight years after random assignment)? Small positive impacts on school progress, school motivation, positive social behavior, child well-being, and parent control endured, but impacts on school achievement and problem behavior were no longer evident. The most likely reasons for lasting impacts were that New Hope families were slightly less likely to be poor, and children had spent more time in center-based child care and structured activities. New Hope represents a model policy that could produce modest improvements in the lives of low-income adults and children.
Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, A2702, 108 Dean Keaton, Room Seay 1.432, Austin, TX 78712-0141.
Aletha C
AC
Huston
5106 Ravensdale Lane, Austin, TX 78723.
Anjali E
AE
Gupta
Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, A2702, 108 Dean Keaton, Room Seay 1.432, Austin, TX 78712-0141.
Jessica Thornton
JT
Walker
University of Kansas, Center for Research Methods and Data Analysis, 1425 Jayhawk Blvd., Watson Library, 470, Lawrence, KS 66045.
Chantelle J
CJ
Dowsett
Decision Information Resources, Inc., 2600 Southwest Freeway, Suite 900, Houston, TX 77098.
Sylvia R
SR
Epps
7309 Tanaqua Lane, Austin, TX 78739.
Amy E
AE
Imes
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.
Vonnie C
VC
McLoyd