Family Instability and Material Hardship: Results from the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen Heflin
Keyword(s):  
Program Participation ◽  
Material Hardship ◽  
Family Instability

scholarly journals The impact of participation in employment-based retirement savings plans on material hardship

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-428
Author(s):  
BRADLEY T. HEIM ◽  
SHANTHI P. RAMNATH
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Retirement Savings ◽  
Program Participation ◽  
Material Hardship ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Financial Difficulties ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

AbstractTo contribute to a retirement plan (barring an increase in income), an individual must either reduce consumption or increase debt. Using data from the 2004 wave of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, we examine the extent to which contributing to 401(k)-type accounts leads to an increase in short-term financial difficulties, particularly among low-income individuals. After instrumenting for plan take-up, we find that contributing to a 401(k) plan appears to have a small positive impact on the presence of any material hardship and debt holding among the lowest income quintiles, though that effect diminishes further up the income distribution.

Access to Social Network Support and Material Hardship

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 284-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Campbell ◽  
Jessica Pearlman
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Program Participation ◽  
Material Hardship ◽  
Network Support ◽  
Social Network Support ◽  
Analyze Data

Does access to social network support help protect households from material hardship? In this study, we analyze data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation ( N = 28,805) and find that access to assistance from family and friends is associated with a decrease in the likelihood that a household experiences bill-paying hardship, food hardship, or health care hardship. In addition, we examine the interaction between household income and level of available assistance from family and friends. Respondents with higher incomes are able to self-insure against material hardship, and consequently, the protection against material hardship offered by access to assistance is greatest for those respondents with the lowest incomes. Overall, these findings contribute to sociological understandings of how social networks and social isolation shape the well-being of households and suggest an important mechanism for how low-income households are able to avoid material hardship despite inadequate financial resources.

scholarly journals Avoiding material hardship: The buffer function of wealth

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 517-532
Author(s):  
Richard Rodems ◽  
Fabian T Pfeffer
Keyword(s):  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
Private Insurance ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Household Wealth ◽  
Program Participation ◽  
Material Hardship ◽  
Income Loss ◽  
Public Insurance ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Household Assets

We assess how a variety of disruptive life-course events impact the economic wellbeing of US households and trace the importance of household wealth in helping families who experience these events avoid entering a spell of material hardship. Using longitudinal data from two panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we draw on direct measures of material hardship, disruptive events and household assets. Our analyses reveal that the relationship between disruptive events and the likelihood of experiencing a new spell of material hardship strongly varies across the wealth distribution, suggesting that high household wealth provides an effective private safety net. By distinguishing different types of disruptive events, we demonstrate that divorce, disability and income loss entail a risk of material hardship but also that this risk is effectively buffered by substantial wealth. Different types of hardship – namely, financial, food and medical hardship – respond in similar ways. Like public insurance schemes, wealth insurance helps buffer the effects of disruptive events on material hardship, but unlike public insurance schemes, reliance on private wealth further stratifies the economic wellbeing of households. Policy options for addressing this highly stratified private insurance scheme include disposing of the need for it by funding more robust public insurance, for instance through wealth taxation.

scholarly journals Avoiding Material Hardship: The Buffer Function of Wealth

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Rodems ◽  
Fabian T. Pfeffer
Keyword(s):  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
Private Insurance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Household Wealth ◽  
Program Participation ◽  
Material Hardship ◽  
Public Insurance ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Household Assets

We assess how a variety of disruptive life-course events impact the well-being ofU.S. households and trace the importance of household wealth in helping families experiencing these events avoid entering a spell of material hardship. Using longitudinal data from two panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we draw on direct measures of material hardship, disruptive events, and household assets. Regression and decomposition analyses reveal that the relationship between disruptive events and the likelihood of experiencing a new spell of material hardship strongly varies across the wealth distribution, suggesting that high household wealth provides an effective private safety net. By distinguishing different types of disruptive events, we also demonstrate that divorce, disability, and income instability entail the risk of falling into material hardship but also that this risk is effectively buffered by substantial wealth. Different types of hardship – namely, financial, food, and medical hardship – respond in similar ways.Like public insurance schemes, wealth insurance helps buffer the effects of disruptive events on material hardship, but unlike public insurance schemes, reliance on private wealth further stratifies the economic well-being of households. Policy options for addressing this highly stratified private insurance scheme includes disposing of the need for it by funding a more robust public insurance, for instance through wealth taxation.

scholarly journals Household Instability and Children's Educational Performance

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiwen Wang ◽  
Kelly Raley
Keyword(s):  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Developmental Outcomes ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Dropping Out ◽  
Program Participation ◽  
Family Instability ◽  
Residential Instability ◽  
Household Resources ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Household Members

Previous research has linked children’s family instability, as measured by mother’s marital- cohabiting transitions, to increased risk of poverty, illness, and poorer developmental outcomes. Family theories hypothesize that disruption of household routines and reduction in household resources link family instability to poorer child well-being. Recent research reveals that maternal partnership transitions represent a small fraction of the household instability children experience. These other forms of household instability might also be consequential for child well-being. The goal of this study is to determine whether household instability involving non-parental household members in children’s households is associated with changes in children’s educational outcomes using longitudinal data available in the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Preliminary results suggest household instability by siblings and non-nuclear members, and residential instability predict higher likelihood of dropping out of high school, repeating grades and decreased interest in school.

Who’s at risk of entering Social Security Disability Insurance? A comparison of application and allowance rates for groups of at-risk individuals

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kara Contreary ◽  
Todd Honeycutt
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Disability Insurance ◽  
Risk Groups ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Social Security Disability Insurance ◽  
Program Participation ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Social Security Disability ◽  
Employment Characteristics

BACKGROUND: The U.S. government has implemented several programs to reduce federal expenditures on Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) and help beneficiaries return to work, but the limited success of these efforts has raised interest in approaches that help workers with disabilities remain in the workforce. OBJECTIVE: This paper provides information on individuals at risk of applying for DI benefits to help build the evidence base for policies that provide workers with disabilities support to eliminate the need to apply for and receive DI benefits. METHODS: Using three panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation matched to SSA administrative data, we describe the employment characteristics of seven groups at risk of applying for DI benefits before and after application, as well as the outcomes of their DI applications. RESULTS: New private disability insurance recipients were more likely to apply for and receive DI than members of other at-risk groups. However, individuals with high healthcare expenditures made up the largest proportion of successful applicants across the at-risk groups considered here. CONCLUSION: While it seems plausible that individuals within an at-risk group who are likely to apply for DI benefits can be identified and provided supports to help them maintain employment, focusing on a specific group to promote employment over DI benefits may have a limited effect on the DI program because applicants come from multiple groups.

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