scholarly journals Work-Hour Trajectories and Associated Socioeconomic Characteristics among Single-Mother Families

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-57
Author(s):  
Chi-Fang Wu ◽  
Yu-Ling Chang ◽  
Emily Rhodes ◽  
Salma Musaad ◽  
Woojin Jung
Keyword(s):  
Single Mothers ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Single Mother ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Work Hour ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Single Mother Families

Abstract Although social work research has paid substantial attention to employment patterns among low-income single mothers after welfare reform, little is known about their work-hour trajectories over time. This study uses group-based trajectory modeling to analyze the work-hour trajectories among low-income single mothers in the United States (N = 870). Only approximately two-fifths (41.9 percent) of participants in the sample had stable employment. About 18 percent did not work throughout the study period. Yet several groups experienced changes in working patterns over time: increasing hours (20.7 percent), decreasing then increasing hours (11.3 percent), and decreasing hours (8.4 percent). This study uses a generalized linear mixed model to determine the factors associated with change in work hours over time. Significant factors include marital status, high school completion, race, citizenship, homeownership, child care arrangement, income support program participation, work disability, age of youngest child, age of the mother, state unemployment rate, and state minimum wage. These findings have important policy implications for targeting supports to diverse needs of low-income single-mother families to promote employment stability and economic improvement.

scholarly journals Examining Low-Income Single-Mother Families’ Experiences with Family Benefit Packages during and after the Great Recession in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 265
Author(s):  
Yu-Ling Chang ◽  
Chi-Fang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Single Mothers ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Single Mother ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Vulnerable Families

The recent economic recession triggered by the global pandemic has renewed scholarly interest in the role of social welfare systems in supporting economically vulnerable families when they experience employment instability. This article unpacks the patterns of the cash and in-kind components of the monthly family benefit packages that US low-income single mothers accessed during and after the Great Recession. We used the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation and an innovative analytic procedure involving family benefit package plots, group-based trajectory modeling, and logistic regression modeling. We found that low-income single mothers more often used in-kind basic-needs packages and less often used packages that bundle a cash benefit or a childcare subsidy, regardless of their dynamic employment status. Our findings challenge the effectiveness of the US work-based welfare system in ensuring the economic security of economically vulnerable families and contribute to the policy discussions on unconditional basic income and President Biden’s American Families Plan.

scholarly journals Factors associated with professional identity formation within psychiatry residency training: A longitudinal study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Hui Chew ◽  
Yvonne Steinert ◽  
Kang Sim
Keyword(s):  
Professional Identity ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Psychiatry Residency ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Psychiatry Residents ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Introduction Conceptual frameworks for professional identity (PI) formation highlight the importance of developmental stages and socialization as the learner progresses from legitimate peripheral to full participation. Based on extant literature and clinical impressions, the authors aimed to explore factors associated with PI formation in psychiatry residents over time, and hypothesized that time in training, seniority status, and duration of exposure to psychiatry prior to residency would be associated with PI formation. Methods Eighty out of 96 psychiatry residents (response rate, 83.3%) from the National Psychiatry Residency Program in Singapore participated and rated their PI development using the Professional Self Identity Questionnaire (PSIQ) across four timepoints from January 2016–December 2019. The residents were classified as junior (first 3 years) or senior residents (years 4–5). Linear mixed model analyses were conducted, with time in training, seniority status (junior versus senior residents), duration of psychiatry postings prior to residency, and their interaction as associated factors with PI over time. Results Time in training, seniority, and duration of psychiatry postings before residency (all p < 0.01) were significantly associated with higher PSIQ scores at baseline. Over time, although all residents had increases in PSIQ scores, this rate of change did not differ significantly between junior and senior residents. Discussion Exposure to psychiatry postings before residency, time in learning, and seniority are factors which influence PI development in residents. This has implications for psychiatry residency selection and training, adequate clinical exposure during training rotations, and continual support for new and senior residents to foster PI formation over time.

scholarly journals Decline of ovarian function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: serum anti-Müllerian hormone levels in a longitudinal cohort

RMD Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. e001307
Author(s):  
Jenny Brouwer ◽  
Radboud J E M Dolhain ◽  
Johanna M W Hazes ◽  
Nicole S Erler ◽  
Jenny A Visser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Ovarian Function ◽  
Reproductive Function ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Original Cohort ◽  
Primordial Follicles ◽  
Age At Menopause ◽  
Over Time

ObjectiveRheumatoid arthritis (RA) often affects women in their fertile age, and is known to compromise female fertility. Serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels are a proxy for the total number of primordial follicles, and a reliable predictor of the age at menopause. Our objective was to study the longitudinal intra-individual decline of serum AMH levels in female RA patients.MethodsFemale RA patients from a nationwide prospective cohort (2002–2008) were re-assessed in 2015–2016. Serum AMH levels were measured using the picoAMH assay and compared with healthy controls. A linear mixed model (LMM) was built to assess the effect of RA-related clinical factors on the decline of AMH levels.ResultsA group of 128 women were re-assessed at an age of 42.6±4.4 years, with a median disease duration of 15.8 (IQR 12.7–21.5) years. The time between first and last AMH assessments was 10.7±1.8 (range 6.4–13.7) years. Participants represented a more fertile selection of the original cohort. At follow-up, 39% of patients had AMH levels below the 10th percentile of controls (95% CI 31% to 48%), compared with 16% (95% CI 9.3% to 22%) at baseline. The LMM showed a significant decline of AMH with increasing age, but no significant effect of RA-related factors on AMH.ConclusionAMH levels in RA patients showed a more pronounced decline over time than expected, supporting the idea that in chronic inflammatory conditions, reproductive function is compromised, resulting in a faster decline of ovarian function over time and probably an earlier age at menopause.

scholarly journals Influencing cardiovascular health habits in the rural, deep south: results of a cluster randomized trial

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-208
Author(s):  
Laurie S Abbott ◽  
Elizabeth H Slate ◽  
Jennifer L Lemacks
Keyword(s):  
Health Program ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Cardiovascular Health ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
The United States ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Cvd Risk ◽  
Health Habits ◽  
Cluster Randomized

Abstract Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of death among people living in the United States. Populations, especially minorities, living in the rural South are disproportionately affected by CVD and have greater CVD risk, morbidity and mortality. Culturally relevant cardiovascular health programs implemented in rural community settings can potentially reduce CVD risk and facilitate health behavior modification. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a cardiovascular health promotion intervention on the health habits of a group of rural African American adults. The study had a cluster randomized controlled trial design involving 12 rural churches that served as statistical clusters. From the churches (n = 6) randomized to the intervention group, 115 participants were enrolled, received the 6-week health program and completed pretest–posttest measures. The 114 participants from the control group churches (n = 6) did not receive the health program and completed the same pretest–posttest measures. The linear mixed model was used to compare group differences from pretest to posttest. The educational health intervention positively influenced select dietary and confidence factors that may contribute toward CVD risk reduction.

scholarly journals The Price of Poverty: Policy Implications of the Unequal Effects of Monetary Sanctions on the Poor

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-65
Author(s):  
Ilya Slavinski ◽  
Kimberly Spencer-Suarez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Low Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Federal State ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Time Requirements ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Set Up

Over the last several decades, with the rise of mass incarceration in the United States and its steep costs, governments at the federal, state, and local levels have dramatically ramped up monetary punishment. Monetary sanctions are now the most common type of criminal penalty in the United States. The growth of fines, fees, and other legal financial obligations (LFOs), and the ensuing legal debt, reflect a shifting of the system’s costs onto its primarily low-income and indigent subjects. This study provides an exploration of previously underexamined ways in which monetary sanctions impose distinct burdens on the poor. Interviews with 121 defendants in Texas and New York, along with courtroom observations, demonstrate that criminal legal debt is particularly challenging for people with low incomes in three meaningful ways. First, systems set up to handle indigency claims do not adequately address the needs or complex individual circumstances of those who simply do not have the ability to pay. Oftentimes, alternatives are unavailable or statutorily prohibited. Second, the lack of alternatives to payment lead to compromising situations, which then compel indigent defendants to make difficult choices about how to allocate scant resources. Finally, being encumbered with fines and fees and participating in alternatives like community service comes with taxing time requirements that can prove uniquely challenging for those who are poor. These three findings lead us to propose a series of policy recommendations revolving around three key themes: (a) enhancement of indigency procedures, (b) equity in monetary sanctions, and (c) alleviating burdens by improving accessibility.

scholarly journals The Evolution of Medical Spending Risk

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 25-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Gruber ◽  
Helen Levy
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Medical Care ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Private Insurance ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Health Spending ◽  
The United States ◽  
Consumer Expenditure ◽  
Out Of Pocket Payments ◽  
Over Time

How has the economic risk of health spending changed over time for U.S. households? We describe trends in aggregate health spending in the United States and how private insurance markets and public insurance programs have changed over time. We then present evidence from Consumer Expenditure Survey microdata on how the distribution of household spending on health—that is, out-of-pocket payments for medical care plus the household's share of health insurance premiums—has changed over time. This distribution has shifted up over time—households spend more on medical care and insurance than they used to—but for the purposes of measuring change in risk, it is not the mean but the dispersion of this distribution that is of interest. We consider two measures of dispersion that serve as proxies for household risk: the standard deviation of the distribution of household health spending and the ratio of the 90th percentile of spending to the median (the so-called “90/50 gap”). We find, surprisingly, that neither has increased despite the rapid rise in aggregate health spending. This conclusion holds true for broad subgroups of the population (for example, the nonelderly as a group) but not for some narrowly-defined subgroups (for example, low-income families with children). We next consider how much risk households should face, from the perspective of economic efficiency. Household risk may not have changed much over the past several decades, but do we have any evidence that this level represents either too much or too little risk? Finally, we discuss implications for public policy—in particular, for current debates over expanding health insurance coverage to the uninsured.

School Hopscotch: A Comprehensive Review of K–12 Student Mobility in the United States

2016 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard O. Welsh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Student Mobility ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Transition Costs ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Changing Schools

This article provides an integrative review of the extant literature on K–12 student mobility in the United States. Student mobility is a widespread phenomenon with significant policy implications. Changing schools is most prevalent among minority and low-income students in urban school districts. There is an ongoing debate about whether student mobility is helpful or harmful. Earlier research compared movers with nonmovers using cross-sectional data and did not always include controls for the students’ prior achievement and demographic characteristics. Studies in the past decade compared movers with themselves over time using longitudinal data and provided more convincing estimates. Overall, switching schools is associated with a negative impact on students’ educational outcomes; however, transferring to higher quality schools may offset and outweigh the transition costs of moving. Strong causal claims are elusive due to considerable data and methodological challenges and the inability to account for the motivating reasons for changing schools.

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