TY - JOUR
T1 - Lone parents' employment policy and adolescents’ socioemotional development: Quasi-experimental evidence from a UK reform
AU - Li, Liming
AU - Avendano Pabon, Mauricio
N1 - Funding Information:
The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is a large-scale, multi-purpose longitudinal study carried out by Centre for Longitudinal Studies at University of London. This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) , Centre for Society and Mental Health at King’s College London [ ES/S012567/1 ]. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the ESRC or King’s College London.
Funding Information:
Prior to November 2008, lone parents who were not at work and had no income were entitled to unconditional Income Support (IS) until their youngest child turned 16 years of age. The LPO gradually lowered the maximum age of the youngest child that rendered lone parents eligible for IS. From November 2009, lone parents who were eligible for IS lost their entitlement to the unconditional IS if their youngest child was older than 10 years. In subsequent years, the youngest child age threshold for IS eligibility was further reduced to age seven (October 2010), five (May 2012), and three (April 2017). Parents affected by the reform were required to either seek employment or transit to other benefit programmes (Avram et al., 2013). If lone parents remained unemployed or worked less than 16 hours per week when their eligibility to IS expired, they could apply for Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA). JSA offers a similar level of benefit support than IS, and lone parents claiming JSA were subject to the same work requirements of JSA claimants. This means that they had to be available for work and take ‘reasonable steps’ to look for work as agreed during mandatory JSA interviews with a work coach. Reasonable steps may include registering with recruitment agencies, writing a CV, and spending a specified number of hours each week looking for work. What each individual is required to do depends on their health, their home responsibilities and the amount of help they need to get work or increase their income. Lone parents with health conditions could also move to health-related benefits, particularly the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). The LPO reform did not affect lone parents' eligibility to other welfare benefits or tax credit, including the Child Tax Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Avram, 2018).The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is a large-scale, multi-purpose longitudinal study carried out by Centre for Longitudinal Studies at University of London. This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Centre for Society and Mental Health at King's College London [ES/S012567/1]. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the ESRC or King's College London.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - Studies suggest that welfare-to-work programmes increase lone mother's employment, but their impact on child and adolescent socioemotional development is unclear. The lone parent obligation (LPO) reform introduced a requirement for lone mothers entitled to unconditional Income Support (IS) to seek paid work actively as a condition to receive benefits. We use data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study to examine the impact of work search requirements for lone parents on child and adolescent socioemotional development. We apply a difference-in-differences approach that exploits gradual changes from 2008 to 2017 in children's maximum eligibility age to receive IS and assess effects on child and adolescent Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores. We find that the LPO reform led to a ten-percentage point increase in lone mothers' employment but no change in the risk of family poverty. The reform led to a small but statistically significant increase in adolescents' SDQ scores, which indicated worse mental health and was largely driven by increased emotional problems. It also led to an increase in mothers' distress and poor self-rated health, and mothers' reports that time spent with children was insufficient. Our findings highlight the need to consider trade-offs between employment gains and child and adolescent socioemotional development in assessing the net impact of welfare-to-work policies targeting lone parents.
AB - Studies suggest that welfare-to-work programmes increase lone mother's employment, but their impact on child and adolescent socioemotional development is unclear. The lone parent obligation (LPO) reform introduced a requirement for lone mothers entitled to unconditional Income Support (IS) to seek paid work actively as a condition to receive benefits. We use data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study to examine the impact of work search requirements for lone parents on child and adolescent socioemotional development. We apply a difference-in-differences approach that exploits gradual changes from 2008 to 2017 in children's maximum eligibility age to receive IS and assess effects on child and adolescent Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores. We find that the LPO reform led to a ten-percentage point increase in lone mothers' employment but no change in the risk of family poverty. The reform led to a small but statistically significant increase in adolescents' SDQ scores, which indicated worse mental health and was largely driven by increased emotional problems. It also led to an increase in mothers' distress and poor self-rated health, and mothers' reports that time spent with children was insufficient. Our findings highlight the need to consider trade-offs between employment gains and child and adolescent socioemotional development in assessing the net impact of welfare-to-work policies targeting lone parents.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85147561828&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115754
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115754
M3 - Article
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 320
JO - Social Science & Medicine
JF - Social Science & Medicine
M1 - 115754
ER -
