Reducing Intergenerational Poverty (2024) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Pages 113-136
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 113... ...
HOW HEALTH AFFECTS THE ECONOMIC MOBILITY OF CHILDREN There are many reasons why child health might vary with parental income that would not necessarily imply the causal relationship needed to establish that health is a driver of intergenerational poverty. To isolate the causal impact of parental income on child health, researchers have relied upon natural experiments, including changes in policy that can raise or
|
From page 114... ...
. Taking advantage of variation in the earned income of workers between strong and weak labor markets, researchers have found that an additional dollar in earnings yields greater gains in child health at lower levels of family income (Doyle et al., 2007)
|
From page 115... ...
ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE: FAMILY PLANNING, MEDICAID, INDIAN HEALTH SERVICES, AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES Access to Family Planning Services Low-income families currently have the highest fertility rates, the lowest use of contraception, and the highest unmet need for family planning services. Eighteen percent of sexually active low-income women (below 200% of the Federal Poverty Line [FPL]
|
From page 116... ...
Women who gained legal access to family planning services in their early childbearing years earned 5% to 11% more per year in their mid-40s than those who did not (Bailey et al., 2012)
|
From page 117... ...
Pregnancy and Post-Partum Care Even with Medicaid expansions, women with lower socioeconomic status are still significantly less likely to have continuous health insurance for their pregnancies (Admon et al., 2021)
|
From page 118... ...
. A large body of rigorous research links Medicaid expansions in pregnancy and childhood with better health at birth and throughout childhood and even improved future labor market outcomes.
|
From page 119... ...
. Given the growing body of research linking access to medical care during childhood and the prenatal period to children's long-term health 6 Not all Native Americans are eligible for services from the IHS.
|
From page 120... ...
Mental health conditions are more prevalent among children with family incomes persistently below the poverty line and with children making transitions into poverty (Fitzimons et al., 2017; Wadsworth & Achenbach, 2005)
|
From page 121... ...
. Adolescents with serious mental health disorders or substance use disorders have seven times greater risk of criminal justice encounters (Prince & Wald, 2018)
|
From page 122... ...
Two important mechanisms include access to family planning services and health insurance coverage in pregnancy and childhood, both of which are key to improving the short- and long term health and economic outcomes of children. Yet many low-income families are still without health insurance coverage or access to family planning services.
|
From page 123... ...
As overall pollution has fallen, so too have income and racial disparities in exposure to pollution, though disparities remain (Bell & Ebisu, 2012; Currie et al., 2023; Jbaily al., 2022; Liu et al., 2015)
|
From page 124... ...
. Lead is another major source of pollution that has been found to negatively affect child development, with long-term consequences.
|
From page 125... ...
The installation of EZ-pass tolls on New Jersey and Pennsylvania highways significantly reduced exhaust and air pollution around toll plazas. Researchers linked this decline in pollution with improved infant health, as measured by an 11% and 12% reduction in prematurity and low birthweight, respectively (Currie & Walker, 2011)
|
From page 126... ...
The negative effects for Black women were larger and more precise than those for White women. These results are unchanged
|
From page 127... ...
that were nearly six times higher than the rates among White children and three times higher than those among Native American children in 2021 (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2022)
|
From page 128... ...
. To the extent that exposure to violence leads to premature death as well as stress to those indirectly exposed, thereby contributing to intergenerational poverty, we discuss interventions to reduce violence in Chapter 9, which discusses crime and the criminal justice system.
|
From page 129... ...
As compared with White children, Black children are 3.5 times more likely and Latino children almost 3 times more likely to live in a household that has experienced food insecurity. Food insecurity during childhood is associated with worse physical health (Gunderson & Kreider, 2009; Thomas et al., 2019)
|
From page 130... ...
during the 1960s and 1970s, researchers have compared the short- and long-term outcomes of children born before and after SNAP became available in their county of birth. The staggered nature of the rollout allows researchers to compare the long-term outcomes of children born in the same county before and after SNAP became available but also compare those born in same the year but in different counties, one with SNAP
|
From page 131... ...
In this way, Currie and Rajani controlled for underlying differences in mothers who did and did not use WIC but could otherwise bias estimated effects. She documents significant improvements in newborn health under WIC, as measured by birthweight.
|
From page 132... ...
Evidence from the introduction of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program in the 1960s and 1970s suggests that food supplements for children in low income families, both in utero and during childhood, can contribute to intergenerational mobility, improving child health and ultimately future adult health and earnings.
|
From page 133... ...
As discussed in Chapter 1, we characterize the direct evidence for some of the programs or policies as "strong" and denote them with an "* ." This indicates that the program's or policy's impact on intergenerational poverty is supported by random-assignment evaluation evidence that has been replicated across several sites or by compelling quasi-experimental evidence based on national or multi-state data or a scaled-up program.
|
From page 134... ...
Medicaid Strong direct evidence has shown that Medicaid expansions during the prenatal period and childhood lead to better health, greater educational attainment, and higher earnings later in life. With 2.8 million children currently eligible for Medicaid but uninsured, enrolling those already eligible through outreach and continuous enrollment requirements is the most effective way to increase health insurance coverage for low-income families (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2024)
|
From page 135... ...
HEALTH INTERVENTIONS BASED ON INDIRECT EVIDENCE Increasing Access to Medical Care Among Native American Families There is no direct evidence linking the IHS to adult poverty, However, the direct evidence on Medicaid likely applies to IHS as both operate by increasing access to medical care. In order to meet the considerable unmet
|
From page 136... ...
Increasing Access to Mental Health Care Given the established link between child mental health and reduced educational and labor market outcomes and the evidence showing significant barriers to receiving care among youth, the CDC could pilot multiple ways to increase child and adolescent access to mental health care, including these: • Establish and/or expand school-based health clinics so that they include more mental health providers. • Pilot telehealth access for children and youth in underserved areas.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.