Child Welfare in the United States

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that identifying important factors and relationships in the educational and social progress of children is important for policy formation. To accurately inform the development of welfare legislation variables like income, parents' education levels and other variables, policy variables should be considered and the weight of those variables' effects on children should be measured. The writer points out that in some instances, locating a policy variable that intervenes in the relationship between variables like income and children's welfare outcomes can reveal less obvious determinants of important child welfare outcomes. This paper analyzes data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health to assess how a mother's education is involved in the relationship between family income and indexes of children's educational and health welfare. The objective of this analysis is to aid policy recommendations in identifying important influences and obstacles faced by impoverished children. The paper includes an appendix with four tables.

Outline:
Introduction
Hypothesis
Alternative
Theory
Methods
Results
Recommendation
Appendix

From the Paper:

"The positive effect of mother's education on child educational welfare and its intervention in the positive relationship between income and education achievement suggest maternal schooling may be a point of interest in child welfare policy formation. Recommended policies could range from more sex education for girls in high school and college or new programs specially designed to help women in school who get pregnant continue their education. Programs to assist pregnant women in school could provide funds to relieve the burdens of tuition and necessary medical care or provide other forms of assistance such as student tax relief to encourage mothers and future mothers to finish their educations.
"With respect to the alternative hypothesis, the negative effect of income on the health index is possibly a result of wealthier children responding low to number of times exercised per week."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Case, Anne and Lubotsky Darren. "Economic Status and Health in Childhood: The Origins of the Gradient." The American Economic Review, Vol. 92, No. 5. (Dec, 2002), pp. 1308-1334.
• Desai, Sonalde and Soumya Alva. "Maternal Education and Child Health: Is there a Strong Causal Relationship?" Demography, Vol. 35, No. 1. (Feb., 1998).
• Hartley, Thomas and Bruce Russett. "Public Opinion and the Common Defense: Who Governs Military Spending in the United States?" The American Political Science Review, Vol. 86, No. 4. (Dec., 1992) pp. 905-915.
• Leibowitz, Arleen. "Parental Inputs and Children's Achievement." The Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 12 No. 2. (Spring, 1977), pp. 242-251.
• Mayer, Susan. What Money Can't but: Family Income and Children's Life Chances. Harvard University Press, 15 Sept. 1998.

More papers on Child Welfare in the United States:

• Term Paper # 67379 : "Poverty and Children in the United States"
• Essay # 33559 : "Social Welfare in the Twentieth Century"
• Research Paper # 118745 : "Our Broken Child Welfare System"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: