Father and FamilyLINK, Recent Research: August 2001

Research Reports and News Posted August 2001:

Fathers--Research

Note: This article contains an interview with Professor Jennifer Hamer, author of the recent book "What It Means to Be Daddy: Fatherhood for Black Men Living Away From their Children.

The myth of the deadbeat dad: A researcher who interviewed black fathers who don't live with their kids talks about their surprising views on parenting, Suzy Hansen, Salon Magazine, August 9, 2001.

Article Exerpt:

The national controversy over "deadbeat dads" intensified last month when the Wisconsin Supreme Court ordered a man who fathered nine children by four different women to stop having kids until he started supporting them properly. Men, women, liberals and conservatives all feel fairly comfortable in reviling deadbeat dads (that is, fathers who don't live with their kids and don't pay child support), but depriving them of a basic human right -- reproduction -- seemed a little overboard to many, particularly to the three women justices who dissented from the decision. Women, especially those left alone with the financial and emotional burden of parenting, are usually the ones sounding the alarm about absent fathers. The Wisconsin ruling illustrates the conundrum of punishing those who can't or won't face up to the role of daddy. There are a lot of unmarried fathers, too; according to the National Center for Health Statistics, one-third of American children are born to an unwed mother.

Low-income fathers are often singled out for being particularly neglectful. But according to Ronald Mincy, a Columbia University professor of social work, we know very little about how low-income, unmarried fathers behave or what they think about fatherhood. Mincy works with a team of researchers at Columbia's Social Indicators Survey Center who, in partnership with the Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Wellbeing at Princeton University, are conducting one of the first national studies on fatherlessness. Their Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey follows the unmarried parents of 3,600 children -- a representative sample of white, black and Latino couples from 20 U.S. metropolitan areas -- from birth until age 4.

"So far, the data does not indicate that during the first three years of the child's life, most low-income fathers are irresponsible," Mincy said. "Fathers are helping during the pregnancy, making financial contributions and visiting the child. But over time these informal contributions wane as the relationship between the couple deteriorates. The father becomes discouraged and the mother gets annoyed. The father's inability to make financial contributions seems part of that deterioration. Static will be introduced in the relationship that will serve to bar fathers from seeing their kids."

The Fragile Families report fills in many of the gaps surrounding low-income, nonresidential fathers, as will Mincy's new book, "Fathers, Families and Public Policy," due out this fall. In her recent book "What It Means to Be Daddy: Fatherhood for Black Men Living Away From Their Children," Jennifer Hamer looks at how we think about black low-income fathers and, perhaps more provocatively, uses her subjects' own voices to challenge the simplistic image of the black deadbeat dad. As Hamer writes, black unwed fathers "are often publicly portrayed as unemployed, uneducated and unwilling to provide."

For a copy of the complete article, visit the Salon web site.

Children and Families

Dating Violence Against Adolescent Girls and Associated Substance Use, Unhealthy Weight Control, Sexual Risk Behavior, Pregnancy, and Suicidality, Jay G. Silverman, PhD; Anita Raj, PhD; Lorelei A. Mucci, MPH; Jeanne E. Hathaway, MD, MPH, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 286 No. 5, August 1, 2001.

Context Intimate partner violence against women is a major public health concern. Research among adults has shown that younger age is a consistent risk factor for experiencing and perpetrating intimate partner violence. However, no representative epidemiologic studies of lifetime prevalence of dating violence among adolescents have been conducted.

Objective To assess lifetime prevalence of physical and sexual violence from dating partners among adolescent girls and associations of these forms of violence with specific health risks.

Design, Setting, and Participants Female 9th through 12th-grade students who participated in the 1997 and 1999 Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (n = 1977 and 2186, respectively).

Main Outcome Measures Lifetime prevalence rates of physical and sexual dating violence and whether such violence is independently associated with substance use, unhealthy weight control, sexual risk behavior, pregnancy, and suicidality.

Results Approximately 1 in 5 female students (20.2% in 1997 and 18.0% in 1999) reported being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner. After controlling for the effects of potentially confounding demographics and risk behaviors, data from both surveys indicate that physical and sexual dating violence against adolescent girls is associated with increased risk of substance use (eg, cocaine use for 1997, odds ratio [OR], 4.7; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.3-9.6; for 1999, OR, 3.4; 95% CI, 1.7-6.7), unhealthy weight control behaviors (eg, use of laxatives and/or vomiting [for 1997, OR, 3.2; 95% CI, 1.8-5.5; for 1999, OR, 3.7; 95% CI, 2.2-6.5]), sexual risk behaviors (eg, first intercourse before age 15 years [for 1997, OR, 8.2; 95% CI, 5.1-13.4; for 1999, OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.4-4.2]), pregnancy (for 1997, OR, 6.3; 95% CI, 3.4-11.7; for 1999, OR, 3.9; 95% CI, 1.9-7.8), and suicidality (eg, attempted suicide [for 1997, OR, 7.6; 95% CI, 4.7-12.3; for 1999, OR, 8.6; 95% CI, 5.2-14.4]).

Conclusion Dating violence is extremely prevalent among this population, and adolescent girls who report a history of experiencing dating violence are more likely to exhibit other serious health risk.

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Review of Marriage and Poverty Literature: An Annotated Bibliography, Hedieh Rahmanou, Institute for Women's Policy Research, August 2001.

The Institute for Women's Policy Research has created an annotated bibliography of articles and research related the issue of the promotion of marriage as a solution to poverty. The bibliography is intended to familiarize researchers, policymakers and the general public with the debate by pulling together a wide range of writings on the subject. Topics covered include: newspaper articles outlining the current policy debate; economic insecurity and single motherhood; child welfare and single-motherhood; factors that influence marital decisions; race and family formation; what conservatives are saying; concerns feminists have about promoting marriage; and social policy approaches.

For a copy of the bibliography, visit the Institute for Women's Policy Research web site. The bibliography is currently in draft form. The author is accepting articles to be included in the final version, particularly in the area of race and family formation. Submissions can be made to the Research Program Coordinator, Danielle Hayot, at hayot@iwpr.org.

In the Middle: A Report on Multicultural Boomers Coping With Family and Aging Issues, American Association of Retired People (AARP), July 11, 2001.

Press Release Excerpt:

The Boomer population has redefined yet another aspect of American society - the "sandwich generation," according to a survey released today by AARP.

The sandwich generation label has been used for decades to describe those who provide care for both their children and their parents. But, reflecting new realities, the latest sandwich-as seen by AARP and increasingly embraced by leading experts and interest groups-extends the label to those likely to be managing the needs of immediate and extended family, and even those not related by blood.

The AARP survey has important multi-cultural findings, including the fact that large numbers of Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and African Americans provide care for parents and other adults.

"In today's multi-cultural America, we see new, non-nuclear family arrangements that find many Boomers sandwiched between extended family and non-family members," said Bill Novelli, AARP's executive director. "Caregivers today may be assisting not only their own children and parents, but also grandchildren, nieces, nephews and even children of friends and neighbors."

Novelli outlined the new sandwich and its implications today as AARP released the results of the study-"In the Middle: A Report of Multicultural Boomers Coping with Family and Aging Issues"-the first report of its kind to document the attitudes and behavior of the sandwich generation from a multicultural perspective.

The national survey, conducted by telephone this spring with more than 2,300 Americans aged 45 to 55, found that many are squeezed, but not overwhelmed by the sandwich issue. Seventy-four percent say that they are able to handle their family responsibilities, and most say that they do not feel overly stressed by family issues.

However, some are beginning to feel the strain of having elderly parents and/or young children simultaneously-especially those who are directly responsible for the care of their parents and other older family members. Two in ten said they experience stress because they are sandwiched between older and younger generations, and three in ten who have responsibility for their parents' or in-laws' care cited stress.

"Low-income individualsfeel more stressed about their responsibilities and are less able to take time off work to help care for family members," the AARP report said. "Individuals with low incomes also report being more overwhelmed by their family responsibilities."

"It is significant that nearly one third-most notably, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and African Americans, especially those with low incomes-feel heavily burdened," said Novelli. "Creative approaches are needed to help reduce that burden." The report shows that the degree of participation, the ways in which the sandwich Boomers cope, and the dynamics of their families differ to some degree depending on race, culture, and income.

For example, Asian American and Hispanic American families feel more guilt about the level of care they provide, though, at the same time, they provide more care.

Nineteen percent of non-Hispanic whites participate in caring for parents and other older adults, compared with 28 percent of African Americans, 34 percent of Hispanic Americans, and 42 percent of Asian Americans. People born outside the United States are more likely to provide such care (43 percent) than those born in this country (20 percent).

Most members of the newly-redefined sandwich generation welcome the chance to help care for their parents despite the added demands. But a sizable number-48 percent-believe they should be doing, or should have done, more for their parents. Asian Americans, among the most active caregivers, express the most guilt (72 percent), while the figure for Hispanic Americans is 65 percent and, for African Americans, 54 percent. Non-Hispanic whites feel less guilty (44 percent).

Despite their own family responsibilities, nearly 7 in 10 of all respondents (69%) rejected the idea that their children should be expected to take care of them in their old age. However, opinions on this issue vary by race and ethnicity, with non-Hispanic whites (72 percent) and African Americans (68 percent) least likely to expect care by their children. The figure for Hispanic Americans was 60 percent; for Asian Americans, 49 percent.

Contrasts are evident among the racial and ethnic groups, but so are similarities. All are coping, and a majority turn first to faith and prayer for comfort. Overall, the AARP survey found that, to help take care of family members, nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of the sandwich generation turn to faith and prayer. Forty-two percent indicated that their church, synagogue, temple or other religious organization has been helpful.

For a copy of the complete report in PDF form, visit the AARP web site.

Savings of Young Parents, Annamaria Lusardi, Ricardo Daniel Cossa, Erin L. Krupka, JCPR Working Paper 229, Joint Center on Poverty Research, June, 2001.

JCPR Abstract:

In this paper, we examine household savings using data from the National Longitudinal Survey, Cohort 1997. This data set provides detailed information about assets and liabilities of parents with teen-age children. In our empirical work, we have first to deal with several problems in measuring wealth. While many responding parents report owning assets and liabilities, they often do not report their values. To get around the non-response problem, we impute the missing values for assets and liabilities. To study the patterns of accumulation of young parents, we examine wealth holdings and asset ownership across several demographic groups.

For a copy of the complete report, visit the JCPR web site.

America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2001, ChildStats, Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, July, 2001.

America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2001 is the fifth annual report to the Nation on the condition of children in America. Eight contextual measures describe the changing population and family context in which children are living, and 24 indicators depict the well-being of children in the areas of economic security, health, behavior and social environment, and education. This year, the report has two special features on asthma prevalence and youth employment.

For a copy of the complete report in PDF or HTML format, visit the ChildStats web site.

The Relationships Among Achievement, Low Income, and Ethnicity Across Six Groups of Washington State Students, Washington School Research Center, Seattle Pacific University, July, 2001.

Executive Summary:

We are pleased to provide this technical report on the relationships among student achievement, income, and ethnicity as the first publication for Washington educators by the Washington School Research Center. The questions addressed by these analyses are important considerations for all of us concerned with improving education in the state of Washington. Media reports that highlight the different achievement levels of various ethnic groups of children are common. These differences are a source of great concern among community groups, and rightfully so. Yet, those of us who work with data and statistics on a regular basis are acutely aware of the dangers inherent in reporting group achievement results that consider only one characteristic for creating those groups.

Factors affecting student achievement are varied and complex, and failure to consider multiple factors may lead to erroneous or simplistic answers to very complicated questions. In this report, professors Abbott and Joireman address the question of differences in school level achievement depending on the ethnic composition of the student population, so often reported in the media, while at the same time considering the income levels of the students' families. They begin this effort with a brief review of research conducted elsewhere on this topic, and conclude that previous research has shown that "income is generally a better predictor of student achievement than ethnicity."

Using aggregate school 3rd & 6th grade ITBS test scores for 1999 and 2000, 4th grade WASL scores for 1999 and 2000, and 7th grade WASL scores for 1999 for all schools in the state, Abbott and Joireman examine the relationships among these scores and the percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch at the school, and the various percentages of students comprising a variety of ethnic groups. Using a statistical procedure called multiple regression, they are able to determine the relative importance of these latter two variables in determining the schools' achievement levels. Their findings? "Across a variety of grades and tests, our results support the conclusion that low income explains a much larger percentage of the variance in academic achievement than ethnicity."

Abbott and Joireman do not say that ethnicity is unimportant or unrelated to achievement, but low income appears to be a much more influential factor. They conclude that, "the relationship between ethnicity and academic achievement is mostly indirect: ethnicity relates to low income and low income relates to academic achievement . . ." In other words, low income is the stronger predictor of school achievement, and nonwhite families are over-represented among the low incomes. These findings suggest therefore, that schools with predominately white, low income populations have achievement levels more in common with schools with nonwhite, low income populations than they do with schools with white, high income populations. Conversely, the achievement levels of schools with high income student populations more closely resemble other schools with high income student bodies irrespective of their ethnic composition.

Educators throughout the state, indeed throughout the country, are striving to raise the achievement levels of all students. A student's ethnicity is often an observable student characteristic that is frequently viewed as a determinant of that student's achievement level. However, these and other results suggest that it is the effects of poverty that play a much larger role in a student's chance for success in school, and it is those effects that educators and policy makers should consider first as prevention, intervention, and remedial programs are designed.

For a copy of the full report in PDF format, visit the Washington School Research Center web site.

Census Data

Census Sees Vast Change In Language, Employment: More People Work at Home; More Speak Little English, D'Vera Cohn and Sarah Cohen, Washington Post, Monday, August 6, 2001.

The most detailed demographic snapshot in a decade describes a nation where nearly 1 in 5 Americans does not speak English at home, more than 2 million grandparents are raising their grandchildren, and the number of adults who work solely out of their homes has grown a third since 1990.

The statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau today offer telling evidence of broad social and economic forces shaping the country: immigration, new technologies and a dramatic diversification of family life. The number of children whose mothers hold jobs while their fathers do not, for example, is up 70 percent compared with a decade ago.

The numbers come from a national survey of 700,000 households, conducted in conjunction with the 2000 Census, and touch on a vast array of topics, from housing costs to occupations and commuting patterns. Because the survey asked questions similar to those on the census, it is viewed by demographers as the first look at the most detailed information that will be released next year. Unlike the door-to-door head count, however, it does not include college dormitories, prisons, military barracks and other "group quarters."

Described broadly, the information portrays a nation in transformation, although the trends are sometimes contradictory. Quality of life is rising for many U.S. residents. Yet 1 in 6 children lives in poverty, the numbers show, and a growing share of the population struggles with English.

Overall, Americans are better-housed and better-educated than they were 10 years ago. Fewer homes lack plumbing, telephones or cars.Fewer are crowded. The number of households with three or more cars grew 20 percent.

One in four Americans age 25 or older has a bachelor's degree, up from 1 in 5 a decade earlier. But the figure is much higher in the District, where about 4 in 10 adults are college-educated.

For a copy of the complete article, visit the Washington Post archival web pages. Note: A fee will be required to access this article. For a copy of the Census Bureau's August 6, 2001 Press Release and data, visit the Census Bureau's web site.

Systemic Barriers

Medical Spending, Health Insurance, and Measurement of American Poverty, Gary Burtless and Sarah Siegel, The Brookings Institute, August 21, 2001

Abstract of Working Paper:

Critics of U.S. Poverty Measurement have long complained that the official poverty definition has serious defects. These deficiencies are most apparent in its treatment of health spending. Unfortunately, there are no simple methods to incorporate medical spending in poverty measurement in a way that commands wide support among poverty specialists.

This paper examines the effects of three methods of including household spending on health care in the measurement of poverty. The first is the method embodied in the current poverty statistics. The second is based on the proposal of a National Academy of Sciences panel. The third adds an estimate of "reasonable" medical spending to the modified poverty thresholds proposed by the NAS panel, which include poverty budgets for food, clothing, and shelter.

Two conclusions stand out in our analysis. First, the inclusion of medical spending in the poverty definition has a large effect on the level and composition of poverty, providing a very different picture than the one produced using the official poverty guidelines. Groups that are heavy users of medical care, such as the aged and disabled, appear to suffer relatively worse poverty when explicit account is taken of the burden of medical spending. This is true whether medical spending is subtracted from family resources--as proposed by the NAS panel--or approximations of "reasonable" spending levels are added to the poverty thresholds. Under either of these procedures, groups with high out-of-pocket expenditures on health care appear to suffer worse poverty rates than revealed by the official poverty statistics.

Second, the level and composition of poverty are comparatively unaffected by the decision to add "reasonable" medical spending to poverty thresholds rather than subtract actual medical spending from family resources. By judiciously selecting estimates of "reasonable" health spending, analysts can derive estimates of poverty thresholds that nearly duplicate the level and pattern of poverty found when actual medical spending is subtracted from family resources. The choice between these two methods of measuring poverty depends on the user's theoretical preferences, since both approaches to including health spending produce essentially identical pictures of the nation's poor.

For a copy of the full report in PDF format, visit the Brookings Institute's web site.

Welfare Reform

Welfare Reform's Impact on Adolescents: Early Warning Signs, Jennifer Brooks, Ph.D., Elizabeth Hair, Ph.D., and Martha Zaslow, Ph.D., Research Brief, Child Trends, August 2001.

Press Release Excerpt: Early studies have found that adolescents may face unexpected difficulties when their parents are in welfare-to-work programs. In a surprise to researchers, these negative outcomes occurred despite widespread expectations that adolescents would be less affected than younger children by their mothers' entry into the workforce.

In the most comprehensive analysis to date of welfare reform's effects on adolescents, researchers from Child Trends examined data from three large studies in which welfare recipients were randomly assigned to participate in welfare-to-work programs. The studies' findings on adolescents and possible explanations for troubling outcomes are published in a new Child Trends' research brief, Welfare Reform's Impact on Adolescents: Early Warning Signs. The brief's authors are Jennifer Brooks, Ph.D., Elizabeth Hair, Ph.D., and Martha Zaslow, Ph.D.

One key finding is that the adolescent children of parents enrolled in welfare-to-work programs showed increased behavioral problems and lower academic achievement.

For the complete Press Release and Research Brief in PDF format, visit the Child Trends web site.

Why Some Women Fail to Achieve Economic Security: Low Job Skills and Mental Health Problems Are Key Barriers, Research Forum, The Forum newsletter, August 2001.

Article excerpt:

Women who have multiple barriers to obtaining and holding employment will be the least likely to obtain economic self-sufficiency under the new welfare regime begun by the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). This is the major conclusion of a University of Michigan multi-disciplinary research team“including sociologists, economists, social workers, psychiatric epidemiologists, developmental psychologists, public health researchers, public policy analysts“that, for five years, has been fielding and analyzing the Women's Employment Study (WES), an in-household panel survey of women who were welfare recipients in an urban county in Michigan in February 1997.

The study team, led by Sandra Danziger, associate professor of Social Work and director of the Michigan Program on Poverty and Social Welfare Policy at the University of Michigan, had very high response rates for its three waves of data to date. A fourth wave is planned for fall 2001.

For the complete article in PDF format, visit the Research Forum web site's publication page.

Job Performance and Retention Among Welfare Recipients, Harry J. Holzer, Michael A. Stoll, Douglas Wissoker, JCPR Working Paper 231, Joint Center on Poverty Research, July, 2001.

JCPR Abstract:

In this paper we use data from a recent survey of employers to analyze the job performance and retention rates of recently hired welfare recipients. In particular, we analyze whether or not the employer experienced each of a set of problems with that employee; subjective employer ratings of worker performance; and employee turnover. The results indicate that most welfare recipients perform as well or better than employees in comparable jobs, and that their turnover rates appear fairly low. Still, absenteeism is pervasive, and often linked to child care/transportation problems; problems such as poor attitudes towards work and relations with coworkers are observed fairly frequently as well. These problems are strongly related to job performance and retention difficulties, and often plague those who quit as well as those discharged. Several particular characteristics of the workers, their employers and the jobs that they hold are also associated with performance and retention difficulties among working welfare recipients.

For a copy of the complete report, visit the JCPR web site.

The Health of Poor Urban Women: Findings from the Project on Devolution and Urban Change, Denise F. Polit, Andrew S. London, and John M. Martinez, Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, May 2001.

Overview:

To what extent might the health of welfare recipients and their children play a role in the new welfare environment? In 1996, Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), creating a five-year lifetime limit on the receipt of federal cash welfare benefits for most families. PRWORA dropped the language from prior legislation that excused welfare recipients from mandatory participation in welfare-to-work activities for health reasons. The new policy considers all recipients subject to participation requirements and time limits, except for an undefined 20 percent of each state's caseload who may be excused for good cause. There is little information about whether the 20 percent figure is sufficient to encompass all recipients with health problems - or whether women leaving welfare will be able to secure the health care they need for themselves and their children.

This report describes the health and health care needs of welfare recipients (and former recipients) living in large urban areas, where a substantial percentage of the national welfare caseload lives. The report is based on 1998-1999 survey and ethnographic data from the Project on Devolution and Urban Change, a multi-component study designed to examine the implementation and effects of PRWORA in four urban counties: Cuyahoga (Cleveland), Los Angeles, Miami-Dade, and Philadelphia. Survey respondents were selected randomly from among the May 1995 public assistance recipients residing in high-poverty neighborhoods in each county. The report compares the health of four groups of women based on their statuses at the time of the survey: women who had left welfare and were working, women who combined welfare and work, women who received welfare and did not work, and women who neither worked nor received welfare. Ethnographic interview data, collected from welfare recipients living in selected neighborhoods in each site, complement and augment the survey findings.

Among the key findings:

The women (and their children) had substantially higher rates of physical and mental health problems than did national samples of women and children - and their health problems were often multiple and severe.
Women who worked (especially if they had left welfare) were in much better physical and mental health than those who did not work.
Nevertheless, working women who had left welfare often lacked health insurance and still experienced substantial physical and mental health problems, as did their children.
The high prevalence of health problems among women who were still receiving welfare suggests that there will be major challenges to welfare agencies as a growing number of recipients face time-limit pressures.
Women with multiple health problems (and women who had been physically abused) were more likely than other women to have been sanctioned by the welfare agency in the previous year.
Welfare leavers who were not employed had the most compromised health situations: They tended to have high rates of health problems, lack insurance, and experience high levels of unmet need for health care.

Women's health problems and those of their children likely constrain women's entry into the workforce and their ability to remain there. Additionally, health problems compromise women's ability to comply with participation requirements, which raises questions about current sanctioning policies. Given the health care needs identified in this study, an especially critical policy challenge is to develop mechanisms to ensure that women who leave welfare maintain health insurance.

For a copy of the complete report in PDF format, visit the MDRC web site.

What Do We Know About Former CalWORKs Recipients? California Budget Project, July 2001.

A healthy economy and welfare reform's time limits and work requirements have moved many families off the welfare rolls, both in California and nationally. However, consensus is emerging that steep caseload reductions are not sufficient to consider welfare reform a success; helping families attain self-sufficiency once off welfare is just as important. Limited information exists to begin to answer important questions about how California recipients fare after they leave cash assistance:

How many welfare "leavers" are working?
How much are they earning and in what types of jobs?
Do they receive the child care, food stamps, health coverage, and other supports to which they are entitled?
Do welfare leavers move out of poverty?
Do they return to welfare?
What do we know about people who have left welfare but are not working?
How do these outcomes differ by region?

Many of these questions may never be fully answered, and complete answers will certainly be complex, due in part to differences in regional economies and county welfare programs. Regional economies in large part define the work opportunities, wage levels, and other labor market conditions confronting welfare recipients. Differences among counties regarding welfare-to-work program design (such as training and education components) and implementation of state policies (such as sanctions) mean that experiences with "welfare reform" vary widely across the state. Thus, conclusions about welfare leavers from Los Angeles County, for example, may say little about the prospects of former recipients in Alpine or Marin Counties.

This Update defines welfare "leavers" as former CalWORKs adults whose families no longer receive cash assistance. In many states leavers include a sizable number of people who have been "sanctioned off" the welfare rolls as punishment for not meeting work or other program requirements. This is less often the case in California, since the maximum penalty for not following program rules is a reduction of the family's cash grant by the amount attributable to the sanctioned adult(s). Hence, this report does not address the numerous issues regarding sanction policies or the characteristics of adults who are sanctioned.

Key findings of this analysis, based on a statewide survey and county-level studies, include:

Over half of leavers surveyed are working; however, their earnings are generally low. Among leavers who are working, earnings tend to be above the federal poverty level but far below what it costs to support a family in California.
Most leavers are employed in low-wage industries that often have few opportunities for advancement and low levels of employer-sponsored health coverage.
Many families do not receive the supports designed to help them make the transition to employment and self-sufficiency. These include food stamps, child care, Medi-Cal, and the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
Statewide studies lack basic information such as what types of jobs leavers find, how many hours they work, and how much they earn. Information is nearly absent about leavers in rural areas and differences in key outcomes by race and ethnicity.