Long-Term Welfare Dependence
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Headline

In the 1990s, more than a quarter of children whose families had ever received welfare (AFDC/TANF) received those benefits for at least six years, and 5 percent received them for at least nine years. (See Figure 1)

Importance

Whether long-term welfare receipt causes harm to children is, at present, not clear. However, long-term welfare receipt for children is associated with a number of negative outcomes, including fewer years of schooling completed, lower academic test scores, difficulties in the labor market as an adult, and greater risk of welfare receipt as an adult.¹ Existing research, however, indicates that, once other background characteristics are taken into account, this negative relationship disappears for most outcomes (though not for employment as adults),² and in some cases becomes associated with positive results.³

Trends

Between 1971 and 2000, there was a significant decrease in the percentage of children (among those whose families had ever received AFDC/TANF benefits) who received those benefits for at least nine years. Among children whose families had ever received welfare and who were ages 0-5 in 1971, 18 percent received welfare benefits for at least nine years between 1971 and 1980. By 1991-2000, this percentage had decreased to 5 percent (among children ages 0-5 in 1991 whose families had ever received welfare benefits). (See Figure 1)

Differences by Race

Black children are much more likely than other children to live in families dependent for long periods on welfare. More than a third of black children ages 0 to 5 in 1991 living in families receiving any AFDC/TANF payment during the next decade received payments for six or more years, compared with less than a quarter of other children. (See Figure 2)

Related Indicators

Children in Poverty, Health Care Coverage, Food Stamp Receipt, Long-Term Poverty

State and Local Estimates

None

International Estimates

None

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National Goals

None

What Works: Programs and Interventions that May Influence this Indicator

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Research References

¹Duncan, G.J., & Yeung, W.J (1995). "Extent and consequences of welfare dependence among America's children," Children and Youth Services Review, 17, No. 1/2, pp. 157-182; Gottschalk, P. (1996), "Is the correlation in welfare participation across generations spurious?" Journal of Public Economics, 63, pp. 1-25; Peters, H.E. & Mullis, N.C. (1997), "The role of family income and sources of income in adolescent achievement," in Duncan, G.J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (eds.) Consequences of growing up poor. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

²Peters, H.E. & Mullis, N.C. (1997), "The role of family income and sources of income in adolescent achievement," in Duncan, G.J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (eds.) Consequences of growing up poor. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

³Ibid.

⁴Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 2000 Green Book, pp. 352, 354. Available at http://www.utdallas.edu/~jargo/green2000/contents.html (see Section 7, pages 352 and 354)

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Definition

In August 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (Public Law 104-193) repealed the Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program in its place. The purposes of TANF are to: (1) provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for either in their own homes or in the homes of relatives; (2) end welfare dependence by promoting preparation for jobs, work, and marriage; (3) prevent and reduce nonmarital pregnancies; and (4) encourage the formation and preservation of two-parent families.⁴

These analyses differentiate among children in families receiving AFDC/TANF payments who, over the course of ten years of growing up, spend 1-2 years, 3-5 years, 6-8 years, and 9-10 years receiving payments.

Data Source

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Indicators of Welfare Dependence Annual Report to Congress, 2004. Table IND 9. Available at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/indicators04/.

Raw Data Source

Panel Study of Income Dynamics, 1968-93 final release files and 1994-1997 unreleased preliminary data as of January, 2002. http://www.isr.umich.edu/src/psid/

Approximate Date of Next Update

Unknown

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