Early results of the groundbreaking Baby’s First Years study have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study is the nation’s first randomized control trial aiming to measure the causal impacts of poverty reduction strategies on children in early life, with this first study focused on infant brain activity. One … Read more
This Urban Institute released a report describing how mothers of young children coped during the pandemic, focusing on how those with few economic resources cared for their children, maintained economic stability, and ensured their own wellbeing. The exploratory study interviewed 20 mothers and found mothers prioritized their children’s needs first and utilized a creative patchwork … Read more
A new paper published in the Journal of Family Issues uses the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing dataset to examine whether fathers experiencing individual and family risk (e.g., drug and alcohol abuse, incarceration, unemployment) in their childrens first few years of life were less likely to be engaged with those children at age 9. Findings … Read more
According to the U.S. Census Bureaus 2018 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), about half of young parents (ages 15-22) lived with their spouse or unmarried partner. While 22.7 percent of young parents live with a spouse, 30.2 percent live with an unmarried partner and the other half report living with no spouse or … Read more
To identify links between income increases and long-term family outcomes, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston reviewed a set of quasi-experimental efforts (natural experiments) that increased wages and income for low-income people. The review finds that policy interventions that increase income whether through a higher minimum wage or enhanced transfer paymentshave a causal relationship with … Read more
In a recent blog post from the Urban Institute, authors posit that policymakers looking to ease the burden of student debt should not overlook parent loans. By forgiving federal education loans made to parents who have virtually no chance of being able to repay, policymakers would relieve pressure on thousands of low-income households, with Black … Read more
More than one fifth of all college students are parents, who may be at risk of being pushed out of school by a system not designed to accommodate their needs. Parenting students often earn higher GPAs than their classmates without children, but are less likely to complete their degrees. Less than one third of mothers … Read more
A new Urban Institute study of 41 womens prisons and state departments of corrections evaluated available programs and services addressing trauma and victimization. As a part of this larger research, supportive and trauma-informed program and policy options for incarcerated pregnant people were identified. For example, a few prisons offer innovative doula programs to support people … Read more
A new Brookings article summarizes prominent research on the impact fathers have in early childhood development. While families without a father are just as able to foster healthy development, research suggests that an involved dad has unique benefits. For example, infants whose dads read to them later scored higher on language assessments as toddlers. A … Read more
The Administration for Children & Families (ACF) Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation (OPRE) published a new report on healthy marriage and relationship (HMRE) programs. In particular, the brief focuses on how to improve HMRE programs for unmarried couples with children, as evidence suggests programs are less successful in this group than among their married … Read more
