Kalil A, Eccles J S
Program on Poverty and Social Welfare Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48104-2210, USA.
Child Dev. 1998 Dec;69(6):1597-613.
Recent welfare reform legislation requires increased parental work effort and imposes time limits on the receipt of federal assistance. These changes were based in part on assumptions that parental welfare receipt may be negatively related to family processes and children's attitudes and behaviors. Currently, researchers know little about the effects of welfare by itself relative to the effects of related variables such as family demographic characteristics, economic strain, and neighborhood factors on processes among families with adolescent children. This study investigates parenting behaviors, parent-adolescent relationships, and adolescent attitudes and behaviors in three family types. Families of adolescents ages 11-15 who received income from Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in the previous 12 months are compared with poor families who have not received AFDC in the last year and with families who are neither poor nor welfare dependent. We found minimal support for the hypothesis that welfare is negatively related to family processes and adolescent attitudes and behaviors, although mothers receiving welfare report fewer effective parent management practices than their poor non-welfare counterparts. Implications of the findings for current social policy debates are discussed.
近期的福利改革立法要求父母增加工作投入，并对领取联邦援助设定时间限制。这些变化部分基于这样的假设，即父母领取福利可能与家庭关系以及孩子的态度和行为呈负相关。目前，相对于家庭人口特征、经济压力和社区因素等相关变量对有青少年子女家庭关系的影响而言，研究人员对福利本身的影响知之甚少。本研究调查了三种家庭类型中的养育行为、亲子关系以及青少年的态度和行为。将过去12个月从抚养儿童家庭援助（AFDC）获得收入的11至15岁青少年家庭与去年未领取AFDC的贫困家庭以及既不贫困也不依赖福利的家庭进行比较。我们发现，几乎没有证据支持福利与家庭关系以及青少年态度和行为呈负相关这一假设，尽管领取福利的母亲报告的有效父母管理行为比贫困且未领取福利的母亲要少。本文讨论了研究结果对当前社会政策辩论的启示。
