abstract: 'As welfare-to-work reforms increase women labor market attachment, the

  lives of their young children are likely to change. This note draws on a

  random-assignment experiment in Connecticut to ask whether mothers''

  rising employment levels and program participation are associated with

  changes in young children early learning and cognitive growth. Children

  of mothers who entered Connecticut''s Jobs First program, an initiative

  with strict 21-month time limits and work incentives, displayed moderate

  advantages in their early learning, compared with those in a control

  group. A number of potential mechanisms for this effect are explored,

  including maternal employment and income, home environment, and child

  care. Mothers in the new welfare program are more likely to be employed,

  have higher income, are less likely to be mar-tied, have more children

  books in their home, and take their children to libraries and museums

  more frequently. However, these effects explain little of the observed

  gain in child outcomes. Other parenting practices and the home social

  environment do explain early learning, but these remained unaffected by

  welfare reform. (C) 2003 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis

  and Management.'
affiliation: 'Loeb, S (Corresponding Author), Stanford Univ, Sch Educ, Stanford, CA
  94305 USA.

  Stanford Univ, Sch Educ, Stanford, CA 94305 USA.

  Univ Calif Berkeley, Sch Educ, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA.

  Columbia Univ Teachers Coll, New York, NY 10027 USA.'
author: Loeb, S and Fuller, B and Kagan, SL and Carrol, B
author_list:
- family: Loeb
  given: S
- family: Fuller
  given: B
- family: Kagan
  given: SL
- family: Carrol
  given: B
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1002/pam.10153
eissn: 1520-6688
files: []
issn: 0276-8739
journal: JOURNAL OF POLICY ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT
keywords-plus: 'AMERICAN SINGLE MOTHERS; LOW-INCOME; COMMUNICATIVE DEVELOPMENT; MATERNAL

  EMPLOYMENT; PATTERNS'
language: English
month: FAL
number: '4'
number-of-cited-references: '30'
orcid-numbers: 'CARROL, BIDEMI/0000-0001-6239-8569

  Loeb, Susanna/0000-0003-1854-8843'
pages: 537-550
papis_id: 427f58f1df0a5f9b54e88f7fab79ddae
ref: Loeb2003howwelfare
times-cited: '5'
title: 'How welfare reform affects young children: Experimental findings from Connecticut
  - A research note'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000185421300002
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '12'
volume: '22'
web-of-science-categories: Economics; Public Administration
year: '2003'