abstract: 'In 1996 welfare reform legislation transformed income assistance for

  needy families by imposing work requirements, time-limited benefits, and

  explicit provisions allowing states to sanction recipients who fail to

  meet program requirements. Though they represent a minority of the

  welfare population, women with substance use disorders (SUDS) experience

  multiple, and more severe, employment barriers than other Temporary

  Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) recipients. This review of welfare

  reform, substance abuse, and employment documents the evidence to date

  regarding the employment patterns of women with SUDS before and after

  welfare reform, and proposes several topics for further research. Based

  on higher rates of unemployment, less work experience, and lower

  earnings when working, women with SUDS have worse employment records

  than other TANF recipients. Despite elevated employment barriers, women

  with SUDS left TANF after 1996 as fast as, or faster than, other women.

  Since the 1996 welfare reform, women with SUDS have increased their

  employment and earnings, but by less than similar women without SUDS.

  Future research should describe how specific state welfare policies

  relate to employment of low-income women with SUDS, how the well-being

  of these women and their children changes with employment, and how

  welfare and employment interact to affect access to health insurance

  among this population.'
affiliation: 'Meara, E (Corresponding Author), Harvard Univ, Sch Med, Dept Hlth Care
  Policy, 180 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115 USA.

  Harvard Univ, Sch Med, Dept Hlth Care Policy, Boston, MA 02115 USA.'
author: Meara, Ellen
author-email: meara@hcp.med.harvard.edu
author_list:
- family: Meara
  given: Ellen
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1080/10673220600883150
eissn: 1465-7309
files: []
issn: 1067-3229
journal: HARVARD REVIEW OF PSYCHIATRY
keywords: employment; substance abuse; welfare
keywords-plus: 'SUBSTANCE-ABUSING WOMEN; BARRIERS; WORK; RECIPIENTS; CASAWORKS;

  OUTCOMES; AFDC; IMPACT; POLICY'
language: English
month: JUL-AUG
number: '4'
number-of-cited-references: '48'
orcid-numbers: Meara, Ellen/0000-0003-0211-1970
pages: 223-232
papis_id: 47df65de3f1ba2c6e5c4a363e972ff7d
ref: Meara2006welfarereform
tags:
- review
times-cited: '18'
title: Welfare reform, employment, and drug and alcohol use among low-income women
type: Review
unique-id: WOS:000240640900006
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '8'
volume: '14'
web-of-science-categories: Psychiatry
year: '2006'