Welfare Policies and Domestic Abuse Among Single Mothers: Experimental Evidence From Minnesota

• NCJ Number: 202456
• Journal: Violence Against Women Volume: 9 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2003 Pages: 1171-1190
• Author(s): Lisa A. Gennetian
• Date Published: October 2003
• Length: 20 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: William T. Grant Foundation; David and Lucile Packard Foundation; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article discusses the influence of welfare policies on domestic abuse among single mothers.

Abstract

The Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) offers financial incentives to work via an enhanced earned income, and requires single-parent long-term recipients of welfare to participate in employment-related services. Although MFIP does not have specific provisions for victims of domestic abuse, it increases employment and income among some groups of single mothers. Data were collected at a 3 year follow-up survey to examine the effects of MFIP on domestic abuse and to ascertain whether MFIP’s effect on economic well-being differed for those single mothers that had a history of abuse. The key data source was a subset of a survey that was conducted 3 years after families entered the MFIP study. The survey collected detailed information about adult and family outcomes, including participation in employment-related activities, financial hardship, and family composition. In addition, there was a child section, which contained a range of questions designed to measure child outcomes and children’s environments, including maternal experiences of domestic abuse. The results show that MFIP decreased reports of domestic abuse for those that lived in urban counties. It is MFIP’s financial incentives, rather than the added effects of MFIP’s participation requirements, that produced the effects on decreased domestic abuse. These financial incentives contributed to increased employment as well as increased income. Although MFIP decreased reports of domestic abuse in urban counties, MFIP increased reported incidents of domestic abuse among single-mother long-term recipients in rural counties. Further analyses suggest that differences in racial composition are not influencing differences in effects on domestic abuse overall or by rural versus urban status, but differences in prior marital status could be an important influence. 3 tables, 30 references