This study examines how child caregiving-related life changes are associated with subjective well-being, with particular attention to rural–urban differences across two U.S. regions. Using data from caregiving surveys, we compare the well-being of 888 rural and 2619 urban child caregivers. Caregiving status alone is not significantly associated with well-being after controlling for socioeconomic characteristics. Instead, specific caregiving-related adjustments matter. Employment disruptions and caring for a child with a long-term health condition are consistently associated with lower well-being, whereas caregiving-related educational changes are positively associated with well-being. Changes in living arrangements show no significant association with subjective well-being. Urban child caregivers report higher well-being than their rural counterparts, with income and employment stability playing significant roles. In contrast, children’s long-term health conditions have strong negative associations with rural caregivers’ well-being. Propensity score matching confirms that a rural well-being disadvantage persists beyond what is explained by observable socioeconomic differences. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of geographic location in shaping caregiving experiences and demonstrate that not all caregiving-related changes have the same implications for caregivers’ well-being. Policies aimed at supporting child caregivers should account for both geographic context and the specific life changes caregivers face.
We study the effects on poverty of changes in unemployment in the European Union for different age groups and household types to test whether households with children are more sensitive to rising unemployment rates. To do so, we look at the sensitivity of poverty rates of selected population groups to unemployment on a twenty-year panel constructed for 29 European countries. Our findings lend support to the thesis that the sensitivity of the risk of poverty of young households with children to changes in the unemployment rate is larger than that of the rest of households. Within them, single parents show the highest sensitivity to unemployment changes. An important contribution compared to other studies is that we also analyze the effect of unemployment on the intensity and chronicity of poverty. In these other dimensions, the greater sensitivity of households with children to rising unemployment is also confirmed.
Improving family financial resilience is not only the core path to achieve healthy financial development, but also an inherent requirement for promoting high-quality financial development. Based on the perspective of the whole process of impact response, this study creatively constructs the measurement framework of family financial resilience from the three dimensions of “family members’ planning ability, family assets protection ability, and family welfare resilience”. Using the data of China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) in 2015, 2017, and 2019, this study uses the entropy method to measure family financial resilience, introduces the finite mixture model with accompanying variables to identify the resilience pattern and its dynamic transformation, and explores the deep mechanism of pattern transformation based on the joint distance covariance test and high-dimensional mediation effect model. The study found that: (1) the evolution of chronological sequence shows the characteristics of gradient improvement, and the resilience of the eastern region is significantly higher than that of the central and western regions; (2) the stage transition characteristics of family financial resilience can be divided into three categories: dependent, transitional and autonomous, and there is a phenomenon of mutual conversion between the three categories; (3) the mechanism test shows that the mechanism of government support has experienced the transformation from “direct support” to “path activation” and then to “market driven”, and the intermediary path of economic foundation, financial development and digital economy is the core driving force of this mode transformation. The evaluation framework constructed in this study provides a new paradigm for the study of family financial resilience and provides a scientific basis for the formulation of differentiated policies and the optimization of resource allocation.
While the transition to parenthood is typically marked by increased expenses and reduced financial well-being, existing research has predominantly focused on the impact of parenthood on wage disparities. However, wages alone do not fully encompass financial well-being, which is significantly influenced by varying expectations and parenting styles across genders and occupational classes. This underscores the importance of incorporating subjective financial experiences into the literature on the financial consequences of the transition to parenthood. Using 30 waves of BHPS/UKHLS (1991–2021) and employing fixed-effects models, this paper examines the gendered relationship between the transition to parenthood and financial well-being and explores how the patterns may vary by employment and occupational status. The results demonstrate that parenthood is associated with significantly reduced financial well-being, with a more pronounced effect on women than on men. For women, those in paid employment experience a greater decline compared to non-employed women, especially those in professional and managerial roles, who face the steepest reductions. In contrast, for men, while those employed also report a significantly larger decline in financial well-being, the disparities remain consistent across occupations. Overall, these findings enhance the existing literature on gender and parenthood disparities in wages by incorporating subjective financial experiences. This approach provides a more comprehensive understanding of the financial consequences of the transition to parenthood across genders and occupational classes.
The effects of universal pre-K on the enrolled child have been well researched, but it is less clear how such policies affect other members of the family. This paper contributes to the discussion by evaluating the effects of New York City’s ”Pre-K For All” initiative on its maternal labor force. Leveraging American Community Survey data, I employ two difference-in-differences models and synthetic control to assess the policy’s impact. ”Pre-K For All” significantly increases the treated labor force participation rate by about 4.2
