For the public sector to design effective and efficient programs for persons who have a work disability, there is a need for an accurate measure of work disability. To meet this need, we develop an easy to replicate measure based on a structural-equation model, which treats an individual’s disability as a latent variable that is related to: (1) the abilities and physical conditions of individuals and (2) the capability demands of employers. To empirically capture the individual or labor supply perspective, we use the 2008 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). To depict the demand side of the market, we use data from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database. In modeling the effect of disability on employment, our work disability estimates show a substantially smaller effect compared to estimates using self-reported work limitation (or health) as exogenous and a statistically larger effect compared to estimates using an objective disability index that excludes labor market information. Our work disability indexes identify individuals with severe work disability, and two sources of bias: (1) non-employed workers who rationalize their decisions not to work by citing work-related handicaps (or poor health) as reasons, and (2) employed workers who downplay their work limitations because they prefer to work.

Existing evidence has found that abortion restrictions result in fewer and delayed abortions. Such restrictions may indirectly affect child wellbeing both through changes in births and for existing children in the home through mechanisms including substantial financial strains, negative health consequences, and intra-household power dynamics. Following the Dobbs decision, state-level abortion decisions have led to significantly greater abortion restrictions. We investigate the effects of abortion access on child welfare involvement using data from the National Child Abuse & Neglect Data System (NCANDS). We utilize pre- and post-Dobbs data from 2017-2023, and estimate both difference-in-differences and event study methods, using both distance changes and policy changes. We find that increased distance to nearest abortion care is associated with higher rates of CPS referrals. Our findings provide critical insights into the broader social and health implications of abortion restrictions in post-Dobbs.

In overturning Roe v. Wade and triggering laws in many states that ban or severely restrict abortion, the Supreme Court's landmark 2022 Dobbs decision dramatically altered the landscape of reproductive health in the U.S. Prior research has highlighted the far-reaching impact of abortion restrictions for women and families, which extend beyond their proximate effects on abortions, births, and fertility. We provide some of the first causal evidence on how abortion restrictions in the post-Dobbs era have impacted women's risk of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV). IPV is the most common form of violence experienced by women, and changes in access to abortion may generate unintended effects on various inputs (economic resources, stress, intra-household bargaining) that could affect relationship dynamics and raise the risk of IPV. Leveraging information on IPV incidents reported to law enforcement from 2017-2023 combined with post-Dobbs changes in county-level travel distance to abortion facilities, analyses are based on a generalized difference-in-differences approach. We find that abortion restrictions - alternately measured by the increase in travel distance and by the pres- ence of a near-total ban - significantly increased the rate of IPV for reproductive-age women in treated counties by about seven to 10 percent. These estimates imply at least 9000 additional incidents of IPV among women in the treated "trigger ban" states, which is predicted to add over $1.24 billion in social costs.

We experimentally estimate the effects of a need-based financial aid offer on students' annual in-state employment and earnings up to eight years after the initial offer. For students in four-year universities, we show the aid offer to reduce employment and earnings throughout the period we study but provide evidence of increased effort on coursework during students, in-college years. We examine the role of outstate migration and reduced loan debt in generating the negative effects in students' post-college years. We find no significant effects of the aid offer on the labor market outcomes of individuals in two-year institutions.

Abortion restrictions affect access to reproductive health care. Research has demonstrated that abortion restrictions (policies that restrict access to abortion services or cause abortion clinics to close) result in reductions of and delays in abortions. We leverage two population-based datasets to investigate the effects of mandatory waiting periods (MWPs), a restrictive state abortion policy, on the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV), one of the most common types of crime and a highly prevalent and costly public health problem, using data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System and Uniform Crime Report - Supplemental Homicide Reports. We hypothesize that MWPs increase the prevalence of IPV through changes in financial strains, negative health consequences, and intra-household power dynamics. Using difference-in-differences, event study, and methods accounting for staggered treatment timing, we find that MWPs are associated with increases in IPV. Our findings are valuable for policymakers in today's post-Dobbs environment.

Measuring poverty is a complex undertaking. It requires extensive research, expert judgment of how to define resources and needs, and a data infrastructure that enables accurate measurement. In this article, we briefly summarize the evolution of poverty measurement in the U.S. and discuss the recommended changes to the Supplemental Poverty Measure that were recently proposed by an expert panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). We emphasize how the costs of medical care, child care, and housing can be better accounted for in the measurement of poverty, and the need to incorporate administrative data records with survey data.

Despite the long-identified relationship between poverty and risk for intimate partner violence (IPV) and non-intimate partner domestic violence (DV), there is limited work on the relationship between public anti-poverty programs and the incidence of such violence in the United States. In this study, we examine the effect of state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) on reports of lethal IPV and DV, a previously unstudied relationship. We offer a conceptual framework for understanding the potentially countervailing mechanisms by which state EITCs could affect lethal violence. We use a combination of empirical strategies, including new econometric estimators, to causally identify how changes in state EITCs affect the rate of reported IPV and DV, measured as homicide rates per 100,000 population. We find no significant causal effects of state EITC (presence or relative generosity) on lethal IPV or DV at a population level. Our work provides insight into the mechanisms at play, and suggests a role for more targeted policy interventions to mitigate individual effects.

We expand on previous studies investigating the links between early health and later health by examining four distinct dimensions of early-life health and multiple life course outcomes, including the age of onset of serious cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and several job-related health outcomes. The four dimensions of childhood health are mental, physical, self-reported general health, and severe headaches or migraines. The data set we use includes men and women in 21 countries from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. We find that the different dimensions of childhood health have unique ties to later outcomes. For men, early mental health problems play a stronger role for life course job-related health outcomes, but early poor/fair general health is more strongly linked to the spike in onset of CVDs in their late 40s. For women, these links between childhood health dimensions and life course outcomes are similar but are less clear-cut than for men. The spike in onset of CVDs in women's late 40s is driven by those with severe headaches or migraines, while those with early poor/fair general health or mental health problems do worse as captured by job-related outcomes. We also delve into and control for possible mediating factors. Exploring the links between several dimensions of childhood health and multiple health-related life course outcomes will enable a better understanding of how health inequalities originate and are shaped over the course of people's lives.

Despite advancements in the study of brain maturation at different developmental epochs, no work has linked the significant neural changes occurring just after birth to the subtler refinements in the brain occurring in childhood and adolescence. We aimed to provide a comprehensive picture regarding foundational neurodevelopment and examine systematic differences by family income. Using a nationally representative longitudinal sample of 486 infants, children, and adolescents (age 5 months to 20 years) from the NIH MRI Study of Normal Brain Development and leveraging advances in statistical modeling, we mapped developmental trajectories for the four major cortical lobes and constructed charts that show the statistical distribution of gray matter and reveal the considerable variability in regional volumes and structural change, even among healthy, typically developing children. Further, the data reveal that significant structural differences in gray matter development for children living in or near poverty, first detected during childhood (age 2.5–6.5 years), evolve throughout adolescence.

We explore the influence that different dimensions of early life health, such as the experience of epilepsy or a significant mental, physical, or general health problem, have on numerous lifetime labor market outcomes and patterns of life cycle employment. The data we use include over 81,000 males and females from the 29 countries in the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe. Our results show that for men, all four dimensions of early life health impose a penalty for nearly all the lifetime labor market outcomes we consider, but those with childhood mental health problems tend to do worst. These penalties are often only somewhat larger than those of men with epilepsy but more than twice and five times larger than those with, respectively, poor general or adverse physical health during childhood. Women appear less affected by adverse early life health, although we find evidence of similar employment penalties for those with epilepsy and poor general health during childhood. Our life cycle analysis is consistent but provides more insight into the timing of reduced employment and full-time employment, thereby extending earlier studies in this literature. Overall, our results highlight the potential lifetime work gains for public health policies that help to prevent or comprehensively treat poor general health, mental health problems, or epilepsy during childhood.

BACKGROUND:The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.) identifies key features of binge eating (BE) to include the consumption of a large amount of food and the perception of loss of control (LOC) over eating during a distinct episode. While earlier research has focused on food consumption, findings are now emerging on the role of LOC associated with the BE episodes, particularly in women. However, it is unclear that these findings are applicable to men without knowing how men experience LOC associated with BE.AIMS:This study examined how college-age men describe LOC associated with BE.METHOD:Previously collected qualitative data from a study examining BE in college age-students were used to examine responses from 53 men (mean age 19.9 ± 1.1 [SD] years). Respondents were asked about their individual experiences of LOC associated with BE episodes. Data were analyzed using content analysis.RESULTS:Four categories emerged from the data: (1) keep eating, (2) can't stop, (3) without thinking, and (4) food so good.CONCLUSIONS:Findings extend the current understanding of LOC associated with BE in men and point to potential gender differences, and/or weight influences, based on previous reports. Identified categories may be potentially targeted areas for tailored therapy to enhance awareness and self-regulation of BE behavior.

Although adoption is a widespread phenomenon in the United States, little research has examined the effects on biological siblings. This article uses two representative datasets to compare educational attainments of individuals who grew up with an adopted sibling and those that did not. We find large heterogeneity (based on sex, family income, and cohort) in the outcomes of those with an adopted sibling. Brothers appear more influenced than sisters. For brothers, we find that family income moderates differential associations, where males from low-income families have lower education if they have an adopted sibling, but males from higher-income families do not. Our results have implications for our understanding of family dynamics as well as how sex shapes educational attainments of children.

A variety of new research approaches are providing new ways to better understand the developmental mechanisms through which poverty affects children's development. However, studies of child poverty often characterize samples using different markers of poverty, making it difficult to contrast and reconcile findings across studies. Ideally, scientists can maximize the benefits of multiple disciplinary approaches if data from different kinds of studies can be directly compared and linked. Here, we suggest that individual studies can increase their potential usefulness by including a small set of common key variables to assess socioeconomic status and family income. These common variables can be used to (a) make direct comparisons between studies and (b) better enable diversity of subjects and aggregation of data regarding many facets of poverty that would be difficult within any single study. If kept brief, these items can be easily balanced with the need for investigators to creatively address the research questions in their specific study designs. To advance this goal, we identify a small set of brief, low-burden consensus measures that researchers could include in their studies to increase cross-study data compatibility. These US based measures can be adopted for global contexts.

Nearly 1 in 5 children in the United States lives in a household whose income is below the official federal poverty line, and more than 40% of children live in poor or near-poor households.Research on the effects of poverty on children's development has been a focus of study for many decades and is now increasing as we accumulate more evidence about the implications of poverty.The American Academy of Pediatrics recently added "Poverty and Child Health" to its Agenda for Children to recognize what has now been established as broad and enduring effects of poverty on child development.A recent addition to the field has been the application of neuroscience-based methods.Various techniques including neuroimaging, neuroendocrinology, cognitive psychophysiology, and epigenetics are beginning to document ways in which early experiences of living in poverty affect infant brain development.We discuss whether there are truly worthwhile reasons for adding neuroscience and related biological methods to study child poverty.And how might these perspectives help guide developmentally-based and targeted interventions and policies for these children and their families.

Drawing on a unique data set that links information on all Wisconsin households receiving means-tested benefits with the educational performance of all Wisconsin public school students in these households, we estimate the effect of a family's initial receipt of housing assistance on students' subsequent achievement outcomes. We estimate these effects using two different comparison groups. Our first comparison group consists of children living in households that receive housing assistance starting four years after our treatment group we use observations from those students' pre-receipt years as the basis for the comparison. Our second comparison group consists of low-income students whose families never received housing assistance, but did receive other forms of means-tested benefits, such as SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid. Overall, our results suggest a positive relationship between housing assistance and math achievement, but the magnitude of this relationship is modest and not consistently statistically significant. We provide evidence that this relationship varies by student race and by type of housing assistance a voucher or public housing. Throughout, we find little evidence of any relationship between housing assistance and student reading scores.

In this pre-registered study, we analyze the effects of need-based financial aid grant offers on the educational outcomes of low-income college students based on a large-scale randomized experiment (n=48,804).We find evidence that the grant offers increase two-year persistence by 1.7 percentage points among four-year college students.The estimated effect on six-year bachelor's degree completion is of similar size-1.5 percentage points-but is not statistically significant.Among two-year students, we find positive-but not statistically significant-effects on persistence and bachelor's degree completion (1.2 and 0.5 percentage points, respectively).We find little evidence that effects vary by cohort, race, gender or the prior receipt of food stamps.However, further exploratory results do suggest that the offers reduce associate's degree completion rates for two-year community college students by around 3 percentage points, with no statistically significant evidence of effects on technical college students.We also estimate that the effects of actually receiving grant money are very similar, though slightly greater than the effects of merely receiving a grant offer.Overall, our results show only very small effects of the needbased grant offers on college students' trajectories towards degree completion.