Childhood Material Hardship, Welfare Benefits, and Young Adults’ Educational Aspirations in the United States

• In Event: Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 2. Inequality and Education

Abstract

Young people’s educational aspirations, like other goals, are shaped by their individual desires, perceived constraints, and an understanding of what is both acceptable and desirable by the broader society. Aspirations are strong, though imperfect, predictors of future outcomes. In this paper, we draw on data from the Future Families and Child Well-being Study (FFCWS) and use logistic regressions to analyze the relationship between material hardship experienced during childhood and young adults’ educational aspirations, controlling for individual- and household-level sociodemographic characteristics. We also examined whether this relationship is moderated by receipt of government assistance in the form of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Our preliminary results suggest that proximal experiences of material hardship in childhood (at age 15) increase the odds that young adults will want a certificate or higher education degree, and that this association is especially notable for those who have received TANF in the same year of the hardship.

Authors

• Claire Duncan, Brigham Young University

• Melissa Alcaraz, Brigham Young University-Provo