Causal Impacts of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Maternally Reported Language and Socioemotional Development Among Young Children Residing in Poverty in the U.S.

• In Event: Baby’s First Years: Early Findings from a Poverty Reduction Intervention in Early Childhood

Abstract

Empirical work has generally suggested that childhood economic disadvantage is unfavorably associated with early language and socioemotional development (Duncan & Magnuson, 2012; Duncan et al., 2017; Evans & English, 2012; Justice et al., 2019; Miller et al., 2021; Noble et al., 2007). A critical and lingering question is whether associations between disadvantage and child outcomes can be causally attributed to income poverty itself or reflect important characteristics of families (e.g., parental education) and the systemic inequities they contend with (e.g., housing insecurity). While prior research has investigated the impacts of income and work supports on children’s development (see Morris et al., 2005; Gennetian & Miller, 2002), this work has focused little on early childhood and has generally been limited by the use of quasi-experimental methods. Likewise, studies have estimated the effects of early childhood educational programs (e.g., pre-K) geared towards ameliorating economic disparities in child development and enabling maternal employment (see Burchinal et al., 2022; Duncan et al., 2008; Elango et al., 2016), but this work has not focused on reducing economic disparities directly. The Baby’s First Years (BFY) randomized control study of unconditional cash transfers is uniquely positioned to investigate the causal relation between income poverty and socioemotional and language development in early childhood.

For the BFY study, 1,000 mothers living with low income were recruited in four urban areas in hospital postpartum wards after giving birth. Mother-infant dyads were randomized to receive a monthly, unconditional cash gift of either $333 or $20 for the first several years of their child’s lives. Maternal report of child language development was assessed using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire at age one, the Macarthur Communicative Development Inventory at age two, and language items from the Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) at age three. Maternal report of social-emotional development was assessed using the Brief Infant-Toddler Social Emotional Assessment at ages one and two, an abbreviated version of the Child Behavior Checklist at age three, and social-emotional questions from the PEDS at age three. Additionally, the PEDS was used to assess mothers’ concerns about their child’s general development at age three. Finally, receipt of early intervention services was assessed at ages two and three.

We followed pre-registered analysis plans (see ClincialTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03593356) to estimate treatment impacts. We hypothesized that mothers in the high-cash gift group would report more favorable child language and socioemotional development compared with mothers in the low-cash gift group.

Preliminary findings show no statistically detectable impact of the monthly unconditional cash gift on maternal reports of child language and socioemotional development when children were one, two, or three years old. Findings will be interpreted in light of the timing and duration of the cash gifts, and explore cumulative impacts to the extent possible. Future work will investigate the impacts of the monthly cash transfers on direct measures of children’s cognitive, behavioral, and neurobiological development which are currently being collected at four years of age, and which may provide new insight beyond that offered by maternal report alone.

Authors

• Emma Rose Hart, Teachers College, Columbia University
  Presenting Author

• Lisa Gennetian, Duke University

• Jessica Sperber, Columbia University

• Renata Penalva V. Silva, Teachers College, Columbia

• Katherine Magnuson, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Greg J Duncan, University of California, Irvine

• Sarah Halpern-Meekin, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University

• Nathan A Fox, University of Maryland - College Park

• Kimberly G Noble, Teachers College, Columbia University