Do Child Characteristics Affect How Children Fare in Families Receiving and Leaving Welfare?

August 2004 Do Child Characteristics Affect How Children Fare in Families Receiving and Leaving Welfare? Previous research using the 1999 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) found few differences in developmental risk between children in families who were currently receiving welfare and those in families that had formerly received welfare. This paper reports on new NSAF analyses revealing a pattern in which male adolescents in the families of former recipients may be faring worse than their counterparts in the families of current recipients. We also find that family income, family structure, parental employment, and symptoms of poor parent mental . . .