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The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) dramatically transformed the United States’ welfare system. It did so by replacing the old cash system, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This new system is predicated on several mandates which include mandatory work in exchange for cash assistance, and a five-year lifetime limit on the receipt of cash assistance. This major restructuring resulted in greater emphasis on welfare recipients’ ability to succeed in this market economy. Specifically, it evokes greater attention to the factors that can potentially hinder or promote welfare exit.

Research has primarily emphasized human capital theory in welfare receipt and exit. Human capital pertains to an individual’s educational attainment or technical expertise that can translate into productivity within the labor market. Less research has been devoted to social capital, a concept that sheds light on the social reality in which people live. Social capital deals specifically with the advantages that are embedded in social relations than can provide economic benefits. In accordance with this definition, studies have shown that the accumulation of social capital has led to better employment outcomes. Given its importance, a view of the social capital of welfare recipients along with their human capital accumulation will help to illuminate the complexities inherent in entering and exiting welfare.

Among low income individuals, educational level does not necessarily reflect welfare status or a change in status. An important contributor to economic well-being, such as promoting TANF exit or hindering TANF entry, is social capital. However, little is known about its role in conjunction with human capital, among welfare recipients. In response to this gap, this dissertation seeks to examine the relative effects of human capital and social capital on TANF exit and entry.

This research is based on the Making Connections dataset which is part of a larger initiative by the Annie Casey Foundation to improve neighborhood social and economic opportunities. The results of this study show that social capital is an important predictor of exiting TANF, however it does not affect TANF entry. It also suggests that human capital is important for exiting TANF but does not act as a buffer against entering TANF. The implications of these findings are that welfare policy and programs should promote social capital and human capital efforts for welfare recipients.

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Economics for Social Workers: The Application of Economic Theory to Social Policy and the Human Services

Tanf entry and exit in the post welfare reform era: the contributions of human capital and social capital

/pdf/beyond-economy-society-and-environment-1m3h0fmh3n.pdf

Beyond economy, society, and environment

Acculturation and assimilation—terms used to describe the complex pro- ce sses that immigrants go through as they incorporate into a host society's culture—are important considerations for mental health providers. Acculturation and assimilation include a range of contextual and individual-level factors that interact in ways unique to each immigrant. Hence, a "one-size-fits-all" approach for access to and provision of mental health services is inadequate for Latino immigrants. This chapter focuses on explaining the complexity of the acculturation and assimilation processes as they relate to mental health, particularly in terms of macro-level structural and micro-level individual effects. The chapter illustrates the influence of acculturation and assimila- tion on mental health and how these processes complicate the provision of services. According to classical assimilation theory, immigrants become fully incorporated into US life—in the sense that they completely adopt the host culture and leave behind their culture of origin—in the first generation. This theory, however, does not seem to describe the incorporation of Latino immigrants. The standard used to evaluate whether immigrants to the United States are assimilating often refers to the ability of a group to achieve economic prosperity, learn English, and lose native cultural values and norms. Arguments about how today's Latinos are assimilating are often framed as comparisons with earlier waves of European immigrants; the popular belief is that Latinos are not assimilating (Huntington 2004a, b). However, concerns about the ability of the latest group of newcomers to assimilate are similar to those of earlier times. Invidious comparisons between different waves of immi- grants over the course of this nation's history resonate with ongoing issues of inclu- sion and exclusion in a diverse society (Engstrom and Piedra 2006). Compared to earlier waves of immigrants, Latino newcomers have similarly low- skill levels. However, because Latinos today enter into a far more technologically advanced and globally driven labor market than did immigrants of the nineteenth

https://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/9781441994516-c2.pdf?SGWID=0-0-45-1200537-p174103291

Latino Mental Health: Acculturation Challenges in Service Provision

Private vs public child welfare systems: A comparative analysis of national safety outcome performance.

/pdf/identifying-differences-between-privatized-partially-4n2p6wwb8x.pdf

Identifying Differences Between Privatized, Partially Privatized, and Non-Privatized State Foster Care Systems: A Comparative Study Examining Efficiency and Effectiveness

Economics for Social Workers: The Application of Economic Theory to Social Policy and the Human Services

Citations

Tanf entry and exit in the post welfare reform era: the contributions of human capital and social capital

Beyond economy, society, and environment

Latino Mental Health: Acculturation Challenges in Service Provision

Private vs public child welfare systems: A comparative analysis of national safety outcome performance.

Identifying Differences Between Privatized, Partially Privatized, and Non-Privatized State Foster Care Systems: A Comparative Study Examining Efficiency and Effectiveness

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