IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i22p8607-d447821.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Higher Utilization of Social Services Is Associated with Higher Language Scores in Children from Deeply Impoverished Urban Families

Author

Listed:
  • Morgan A. Finkel

    (Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, 622 West 168th St., VC 417, New York, NY 10032, USA)

  • Sonya V. Troller-Renfree

    (Department of Biobehavioral Sciences, Teachers College, Columbia University, Box 199, 525 West 120th St., New York, NY 10027, USA)

  • Kimberly G. Noble

    (Department of Biobehavioral Sciences, Teachers College, Columbia University, Box 199, 525 West 120th St., New York, NY 10027, USA)

Abstract

Language development has been consistently linked with socioeconomic status (SES), with children from lower SES backgrounds at higher risk for language delays. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between familial social service use and language development during the first year of life. Thirty-one low-income mothers and their infants were recruited from the New York metropolitan area. Mothers provided information about demographics and utilization of social services (Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), food stamps, Medicaid, and public housing). Infant language skills were assessed using the Preschool Language Scale. Multiple linear regressions were used to investigate the relationship between social service use and language skills. We found that the number of social services utilized was not an overall significant linear predictor of language skills. However, social service use interacted with poverty level to predict language skills. Specifically, for families living in deep poverty, higher service use significantly predicted higher infant language scores (β = 3.4, p = 0.005). These results suggest that social services may be an appropriate target to help narrow socioeconomic disparities in language development.

Suggested Citation

  • Morgan A. Finkel & Sonya V. Troller-Renfree & Kimberly G. Noble, 2020. "Higher Utilization of Social Services Is Associated with Higher Language Scores in Children from Deeply Impoverished Urban Families," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-9, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:22:p:8607-:d:447821
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8607/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8607/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Currie, Janet & Yelowitz, Aaron, 2000. "Are public housing projects good for kids?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 99-124, January.
    2. Janet Currie & Jonathan Gruber, 1996. "Health Insurance Eligibility, Utilization of Medical Care, and Child Health," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(2), pages 431-466.
    3. Wang Lee & Erik Beecroft & Mark Shroder, 2005. "The impacts of welfare reform on recipients of housing assistance," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3-4), pages 433-468.
    4. Angela R. Fertig & David A. Reingold, 2007. "Public housing, health, and health behaviors: Is there a connection?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 831-860.
    5. Levine Phillip B & Schanzenbach Diane, 2009. "The Impact of Children's Public Health Insurance Expansions on Educational Outcomes," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-28, May.
    6. Lee, Bong Joo & Mackey-Bilaver, Lucy, 2007. "Effects of WIC and Food Stamp Program participation on child outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 501-517, April.
    7. Anna Aizer, 2007. "Public Health Insurance, Program Take-Up, and Child Health," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(3), pages 400-415, August.
    8. Leventhal, Tama & Newman, Sandra, 2010. "Housing and child development," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1165-1174, September.
    9. Jackson, Margot I., 2015. "Early childhood WIC participation, cognitive development and academic achievement," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 145-153.
    10. Cutts, D.B. & Meyers, A.F. & Black, M.M. & Casey, P.H. & Chilton, M. & Cook, J.T. & Geppert, J. & De Cuba, S.E. & Heeren, T. & Coleman, S. & Rose-Jacobs, R. & Frank, D.A., 2011. "US housing insecurity and the health of very young children," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(8), pages 1508-1514.
    11. Sarah Miller & Laura R. Wherry, 2019. "The Long-Term Effects of Early Life Medicaid Coverage," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 54(3), pages 785-824.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Almond, Douglas & Currie, Janet, 2011. "Human Capital Development before Age Five," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 15, pages 1315-1486, Elsevier.
    2. Sarah Miller & Laura Wherry & Gloria Aldana, 2022. "Covering Undocumented Immigrants: The Effects of a Large-Scale Prenatal Care Intervention," NBER Working Papers 30299, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Hull, Marie C. & Yan, Ji, 2024. "The Impact of Children's Access to Public Health Insurance on Their Cognitive Development and Behavior," IZA Discussion Papers 17190, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Natasha Pilkauskas & Katherine Michelmore, 2019. "The Effect of the Earned Income Tax Credit on Housing and Living Arrangements," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(4), pages 1303-1326, August.
    5. repec:mrr:papers:wp341 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Qureshi, Javaeria A. & Gangopadhyaya, Anuj, 2021. "Childhood Medicaid Eligibility and Human Capital," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    7. Hahn, Youjin, 2013. "The effect of Medicaid physician fees on take-up of public health insurance among children in poverty," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 452-462.
    8. Andrew Goodman-Bacon, 2016. "The Long-Run Effects of Childhood Insurance Coverage: Medicaid Implementation, Adult Health, and Labor Market Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 22899, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Gangopadhyaya, Anuj & Schiman, Jeffrey C., 2023. "Does subsidized public health insurance for parents improve children's human capital and close achievement gaps?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    10. Bronchetti, Erin Todd, 2014. "Public insurance expansions and the health of immigrant and native children," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 205-219.
    11. Alex Hollingsworth & Krzysztof Karbownik & Melissa A. Thomasson & Anthony Wray, 2024. "The Gift of a Lifetime: The Hospital, Modern Medicine, and Mortality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(7), pages 2201-2238, July.
    12. Marianne P. Bitler & Madeline Zavodny, 2014. "Medicaid: A Review of the Literature," NBER Working Papers 20169, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. McInnis, Nicardo, 2023. "Long-term health effects of childhood parental income," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    14. Lee, Ines, 2024. "Co-benefits from health and health systems to education," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    15. Thomas Buchmueller & John C. Ham & Lara D. Shore-Sheppard, 2015. "The Medicaid Program," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, Volume 1, pages 21-136, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Rucker C. Johnson & C. Kirabo Jackson, 2019. "Reducing Inequality through Dynamic Complementarity: Evidence from Head Start and Public School Spending," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 310-349, November.
    17. Florence Goffette-Nagot & Modibo Sidibé, 2011. "Housing Wealth Accumulation: The Role of Public Housing," Post-Print halshs-00673746, HAL.
    18. Toshiaki Iizuka & Hitoshi Shigeoka, 2018. "Free for Children? Patient Cost-sharing and Healthcare Utilization," NBER Working Papers 25306, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Laura R. Wherry & Bruce D. Meyer, 2016. "Saving Teens: Using a Policy Discontinuity to Estimate the Effects of Medicaid Eligibility," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(3), pages 556-588.
    20. Buchmueller Thomas C & Lo Sasso Anthony T & Wong Kathleen N, 2008. "How Did SCHIP Affect the Insurance Coverage of Immigrant Children?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(2), pages 1-25, January.
    21. Gretchen Cusick & Jennifer Gaul-Stout & Reiko Kakuyama-Villaber & Olivia Wilks & Yasmin Grewal-Kök & Clare Anderson, 2024. "A Systematic Review of Economic and Concrete Support to Prevent Child Maltreatment," Societies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-21, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:22:p:8607-:d:447821. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.