Data from Smith College Provide New Insights into Mental Health Diseases and Conditions (The Effect of Safety Net Generosity On Maternal Mental Health and Risky Health Behaviors): Mental Health Diseases and Conditions

2023 MAY 31 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Mental Health Diseases and Conditions is the subject of a report. According to news reporting out of Northampton, Massachusetts, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Single mothers are more likely to experience mental health problems and stress-related negative health behaviors than their married counterparts, but a more generous safety net may improve these outcomes. We use a simulated safety net eligibility approach that accounts for interactions across safety net programs and relies on changing policies across states and time to identify causal effects of safety net generosity on psychological distress and risky behaviors of single mothers.”

Funders for this research include University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service, Russell Sage Foundation through its Visiting Scholars program.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Smith College, “Results suggest that a more generous safety net is protective of maternal mental health: a $1,000 increase to the simulated potential combined cash and food benefit package reduces severe psychological distress by 8.4 percent. Breaking out effects by individual programs while still controlling for potential benefits from other programs, we find protective effects of tax credits, cash benefits provided by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and food benefits provided by Supplemental Nutritional Assistance, but no effects of Medicaid eligibility. The effects are primarily driven by single mothers with the lowest levels of education. We find no significant effects of generosity on daily smoking, but we find evidence that benefits reduce the likelihood of heavy drinking.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Results suggest that government investments in resources available to low-income families can be effective at improving well-being.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: The Effect of Safety Net Generosity On Maternal Mental Health and Risky Health Behaviors. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2023. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Journal of Policy Analysis and Management - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1520-6688)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Lucie Schmidt, Smith College, Econ, Wright Hall 214, Northampton, MA 01063, United States. Additional authors for this research include Lara Shore-Sheppard and Tara Watson.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22481. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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