Determinants of Depressive Symptoms Among Women on Public Assistance in Louisiana

Depression can be a significant barrier in the welfare-to-work transition of poor women. Fortunately, support from social networks can lessen symptoms and facilitate entry into the workplace. Inconsistency in the literature concerning the effects of social networks on the poor suggests further research is needed. Thus, we examine the level and determinants of depressive symptoms among participants in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. Having a good job, being in good health, married, and black, and living in rural areas inhibit symptoms of depression. Remaining on TANF and having several children increases symptom levels. Those who report that they frequently have people to help them show lower levels of depression. The larger the social network, and the higher the percent of the network that is made up of neighbors, the higher the level of depression. While some of our findings suggest the success of 1996 welfare reform legislation others suggest important policy considerations. Good physical health (including access to health care), reduction of economic hardships, and effective social supports are ongoing issues to be addressed among low-income populations

Regional Poverty and Population Response:A Comparison of Three Regions in the United States and Germany

In this paper, we examine poverty in three regions in the United States and Germany and discuss its causes and demographic consequences. The three regions are those with the highest rates of poverty in the two countries: the Mississippi Delta and Texas Borderland in the United States and the Northeastern Border Region in Germany. We show that standard models to explain poverty need to be placed in the historical legacies of the three regions in order to understand their current levels of poverty. While our results show many common factors for poverty in the three regions, they also point to important differences. Similarly, we identify differences among the regions in their demographic responses to poverty, in part reflecting their different historical legacies. Thus, one implication of the paper is the importance of place-based poverty-mitigation strategies for successful policy planning.In this paper, we examine poverty in three regions in the United States and Germany and discuss its causes and demographic consequences. The three regions are those with the highest rates of poverty in the two countries: the Mississippi Delta and Texas Borderland in the United States and the Northeastern Border Region in Germany. We show that standard models to explain poverty need to be placed in the historical legacies of the three regions in order to understand their current levels of poverty. While our results show many common factors for poverty in the three regions, they also point to important differences. Similarly, we identify differences among the regions in their demographic responses to poverty, in part reflecting their different historical legacies. Thus, one implication of the paper is the importance of place-based poverty-mitigation strategies for successful policy planning

Welfare, Work, and Well-Being in Metro and Nonmetro Louisiana

This paper examines the extent to which persons in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) have been able to leave the TANF program. The analysis is based on the Louisiana Welfare Survey which is a panel study of 1,000 persons (500 in New Orleans and 500 in two labor market areas in northeastern Louisiana) who in 1998 and 1999 had been on welfare. The original respondents have been reinterviewed annually, with the fifth and final wave currently (May 2002) in the field. The findings reported in this paper are based on the first three waves of the panel survey, 1998- 2000. The findings show that by 2000 more than half of the respondents had left TANF, mostly because of employment. Well over one-half of all TANF leavers reported to be working in 2000. Although most respondents that had left TANF reported being better off economically, the work these persons could find consisted mostly of low-status low-pay jobs in service industries. As a result, TANF recipients as well as TANF leavers faced a good many economic hardships, such as not having enough to eat, having phone and utilities disconnected, and inability to obtain medical and dental services. The comparison of metro and nonrnetro areas showed that TANF recipients in nonmetro areas were less likely to leave the TANF program for work, had lower human capital, and tended to face more economic hardships than their metro counterparts. The picture that emerges from these findings shows that the economic situation of TANF leavers is fragile and tenuous, and that it is premature to consider the welfare reform legislation of 1996 a success

Socioeconomic Performance in Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas during the 1980s

The socioeconomic gap between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas increased during the 1980s. We test three competing explanations for this trend during the 1980s: overdependence on manufacturing, especially in nonmetro labor markets, the emergence of producer services as a catalyst of socioeconomic growth, and federal spending. Using a model that is informed by a variety of perspectives in sociology and economic geography, and commuter zones (CZs) as spatial units of analysis, we estimate the effects of manufacturing concentration, producer service concentration, and federal spending on per capita income, per capita earnings, and private nonfarm employment growth during the 1983-1988 business cycle recovery. The OLS and interaction models show that all three factors help explain why metro areas outperformed nonmetro areas during this time period. The effects of producer service concentration, however, best fit with our expectations. Implications of our findings are discussed

Veränderungen von ausländerablehnenden Einstellungen in der Adoleszenzphase ostdeutscher Jugendlicher: Ergebnisse einer regionalen 3-Jahres-Panelstudie im Zeitraum von 1994 bis 1996

'Die Studie analysiert die Formierung von Einstellungen der nationalisierenden Ausländerablehnung in der Adoleszenzphase von Jugendlichen zwischen dem 15ten und 17ten Lebensjahr. Die Analyse basiert auf den Daten einer 3-Wellen-Panelbefragung von Jugendlichen (N=131), die von den Autoren zwischen 1994 und 1996 in einem Landkreis in Ostthüringen durchgeführt wurde. Die Studie ermittelt bei den befragten Jugendlichen einen Anteil von 25 Prozent mit deutlich bzw. stark ausgeprägten, manifest nationalisierend-ausländerablehnenden Einstellungen. Dieser Anteil steigt bis durchschnittlich 50 Prozent an, wenn das Vorhandensein einer rein emotionalen Ausländerablehnung und nicht die Existenz eines Einstellungssyndroms, das nationalisierende und ausländerablehnende Kognitionen miteinander verbindet, analysiert wird. Zwei Drittel der Jugendlichen halten an ihrer Meinung zu Ausländern zwischen dem 15ten und 17ten Lebensjahr unverändert fest, wobei die Einstellungskonstanz von ausländerakzeptierenden Jugendlichen besonders hoch ist. Von denjenigen Jugendlichen, die ihre Meinung zu Ausländern im beobachteten 3-Jahres-Zeitraum ändern, wechseln mehr Jugendliche zu ausländerakeptierenden als zu ausländerablehnenden Positionen. Wenn ausländerakzeptierende Jugendliche ihre Meinung ändern, wechseln sie häufiger zu mittleren bzw. indifferenten Positionen als zu ausländerablehnenden Einstellungen, während Jugendliche, die ihre ausländerablehnende Haltung aufgeben, eher zu ausländerakeptierenden als zu indifferenten Positionen wechseln. Mit zunehmendem Alter verlangsamt sich der Trend hin zu ausländerakzeptierenden Einstellungen, und auch der Anteil von Jugendlichen, die zu ausländerablehnenden Positionen wechseln, nimmt mit zunehmendem Alter wieder deutlich zu. Die Ergebnisse können mit zwei wichtigen Einschränkungen als mikrosoziologische Bestätigung der makrosoziologischen These von der Herausbildung eines neuen Mentalitätstpys junger Ostdeutscher interpretiert werden.' (Autorenreferat)'The study analyzes the formation of attitudes regarding a nationalistic rejection of foreigners among youth between 15 and 17years of age. The analysis is based on data from a three-wave panel survey of youth (N=131) that the authors conducted between 1994 and 1996 in a non-metropolitan county in eastern Thuringia. The study indicated that 25 percent of the respondents had pronounced attitudes against foreigners; these attitudes were clearly nationalistic. This proportion increases to an average of 50 percent, if only the presence of a mere emotional rejection of foreigners is analyzed, and not the existence of an attitudinal syndrome combining the cognition of nationalizing and anti-foreigner cognition. Two-thirds of youth maintain their views towards foreigners between 15 and 17 years of age, with a particularly high stability of attitudes among those youth who accept foreigners. Among youth who change their views towards foreigners during the 3-year period, more youth change to a position of foreigner acceptance than to one of foreigner rejection. When youth who accept foreigners, change their views, they typically shift to neutral positions, rather than to a rejection of foreigners. In contrast, those youth who change from a rejection of foreigners are more likely to shift to a position of acceptance than to a neutral stance. With increasing age, the tendency towards acceptance of foreigners slows down, and a growing proportion of youth exhibits negative attitudes towards foreigners. The findings, albeit with two important qualifications, provide microsociological support for the macro-sociological thesis of the emergence of a new type of young East-Germans.' (author's abstract)

Role models and trust in socio-political institutions: a case study in Eastern Germany, 1992-96

Die Studie erörtert die Entstehung des Vertrauens in sozio-politische Institutionen unter Jugendlichen in Ostdeutschland im Zeitraum 1992 bis 1996. Dabei berücksichtigt sie insbesondere Effekte, die entstehen, wenn Jugendliche ihre Eltern (oder Elternteile) als soziale Vorbilder akzeptieren. Die Analyse basiert auf Befragungen von Schülern aus Regelschulen und Gymnasien, die in einem ausgewählten Landkreis in Thüringen durchgeführt wurden. Eine Faktorenanalyse von Indikatoren des Vertrauens in mehrere soziale und politische Institutionen ermittelte einen gemeinsamen Faktor des Vertrauens in fünf sozio-politische Institutionen, die alle zum staatlichen Sektor zu rechnen sind, und die größtenteils eine stark hierarchische Struktur aufweisen: das Militär, die Polizei, das Rechtssystem, die öffentliche Verwaltung (unter Ausschluß der zentralstaatlichen Regierung) und das Parlament. Mehrere multiple Regressionsmodelle (mit unabhängigen Variablen zur Vorbildfunktion von Eltern, zu verschiedenen politischen Einstellungen, sowie zur Bewertung der ökonomischen Situation und der sozialen Schichtzugehörigkeit) zeigten, dass positive Bewertungen der staatlichen Vereinigung Deutschlands und die Akzeptanz der Eltern (oder eines Elternteils) als soziale Vorbilder die beiden wichtigsten Determinanten für das ermittelte Vertrauen in sozio-politische Institutionen waren. In den frühen Jahren der Transformation verstärkte sich der positive Einfluss dieser beiden Variablen auf das Ausmass des Institutionenvertrauens mit zunehmender Distanz vom Zeitpunkt der Wiedervereinigung, während dieser Einfluss nach 1994 leicht abfiel, aber immer noch oberhalb des 1992er Wertes verblieb. Diese Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Effekte der Sozialisation wichtige Ergänzungen zum Verständnis des Einflusses von situativen und schichtabhängigen Faktoren auf die Entstehung des Vertrauens in sozio-politische Institutionen unter ostdeutschen Jugendlichen sind.This paper discusses the development of trust in socio-political institutions on the part of youth in eastern Germany during the period 1992-96, with special emphasis on the effect of having parents as role model. The analysis is based on surveys of middle and high school students that were conducted by the authors in a county in Thuringia. A factor analysis of trust in a number of social and political institutions yielded a factor comprising five socio-political institutions that belong to the state sector and, for the most part, have a strong hierarchical structure: the military, police, legal system, public administration (but not the government proper), and parliament. Our multiple regression models (including parental role model, various political attitudes, evaluation of the economic situation, and stratification) showed that favorable attitudes towards unification and having parents as role model were the two most important determinants of having trust in socio-political institutions. The positive effects of these two variables on trust became stronger with growing temporal distance from unification during the early years of the transformation; the strength of the effects dropped slightly after 1994 but remained well above the 1992 level. These findings show that socialization variables are an important addition to situational and stratification factors in understanding the development of trust in socio-political institutions among eastern German youth

Poverty in the Texas borderland and lower Mississippi Delta: A comparative analysis of differences by family type

We provide a comparative analysis of county-level poverty in the two poorest regions of the United States - the Texas Borderland and the Lower Mississippi Delta - with a special focus on differences by family type. Our results reveal important regional variation in both the prevalence of poverty and the composition of the poor population across major family types. Using OLS regression models of family type-specific poverty we demonstrate three key findings: 1) There are no significant regional differences in poverty levels by family type between the Borderland and the Delta, net of important structural factors that characterize the regions; 2) with the exception of the employment rate, the structural factors associated with poverty among married couple and single female-headed families are quite different; and 3) paradoxically, areas in the Borderland with high in-migration are especially likely to suffer from high married-couple family poverty. Our results suggest the need for regionally targeted and demographically tailored anti-poverty policies.family structure, Mississippi Delta, persistent poverty, poverty, regional poverty, Texas Borderland

Role models and trust in socio-political institutions : a case study in Eastern Germany, 1992 - 96

This paper discusses the development of trust in socio-political institutions on the part of youth in eastern Germany during the period 1992-96, with special emphasis on the effect of having parents as role model. The analysis is based on surveys of middle and high school students that were conducted by the authors in a county in Thuringia. A factor analysis of trust in a number of social and political institutions yielded a factor comprising five socio-political institutions that belong to the state sector and, for the most part, have a strong hierarchical structure: the military, police, legal system, public administration (but not the government proper), and parliament. Our multiple regression models (including parental role model, various political attitudes, evaluation of the economic situation, and stratification) showed that favorable attitudes towards unification and having parents as role model were the two most important determinants of having trust in socio-political institutions. The positive effects of these two variables on trust became stronger with growing temporal distance from unification during the early years of the transformation; the strength of the effects dropped slightly after 1994 but remained well above the 1992 level. These findings show that socialization variables are an important addition to situational and stratification factors in understanding the development of trust in socio-political institutions among eastern German youth