Although improving psychological well-being was not the explicit focus of the 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC), psychological health outcomes may have been affected by the positive income shocks generated by the credit. In this chapter we ask: How did the 2021 expanded CTC affect parents’ psychological well-being? Some studies have found that the CTC led to reductions in parental reports of clinical levels of depression and anxiety and in subclinical depressive and anxiety symptoms. Using similar methods, other studies have found no effect on these same outcomes. Importantly, however, the evidence does not point to the CTC worsening psychological well-being. We conclude that the evidence so far is thin, narrow, and mixed, even when our review is expanded to comparable studies on the impact of income support. Alignment of policy objectives with a broader range of measurement approaches will be important in building a more conclusive evidence base.
Authors
- Acknowledgements & Disclosure
- The authors thank Hilary Hoynes and Zachory Parolin for constructive feedback on earlier versions; and, Adrian Caiazzo and Matthew Maury for research assistance and related support. A final version of this article will be appearing in a forthcoming volume of The ANNALS of the American Academy of Social and Political Sciences. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3386/w32662
- Pages
- 26
- Published in
- United States of America
Table of Contents
- Abstract -1
- Psychological well-being and the context of low income and parenting 4
- The multiple dimensions of psychological well-being 5
- Psychological well-being: theories informing the impact of economic status and societal change 6
- Economic theory. 7
- The family stress model. 7
- Human (lifespan) development. 8
- Physiology of economic adversity, racism, and discrimination. 8
- Cognitive and social psychology and decision making. 8
- Findings so far: the impact of the 2021 CTC on psychological well-being 8
- Comparison with related literature on unconditional cash transfers 10
- Discussion and conclusion 11
- References 13
- Table 1. Summary of Findings from Studies as of January 2024 on the Impact of the Expanded CTC on Psychological Well-Being 19
- Appendix Table 1. Studies Included in the Review 20
