Laura Pittman

Psychology professor's welfare research
makes headlines across the country

by Tom Parisi

NIU psychology professor Laura Pittman is part of a team of researchers whose study of the U.S. welfare-to-work initiative is attracting national attention.

The research team reported on its study in the March 7 issue of the journal, Science. And the findings drew media coverage in newspapers nationwide, including front-page articles in the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. National Public Radio also devoted a segment of its news program, All Things Considered, to the research.

The longitudinal study of low-income families in Chicago, Boston and San Antonio found that major fears surrounding the welfare overhaul in the mid-1990s generally have not come to pass. On average, preschoolers whose mothers left welfare for work did just as well in math, reading and behavior as children whose mothers remained on welfare. The researchers also found some evidence that mothers' entry into the labor force was related to improvements in adolescents' mental health, while exits from employment were linked to teenagers' increased behavior problems.

"This is the most definitive study yet on how children are affected when welfare mothers enter the workforce," Pittman said. "And it is the first study of welfare reform to extensively rely on direct measures of cognitive achievement in children."

A clinical psychologist, Pittman is an expert in the measurement of children's cognitive, emotional and social development. She trained the study's interviewers to administer standardized achievement tests used to measure children's reading and mathematical abilities.

"Changes in welfare policy didn't have the negative consequences that some feared," Pittman said. "But it's important to keep in mind that these kids still aren't doing as well as their peers in middle-class families. So there's a great need to continue focusing on ways to help children in poverty.

"Also, our data was collected during the economic boom, and the situation for welfare families might be different now," Pittman added. "In a good economy, the mothers leaving welfare for work might find better employment, either in terms of jobs that pay more money or have more flexibility in their schedules."

Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, a professor in the Department of Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University, led the team of eight researchers publishing their findings in Science. Funding for the $20 million study was provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, federal agencies and 14 private foundations.

Pittman joined the NIU faculty just last fall. She worked previously as a researcher at Northwestern. She said further publications on other aspects of the welfare study are in the works.

3-17-2003