The results from the conventional regression models confirm findings from most past research. Maternal welfare receipt is significantly and negatively associated with children's educational attainment. After controlling for unobserved family characteristics, the negative effect of welfare becomes weaker but remains significant in the full sample. While the negative effect on white children remains significant, the negative effect on black children's high school graduation and on female children's education disappears. The fixed effect estimates also show that welfare during early childhood has nearly no effect, while welfare during adolescence has a consistently negative effect.
Analyses indicate that children from a family of cyclical welfare use fare worse.
Welfare, combined with a mother's work, does not have a negative effect on children's education. Educational attainment of children whose mothers enter welfare due to income losses is not affected by the welfare experiences. Findings of this study imply that supporting parental work, combined with securing economic well-being, would improve poor children's educational attainment. Conversely, time limits on welfare use and stricter mandatory work requirements may impeded poor children's opportunities for future success. This study also suggests that welfare policy should be sensitive to children's developmental needs varying by their ages.