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Welfare reform has been widely accepted as a success, with the media highlighting stories of employed ex-recipients. But the reality is more complex. Many women lose their jobs; many others stay poor even while working; a booming economy might really deserve the credit. What works and what does not?

This paper examines the hypothesis that parents exaggerate their reading with children aged 3 to 5 when asked typical single-item questions and that the extent of exaggeration is greater for better-educated parents. It examines differences in parental reporting of reading to children that may result from differences in response bias. It examines whether differences in reading with children by race/ethnicity, income, and family structure holdup after controlling for maternal education and other factors. Finally, it examines whether any bias we find affects the relationship between reading and achievement test scores. Data are from the Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a nationally representative sample of children and their parents who were asked detailed questions about their lives and activities in 1997.

This article examines the contribution of economic circumstances, neighborhood context, and cultural factors to explaining race/ethnic differences in fathering in two-parent families. Data come from the 1997 Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a nationally representative sample of children younger than age 13. Black children's fathers exhibit less warmth but monitor their children more, Hispanic fathers monitor their children less, and both minority groups exhibit more responsibility for child rearing than White fathers. Economic circumstances contribute to differences in paternal engagement and control, and neighborhood factors contribute to differences in warmth and responsibility. Cultural factors, such as intergenerational fathering and gender-role attitudes, contribute to explaining differences from Whites in control and responsibility on the part of both Blacks and Hispanics.

Increased work requirements in new welfare reform legislation may further increase the demand for child care in the US. Examined in this light are (1) the relationship between child care & self-sufficiency, particularly among low-income mothers; (2) factors affecting the demand for & availability, cost, & quality of child care that parents use; & (3) the part played by public subsidies in the availability, cost, & quality of child care. Low-income mothers' ability to achieve self-sufficiency depends on the availability of reliable child care; they want the same types of care that middle-class mothers want. The federal government has played an important part in making child care available & affordable & improving its quality. Much of the funding, however, has gone to middle-income or poor, unemployed parents. Child care for working poor & working-class parents has been neglected. 1 Table, 3 Figures, 47 References. Adapted from the source document.

This study examined the association between paternal and maternal employment changes and changes in the frequency of fathers praising, showing affection, disciplining, and reading to children. Data were drawn from the Young Adult supplement to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979). Supporting economic theory, fathers were more involved when they and their partner were employed full time and were less involved when their employment exceeded that of their partner. Although fathers tended to be less involved when they worked less, fathers who held traditional gender role attitudes were more involved than those who held nontraditional gender role attitudes. The results suggest the important part fathers' attitudes and values have in influencing their involvement with children under differing employment conditions.