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Social support, drug use, and employment among low-income women
In 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) (1) was enacted with the goal of promoting the economic self-sufficiency of families by transitioning them from public assistance into the work force as early as feasible. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients are now under a work requirement and a five-year life-time limit on cash benefits. The PRWORA stated that by fiscal year 2002 states must have 50% of their caseload engaged in 30 hours per week of work activities such as paid employment, job training, or volunteer work.
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Subsequent legislation continued the program by expanding the percentage of recipients required to work to 70% and increased the required number of hours of work activity per week to 40, including at least 24 hours of actual work
Early reports suggest that welfare reform is having the desired effect on welfare caseloads. Unfortunately, there are still indications that a large proportion of recipients are unable to gain employment and frequently cycle between work and welfare (2, 3). The changes set forth by the PRWORA have forced researchers, policymakers, and federal administrators to analyze the employability of recipients remaining on the rolls and to examine the many factors that can impact a recipients' ability to move from welfare to work. These factors often include levels of education, job experience, mental and physical health status, and access to needed services such as childcare subsidies and transportation.
While there is considerable research on the role of social relationships in the lives of women, to our knowledge few studies have focused on the extent to which social support may influence employment among welfare-receiving women. The literature that does exist on the topic has reported inconsistent conclusions. Whereas one study found that welfare recipients were more likely to be working if they received frequent support from their networks (4); another study examining women leaving welfare for employment and women remaining on welfare found no differences in emotional support between the two groups (5).
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