The Effects of Child Support Payments on Developmental Outcomes for Elementary School-Age Children

Virginia W. Knox

Journal of Human Resources, 1996, vol. 31, issue 4, 816-840

Abstract: Past research suggests that increasing the incomes of single mothers will bring integenerational benefits. However, some sources of income may be more beneficial to children than others. This paper evaluates the effects of child support payments from absent fathers on children's achievement test scores and home environments, using three methods to control for heterogeneity among families. The results provide evidence that increased child support payments may improve the academic achievement of elementary school-age children even more than income from other sources. While overall family income appears to affect levels of cognitive stimulation available in children's homes, child support does not have larger effects than other sources of income. These findings suggest that increasing the financial contributions of absent fathers through improved child support enforcement or other interventions may be a particularly beneficial income support strategy for children in single mother families.

Date: 1996
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (33)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/146148
A subscription is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:31:y:1996:i:4:p:816-840

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Human Resources from University of Wisconsin Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().