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Project Description

The Family Income Study was created by Washington’s legislature “to determine the causes of public dependency and the impact of changes in the economy or of public programs on dependency, work, or other relevant behaviors”. The Study sought to understand the reasons why women went on assistance, and why some women stayed on assistance for longer- or shorter- periods of time.

The Study was based upon five annual surveys administered between 1988 and 1992. The great majority of assistance families were, and continue to be, headed by women- for the most part as single parents, but sometimes as partners in two-parent families. Thus, the Study is focused on this group of female-headed households. The families in the survey were selected from all families on public assistance in Washington State in March 1988. The sample of women in households receiving public assistance, the primary sample, numbered 1,184. The comparison sample of 796 households included other families who, for the most part, were poor or near poor- the “at risk” population. Both samples are representative of the state.

Project duration: Jan 1987 - Oct 1995

Sites studied include Washington- statewide

Sample Characteristics and Sites Studied

Representative random sample of 1,184 women in households receiving public assistance in March 1988 and 796 women in households how were poor or near poor.

Recent Findings in Brief

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