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.