| Press Releases |
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Press Release
May 15, 2006
Ariel Kalil on welfare, health, and children of immigrants
On May 10, Harris School Associate
Professor Ariel Kalil presented recent
research to an audience of
students, policy practitioners, alumni, and others at a Center for Policy Practice event. Professor Kalil's research,
entitled "Welfare Leaving and Health Trajectories among the Children of Immigrants and Natives," examines the impact of
policy changes limiting welfare program access for immigrants.
Welfare reform in the mid-1990s sharply limited access to welfare programs for immigrants. Following
the changes in federal and state policies, the number of immigrants receiving food stamps, cash assistance, or Medicaid
dropped precipitously. Yet few studies have looked at the ramifications of these policy changes on immigrant children's
health. Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), a multi-level study of more
than six thousand children and adolescents, Associate Professor Ariel Kalil's preliminary results in "Welfare Leaving
and Health Trajectories among the Children of Immigrants and Natives" suggest that immigrants (in contrast to native-born)
are leaving the welfare rolls for reasons other than employment or economic advancement. She also finds that the children
of immigrant welfare leavers fare significantly worse over time in their physical health than either native-born leavers
or other immigrants who remain in the system. These effects, moreover, seem to be concentrated among infants and preschoolers,
relative to school-age children. Kalil will be examining additional waves of PHDCN data to assess whether and to what extent
the health declines of children in immigrant families rebound over time. She also plans to examine additional measures of
child well-being, including cognitive achievement. A paper on this research will be presented at the 2006 meetings of the
Population Association of America (PAA). (Description taken from
the 2006 Research Report)
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