AFDC - UP , Two - Parent Families , and the Family Support Act of 1988 : Evidence from the 1990 CPS and the 1987 NSFH

What is the effect of the AFDC-Unemployed Parent (UP) program on two-parent families? This question has become particularly relevant following the passage of the Family Support Act (FSA) of 1988, effective October 1990, which extended the previously state-optional AFDC-Unemployed Parent program to all states. This study clarifies what is meant by "two-parent" family in the federal legislation and then empirically investigates whether AFDC-UP is pro-family by taking advantage of cross-state variation in the presence (or lack thereof) of an AFDC-UP program before the FSA. AFDC-UP’s effect on two-parent families is examined using individual-level data from two sources: (1) the March 1990 Current Population Survey and (2) the 1987 National Survey of Families and Households. The availability of AFDC-UP is not found to provide a significant pro-family boost, as hoped for by Congress. Rather, UP is found to have a significant negative or insignificant effect on a woman’s probability of marriage, depending on the model specification, and an insignificant effect on her probability of being in a "natural" two-parent family. Of particular note, findings regarding AFDC-UP and AFDC generosity appear sensitive to the inclusion of a variable reflecting community conservatism. AFDC-UP, Two-Parent Families, and the Family Support Act of 1988: Evidence from the 1990 CPS and the 1987 NSFH