Did assignment to a JOBS program affect further, non-targeted outcomes for families?
There was less evidence of impacts on aspects of family life not targeted by JOBS welfare-to-work programs, yet such impacts did occur. When these impacts occurred, however, there were indications (discussed below) that they could be quite important to child outcomes. Maternal psychological well-being. Specific aspects of maternal psychological well-being were affected in different ways by JOBS welfare-to-work programs, and impacts did emerge, especially for subgroups of mothers. Assignment to a JOBS welfare-to-work program often led to increased feelings of time stress. Perhaps more worrisome, enrollment in a JOBS program increased depressive symptomatology, in the aggregate, for mothers assigned to Grand Rapids’ labor force attachment program, as well as for a few lower-risk subgroups exposed to Grand Rapids’ or Riverside’s human capital development program, and a lower-risk subgroup assigned to Atlanta’s labor force attachment program. Interestingly, Atlanta’s labor force attachment
