Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Economic well-being can not only be measured by a family’s position on the income ladder. Income instability is another important aspect of a family’s economic experience, and having an income that is changing and unpredictable likely adds unique stressors and problems beyond income level alone. Many studies have looked at trends in income instability and how it relates to things like labor force changes and macroeconomic trends (Hardy, 2017; Jorda et al., 2011), but fewer studies have looked at income instability in relation to familial, adult, and child outcomes of the families experiencing this instability. Experiencing shocks and dips in income, or coping with an unpredictable set of economic resources, likely has deleterious effects on families, but less is known about the unique impacts of income instability on families beyond the impact of poverty. As such, this study uses a sample of families in Wisconsin at-risk for child maltreatment to examine the relationship between frequent income instability and parenting behaviors. A family is considered “at-risk” for child maltreatment if they have a report to Child Protective Services (CPS) that was not opened for investigation or substantiated. A survey of over 700 families with this CPS history measured self-reported parenting scales and parental maltreatment behaviors at Time 1 (2016) and Time 2 (2017). The survey respondents are linked to state administrative records, which provide a record of the individual’s wages every four months. Thus, the current study is able to measure the frequency, magnitude, and direction of income instability at four time points from 2016 to 2017. These different measures of instability are then associated with changes in parenting behaviors between Time 1 and Time 2. Household income level is controlled for in this study in order to identify the unique effects of instability beyond the effects of income level. Results suggest that frequent income instability is associated with significantly higher reports of parental distress and significantly lower reports of affection with children. A large drop in income (>30% decrease) is associated with significantly higher parental neglect behaviors, and a large increase in income (>30% increase) is associated with more affection given to the child as well as reduced rates of parental neglect behavior. Thus, these findings provide clear evidence that income instability has unique effects on parenting behaviors beyond the effects of income level alone. A greater frequency of instability appears to have an important effect on the psychological experiences of parents (e.g., parental distress), while the magnitude and direction of income changes has a significant impact on maltreatment behaviors (e.g., parental neglect). These results provide evidence for the importance of addressing income instability in social welfare policy and child maltreatment practices.