Impediments to employment under welfare reform: The importance of physicalhealth and psychosocial characteristics

The impact of Connecticut's welfare reform program (Jobs First), physical a nd mental health status, personal resources and household violence on emplo yment was examined 18 months after women were randomized to either the welf are reform or the older AFDC program. Multivariate analyses showed that alt hough the Jobs First program was statistically significantly associated wit h women having worked sometime since assignment to the welfare reform progr am, the Jobs First program was not associated with women currently working or having worked at some point hut no longer working. Rather, women were mo re likely to be working at the 18 month interview if they reported frequent help from their social networks (OR = 1.52; p = .009). they had at least a high school degree (OR = 1.65; p = .002) and they were in good physical he alth (OR = 3.41; p = .009). Women who had worked sometime since random assi gnment but were no longer working at the 18 month interview reported few so cial contacts(OR = 1.33; p = .037), did not Day rent or own their own homes (OR = 6.94; p = .025), reported receiving AFDC for 2 years or more prior t o randomization (OR = 1.83; p = .035) and reported high levels of household violence (OR = 1.53; p = .035). The need for attention to be focused on th e importance of health problems, household violence and personal resources for the successful transitioning from public income support to employment i s discussed. (C) 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.