期刊
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
卷 191, 期 8, 页码 1444-1452出版社
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwab164
关键词
Earned Income Tax Credit; psychological distress; randomized controlled trials; social experiments
资金
- New York City Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity
- Robin Hood Foundation
- Arnold Ventures
- Edna McConnell Clark Foundation
- US Department of Health and Human Services
- European Union [633666]
- National Institute on Aging [R01AG054466]
- Medical Research Council [MR/T032499/1]
The study shows that antipoverty policies can improve mental health, and increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income Americans without dependent children can reduce psychological distress, especially for women and noncustodial parents.
Antipoverty policies have the potential to improve mental health. We conducted a randomized trial (Paycheck Plus Health Study Randomized Controlled Trial, New York, New York) to investigate whether a 4-fold increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income Americans without dependent children would reduce psychological distress relative to the current federal credit. Between 2013 and 2014, a total of 5,968 participants were recruited; 2,997 were randomly assigned to the treatment group and 2,971 were assigned to the control group. Survey data were collected 32 months postrandomization (n = 4,749). Eligibility for the program increased employment by 1.9 percentage points and after-bonus earnings by 6% ($635/year), on average, over the 3 years of the study. Treatment was associated with a marginally statistically significant decline in psychological distress, as measured by the 6-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, relative to the control group (score change = -0.30 points, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.63, 0.03; P = 0.072). Women in the treated group experienced a half-point reduction in psychological distress (score change = -0.55 points, 95% CI: -0.97, -0.13; P = 0.032), and noncustodial parents had a 1.36-point reduction (95% CI: -2.24, -0.49; P = 0.011). Expansion of a large antipoverty program to individuals without dependent children reduced psychological distress for women and noncustodial parents-the groups that benefitted the most in terms of increased after-bonus earnings.
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