Effect of Universal Credit on young children's mental health: quasi-experimental evidence from Understanding Society.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Child mental health has become an increasingly important issue in the UK, especially in the context of significant welfare reforms. Universal Credit (UC) has introduced substantial changes to the UK's social security system, significantly impacting low-income families. Our aim was to assess the effects of UC's introduction on children's mental health for families eligible for UC versus a comparable non-eligible sample.

Methods

Using Understanding Society data from 5806 observations of 4582 children (aged 5 or 8 years) in Great Britain between 2012 and 2018, we created two groups: children whose parents were eligible for UC (intervention group) and children whose parents were ineligible for UC (comparison group). Child mental health was assessed using a parent-repo

SUBMITTER: Song H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11672006 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature