Irene Y.H. Ng

Ministry of Community Development Youth and Sports (MCYS) Community Development Councils Research team: Ho Kong Weng, Division of Economics, NTU Alex Lee, Department of Social Work, NUS Ngiam Tee Liang, Department of Social Work, NUS Nesam Tharmalingam, Department of Social Work, NUS

1. Poverty in Singapore  Socioeconomic and policy context 2. Theory: effects on and of parents’ self-concepts  Self-efficacy  Aggravation in parenting 3. Sample & methodology 4. Findings 5. Implications for working with low-income parents

 Wage stagnation despite high economic growth  Widening inequality => Bottom earners of increasing concern

Time limited economic focused assistance Welfare-to- work programs Non-welfare- to-work programs Limited effectiveness for many/majority of recipients  Why?  Poor families seldom struggle with ONLY financial woes

6 Financial hardship Diminished self- concept Children problems Increased difficult in sustaining work & meeting welfare requirements

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Government financial assistance programme to help recipients find employment and achieve financial independence through interim financial support and other assistance

Interaction Individual Family earnings Education Social support Children Academic performance Behaviour Health and mental health Age Demographic Age Sex Race/ethnicity Marital status No. of children

“The extent to which people see themselves as being in control of the forces that importantly affect their lives” (Pearlin et al. 1980, Bandura 1982) Adverse life event Decrease self-efficacy Stress and functioning

 No way I can solve some of my problems  Little control over things  Often feel helpless  Little I can do to change important things 11 MeanSDRange  Completely disagree Completely agree

“Parenting stress that might result from changes in employment, income and other factors” (Panel Study of Income Dynamics 2010)  Adapted from Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 1990) Parenting stress index Aggrava- tion in parenting

Parenting stress Economic hardship Autistic child Child with mental health problems Child with behavior problems Social support Emotional problems Divorce Aggravation in parenting???

 Being a parent is harder than I thought  I feel trapped by my responsibility as a parent  I find that taking care of my child(ren) is more work than pleasure  I often feel tired, worn out, or exhausted from raising a family 14 MeanSDRange  Not at all true Completely true

15 MSDRange% Monthly family earnings$1,006$623$0-4,200 Highest education Primary & below Some secondary ‘N’ or ‘O’ Level ‘A’ level or polytechnic Bachelor degree or above 42% 25% 12% 9% 2% Lubben Social Network Scale how many family members or relatives: they heard from at least once a month, felt at ease to talk about private matters, and could call on for help. Similarly for friends or neighbours Scale: 0 – 5 (nine or more)

Children issues% Has child with poor grades33% Has child with health limitations21% Has child with difficult behaviour29% MSDRange Age of oldest child who is below

17 MSDRange% Age of respondent % male39% Number of children % not married21%

Children’s characteristicsLg(parenting)Lg(mastery) Has a child with poor grades.07 (.043).026 (.026) Has a child with health Limitations.13 (.047)**.033 (.028) Has a child with difficult Behaviour.39 (.044)**.073 (.026)** Lg(family earnings).003 (.006) (.004) Standard errors in parentheses. * significant at 5%; ** significant at 1%

Children’s characteristicsLg(parenting)Lg(mastery) Has a child with poor grades Grades X Earnings.19 (.096) (.058) (.014).01 (.009) Has a child with health limitation Health X Earnings (.126).059 (.076).021 (.019) (.011) Has a child with difficult behaviour Behaviour X Earnings.65 (.096)**.23 (.058)** (.015)** (.009)** Standard errors in parentheses. * significant at 5%; ** significant at 1%

Individual characteristicsLg(parenting)Lg(mastery) Lubben social support scale.005 (.004) (.002)** N754 R2R Standard errors in parentheses. * significant at 5%; ** significant at 1% Model without interactions shown, but results similar in model with interactions.

 Children’s health aggravated parenting.  Children’s difficult behaviour worsened parenting stress AND parents’ self-efficacy.  Family earnings did not relate to self-concepts. However, lower family earnings  amplified the effects of children’s difficult behaviour on parents’ stress and self-efficacy.  Social support from friends and family improved self- efficacy.

 Cross-sectional => can’t conclude causality

 limited effectiveness if recipients’ psychosocial barriers to financial independence not addressed  Case-management beyond financial monitoring  Case loads & case-management training  Integration of services  Supportive manner of case officer important  Targeted assessment and intervention  For families with difficult children and  on improving social support. * Evaluation of these suggestions