What Most Affects the Probability of Receiving Public Assistance? Examining the Effect of Family Background and Educational Attainment on Receiving Public Assistance with Multivariate Regression Analysis
Patricia Vargas
Oregon State University
Understanding poverty as a state of being poor (i.e., being unable to meet basic needs), its concerted study in the United States not only stands tandem with constitutionally upheld values such as equality but is crucial for soundly informing and assessing law, policy, and programs to ensure a robust society. For this project, I examine how family background and educational attainment interact to jointly affect poverty in the U.S. using data from a nationally representative panel study sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). After proxying poverty with receiving public assistance, I tested 18 independent variables consistent with demographic and family background by conducting a multivariate regression. I found 10 variables to have a statistically significant effect on the probability of receiving public assistance with dependents (under the age of 18), recent unemployment (within the past three years), and being female being among the strongest predictors of receiving public assistance (p<0.001). Further, roughly 36% of the variation in receiving public assistance is explained by the 18 independent variables tested, helping paint poverty with more color.