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Explaining the Poverty Dynamics of Rural Families Using an Economic Well-Being Continuum

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Abstract

The economic volatility faced by rural low-income families is explained with an Economic Well-Being Continuum (EWC), a comprehensive measure which describes the circumstances of low-income families in eight specific dimensions and establishes their level of economic functioning. Using the Rural Families Speak longitudinal dataset and a case study approach, we analyzed the poverty spells of five rural, low-income families, including a migrant family. Life circumstances and trigger events that contribute to families’ entry into and exit from poverty were examined with the EWC. Health issues and relationship changes were significant trigger events that established or altered the economic functioning of the families while support networks helped mitigate their hardships. Policies to alleviate poverty spells among the rural poor are discussed.

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Notes

  1. Please note: (1) The authors acknowledge that a family does not exit poverty, i.e., cease to be poor, simply because they stopped receiving TANF. Families may have improved their economic circumstances so that they are no longer qualified for cash benefits, nonetheless, they may still be sufficiently poor to receive in-kind assistance such as food stamps (aka SNAP), Medicaid, etc. A low-income family may fall somewhere on a “poverty scale,” characterized by, on the one end, the worst state of privation necessitating both cash and in-kind assistance and, at the other end, a minimum level of economic adequacy, perhaps requiring some form of supports but not cash assistance. We identified those families who experienced economic volatility in the three study years and then categorized them according to where they fell on the poverty scale. (2) None of the families in the study were timed off TANF.

  2. The Census Bureau's urban–rural classification is fundamentally a delineation of geographical areas, identifying both individual urban areas and the rural areas of the nation. The Census Bureau's urban areas represent densely developed territory, and encompass residential, commercial, and other non-residential urban land uses. For the 2010 Census, an urban area will comprise a densely settled core of census tracts and/or census blocks that meet minimum population density requirements, along with adjacent territory containing non-residential urban land uses as well as territory with low population density included to link outlying densely settled territory with the densely settled core. To qualify as an urban area, the territory identified according to criteria must encompass at least 2,500 people, at least 1,500 of which reside outside institutional group quarters. Rural areas, on the other hand, comprise of open country and settlements with fewer than 2,500 residents.

  3. For a complete project description, see ruralfamiliesspeak.org.

  4. None of the families were timed off TANF because they had reached their 5-year limit.

  5. All names are pseudonyms.

  6. WIC is the Special Supplementary Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, and LIHEAP is the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

  7. This incident may have occurred because Allene was forced to rely on a neighbor for emergency childcare while she was at her dying father’s hospital bedside.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by USDA/CSREES/NRICGP Grant Number 2001-35401-10215 & 2002-35401-11591, 2004-35401-14938. Data were collected in conjunction with the cooperative multi-state research project, NC-223/NC-1011, “Rural Low–Income Families: Monitoring Their Well-being and Functioning in the Context of Welfare Reform.” Cooperating states are California, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, and Oregon. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Megan Gay, undergraduate research assistant, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

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Mammen, S., Dolan, E. & Seiling, S.B. Explaining the Poverty Dynamics of Rural Families Using an Economic Well-Being Continuum. J Fam Econ Iss 36, 434–450 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-014-9405-4

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