ArticleSSM - population health2023
Unconditional cash transfers and mental health symptoms among parents with low incomes: Evidence from the 2021 child tax credit.
Article in SSM - population health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Unconditional cash transfers to low-income preterm infants and their families: a pilot randomized controlled trial.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2025Trial
- Effects of unconditional cash transfers on family processes and wellbeing among mothers with low incomes.Nature communications · 2025Trial
- Evaluability assessment of a targeted national anti-child poverty policy: option appraisal for evaluating the Scottish Child Payment.Health research policy and systems · 2026Article
- Cash transfers do not increase traumatic injury and mortality: evidence from Alaska.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Going beyond participation: community-led design and evaluation of the Philly Joy Bank.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Impacts of the 2021 child tax credit advance monthly payments on birth outcomes in the United States: a natural experiment.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Hardship and Hope: The Relationship Between Unconditional Prenatal and Infant Cash Transfers, Economic Stability, and Maternal Mental Health and Well-Being.American journal of public health · 2025Article
- Annual Research Review: Cash transfer programs and young people's mental health - a review of studies in the United States.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2025Review
- Advanced Child Tax Credit Monthly Payments and Substance Use Among US Parents.JAMA health forum · 2025Article
- Implications of Cash Transfer Programs for Mental Health Promotion among Families Facing Significant Stressors: Using Ecological Systems Theory to Explain Successes of Conditional and Unconditional Programs.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- The expanded Child Tax Credit and low-income families' food insecurity: Associations across and within months of receipt.Children and youth services review · 2024Article
- Health and non-health benefits and equity impacts of individual-level economic relief programs during epidemics/pandemics in high income settings: a scoping review.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Perceived Impacts of the Expanded Child Tax Credit Cessation Based on Family Income Level.Research square · 2024Article
- Current and Future Approaches to Pediatric Anxiety Disorder Treatment.The American journal of psychiatry · 2024Review
- Child Poverty and Health: The Role of Income Support Policies.The Milbank quarterly · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic increased anxiety and depression in the U.S. population, particularly among low-income households, parents, and Black and Hispanic adults. To address the negative impacts of the pandemic, Congress temporarily expanded the Child Tax Credit (CTC) in 2021, providing a near-universal, unconditional cash transfer to families with children. Using a quasi-experimental, parameterized difference-in-differences research design, we examine the effects of the 2021 monthly CTC on symptoms of anxiety and depression in a large, national sample of parents with low incomes (N∼15,000). We study potential differences in the associations by race/ethnicity and consider whether CTC effects were stronger after a longer treatment period (for instance, due to greater dosage or delayed effects). We find some evidence that the monthly credit reduced parental anxiety and depression symptoms, although the results were not robust throughout all model specifications. Analyses stratified by race/ethnicity show stronger associations for non-Hispanic Black parents than for non-Hispanic White parents or Hispanic parents, although differences were small. We also find the credit reduced anxiety (but not depression) symptoms after three months of payments, suggesting that it took some time for the CTC to affect mental health symptoms. Overall, this study suggests that recurring cash transfers to families in poverty in the U.S. may have small beneficial effects on parental mental health.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.