Psychological distress among low-income mothers: the role of public and private safety nets.

Poverty is linked with a host of negative outcomes. Approximately one-third of unmarried mothers and their children live in poverty in the United States. Public and private supports have the potential to mitigate the adverse effects of poverty; however, these supports may be unstable over time. The purpose of this study was to determine public and private safety net configurations of low-income mothers longitudinally and test linkages between safety net configurations and maternal psychological distress. Using longitudinal data from the Welfare, Children, Families project conducted in 1999, 2001, and 2005 (n = 1,987), results of multilevel models of change indicated that less than one-half of low-income mothers used public assistance and had private support at any one point. Safety net configurations and psychological distress levels changed over time with deterioration occurring more than improvement, and private safety net availability offered protection from psychological distress. These findings can be used to inform family support services and highlight the need to augment public assistance programs with services aimed to also address maternal psychological well-being and social support. Doing so can be a means of improving the public and private safety nets and outcomes of vulnerable families.