Publications

Articles & Chapters

Making Sense of Childcare Instability Among Families with Low Incomes: (Un)desired and (Un)planned Reasons for Changing Childcare Arrangements

Pilarz, A. R., Sandstrom, H., & Henly, J.R. (2022). Making Sense of Childcare Instability Among Families with Low Incomes: (Un)desired and (Un)planned Reasons for Changing Childcare Arrangements. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 8(5): 120–42.

Childcare instability can negatively affect family well-being. Yet not all childcare changes are bad for families. This qualitative study (N=85) examines work, family, provider, and subsidy-related factors contributing to childcare changes among families with low incomes. We focus on the desirability—the extent to which parents wanted to leave their provider—and the planned nature of childcare changes—the extent to which parents anticipated the change and had time to plan. We find that although nearly all desired changes were planned, undesired changes were both planned and unplanned. Planning was important but not enough for finding care that aligned with family needs, and undesired changes, especially sudden changes, were often driven by the loss of a childcare subsidy, sometimes accompanied by a job loss. We discuss how these findings can help researchers and policymakers understand the implications of complex childcare trajectories for family well-being and early care and education policy.

Dynamics of Child Care Subsidy Use and Material Hardship

Kim, J. & Henly, J.R. (2021). Dynamics of Child Care Subsidy Use and Material Hardship. Children and Youth Services Review, 124(1012).

Child care subsidies aim to promote economic stability and child development by reducing child care costs for low-income families. However, short and intermittent use of the subsidy program raises concerns about its potential interference with promoting the economic well-being of low-income parents. Limited research has explored the implication of subsidy instability on material hardship and the role of social support in this context. This study examines how different patterns of subsidy instability contribute to the risk of material hardship and whether informal social support buffers the negative association of subsidy instability with material hardship risk. Findings are based on a survey of child care subsidy participants who entered the program in 2011/2012 in Illinois and New York (n = 543). The survey was administered approximately 18 months after program entry. Descriptively, about two-thirds of subsidy participants (former and current) experienced some form of material hardship. Multivariate results find that compared to continuous subsidy spells, different patterns of subsidy instability are associated with an increased risk of material hardship. Social support mitigates material hardship risk, particularly for recipients who have recently left the subsidy program. Results suggest that policy efforts to improve subsidy stability would have positive implications for alleviating hardship. Recent policy changes designed to improve subsidy stability are discussed.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and School Readiness Skills

Hong, S. & Henly, J.R. (2020). Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and School Readiness Skills. Children and Youth Services Review, 114.

This analysis examines the relationship between participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and school readiness skills, specifically in early reading, early math, and approaches to learning skills, among low-income children in their preschool to kindergarten-entry years. We also investigate whether this relationship differs depending on depth of household poverty. By using wave 3 and kindergarten-entry wave from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) data and the child fixed-effects approach as its main empirical strategy, we find strong evidence that SNAP is positively related to children’s early math skills (0.22 standard deviation increase) and that this relationship is stronger for children who were in deep poverty and/or poverty prior to their receipt of SNAP. For early reading skills, although we find no significant main effect, the relationship between SNAP and early reading is stronger for children who lived in deep poverty before their SNAP receipt, compared to children who were not as poor. We also find suggestive evidence that SNAP is related to approaches to learning skills (0.3 standard deviation increase), though marginally significant, and that the relationship is much stronger among children who were in deep poverty than those who were not. Through these results, we provide strong support for the role of SNAP, especially for the most economically disadvantaged families, in advancing key school readiness skills that are important to children’s developmental outcomes.

Articles & Chapters

Kim, J., Pilarz, A., Hong, Y., Henly, J.R., & Sandstrom, H. (Forthcoming). Does instability in child-care subsidy use contribute to instability in child-care arrangements? Social Service Review.

Henly, J.R., Lambert, S.J., & Dresser, L. J. (2021). The New Realities of Working-Class Jobs Since the Great Recession: Innovations in Employment Regulation, Social Policy, and Worker Organization. What has happened to the American Working Class since the Great Recession? (2009-2019). ANNALS of The American Academy of Political and Social Science, 695(1): 208-224.

Kim, J. & Henly, J.R. (2021). Dynamics of Child Care Subsidy Use and Material Hardship. Children and Youth Services Review, 124(1012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.105979

Hong, S. & Henly, J.R. (2020). Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and School Readiness Skills. Children and Youth Services Review, 114, early access available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105034

Henly, J.R. (2020). Centrality of employment policies for individual and community health. American Journal of Public Health, 110(4), 433-435

Lambert, S.J., Henly, J.R., Fugiel, P., Choper, J. (Revise and Resubmit). The magnitude and meaning of work hour volatility among early-career employees in the US. Monthly Labor Review.

Kim, J.S., Henly, J.R., Golden, L., & Lambert, S. (2019). Workplace Flexibility and Worker Wellbeing by Gender. Journal of Marriage and Family. Online available Dec. 2019: DOI:10.1111jomf.12633.

Lambert, S.J., Henly, J.R., & Kim, J. (2019). Precarious work schedules as a source of economic insecurity and institutional distrust. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 5(4): 218-57.

Lambert, S.J., Henly, J.R., Schoeny, M., & Jarpe, M. (2019). Increasing Schedule Predictability in Hourly Jobs: Results from a Randomized Experiment in a US Retail Firm. Work and Occupations, 46(2):176-226.

McCrate, E., Lambert, S.J., & Henly, J.R. (2019). Competing for hours: Unstable work schedules and underemployment among hourly workers in Canada. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 43(5), 1287–1314.

Barnes, C. & Henly, J.R. (2018). They are underpaid and understaffed”: How clients interpret encounters with street-level bureaucrats. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 28(2): 165-181.

Reza, H. & Henly, J.R. (2018). Health crises, social support, and caregiving practices among street children in Bangladesh. Children and Youth Services Review, 88: 229-240.

Henly, J.R., Lein, L., Romich, J., Shanks, T., Sherraden, M., Tillotson, A., & Jones, R. (2018). Grand Challenge # 10: Reduce extreme economic inequality. Chapter 11 in Rowena Fong, James Lubben, & Richard P. Barth, (Eds.) Grand Challenges for Social Work and Society. Oxford University Press.

Henly, J.R., Kim, J., Sandstrom, H., Pilarz, A., & Claessens, A. (2017). What Explains Short Spells on Child Care Subsidies? Social Service Review, 91(3): 488-533.

Henly, J.R., Sandstrom, H., & Pilarz, A. (2017). Child care assistance as work-family support: Meeting the economic and caregiving needs of low-income working families in the US. Chapter 11 in M. las Heras, N. Chinchilla, & M. Grau (Eds.), Work-Family Balance in Light of Globalization and Technology, pps 241-262. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Stanczyk, A.B., Henly, J.R., Lambert, S. (2016). Enough time for housework?: Low-wage work and desired housework time adjustments. Journal of Marriage and Family. 79 (February 2017): 243–260 DOI: 10.1111/jomf.12344

Frank-Miller, E. G., Lambert, S.J., & Henly, J.R. (2015). Age, wage, and job placement: Older women’s experiences entering the retail sector. Journal of Women and Aging. 27(2), 157-173.

Henly, J.R. & Lambert, S. (2014). Unpredictable work timing in retail jobs: Implications for employee work-life outcomes. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 67(3), 986-1016.

Henly, J.R. (2013). Theoretical Perspectives on the Exosystem: The Accommodation Model, Chapter 5 in Weiss, H.B., Kreider, H., Lopez, M.E., & Chatman-Nelson, C.M. (Eds). Preparing Educators to Engage Families (3^rd Edition), pps. 70-75. Sage Publications.

Golden, L., Henly, J.R., & Lambert, S. (2013). Work Schedule Flexibility: A Contributor to Happiness? Journal of Social Research and Policy, 4(2), 107-135.

Lambert, S.J. & Henly, J. R. (2013). Double jeopardy: The misfit between welfare-to-work requirements and job realities. In Evelyn Brodkin and Gregory Marston, eds., Work and the Welfare State: The Politics and Management of Policy Change, pps. 69 – 84. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Thullen, M., Henly, J.R., Hans, S. (2012). Domain-specific trajectories of father involvement among low-income, young, African-American mothers. Journal of the Society of Social Work and Research, 3(3), 129-144.

Lambert, S.J., Haley-Lock, A., & Henly, J.R. (2012). Schedule flexibility in hourly jobs: unanticipated consequences and promising directions. Community, Work & Family, 15(3), 293-315.

Lambert, S.J & Henly, J.R. (2012). Frontline managers matter: Labour flexibility practices and sustained employment in hourly retail jobs in the U.S. In Chris Warhurst, Francoise Carré, Patricia Findlay, and Chris Tilly, eds., Are Bad Jobs Inevitable? Trends, Determinants and Responses to Job Quality in the Twenty-First Century. England: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 143-159

Golden, L., Wiens-Tuers, B., Lambert, S., & Henly, J.R. (2011). Working time in the employment relationship: Working time, perceived control and work-life balance. In K. Townsend & A. Wilkinson (eds.), Research Handbook on the Future of Work and Employment Relations (pp. 188-211). Cheltenham UK: Edward Elgar.

Bromer, J., Paulsell, D., Porter, T., Henly, J.R, Ramsburg, D., Weber, R., & Families and Quality Workgroup Members (2010). Family-sensitive caregiving: A key component of quality in early care and education arrangements. In M. Zaslow, I. Martinez-Beck, K. Tout, & T. Halle (Eds.), Quality Measurement in Early Childhood Settings, pps. 161-190. Brooks.

Bromer, J. & Henly, J.R. (2009). The work-family support roles of child care providers across settings. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 24(3), 271-288.

Campbell, E., Henly, J.R., Elliott, D., Irwin, K. (2009). Subjective constructions of neighborhood boundaries. Journal of Urban Affairs, 31(4), 461-490.

Lambert, S. & Henly, J.R. (2007). Lower-level jobs and work-family studies. In Work family encyclopedia, eds. P. Raskin & M. Pitt Catsouphes. Sloan Work-Family Research Network, Boston College.

Henly, J. R., Shaefer, H.L., & Waxman, R.E. (2006). Nonstandard work schedules: Employer- and employee-driven flexibility in retail jobs. Social Service Review, 80, 609–634.

Henly, J.R., Danziger, S.K., & Offer, S. (2005). The contribution of social support to the material well-being of low-income families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 122-140. (Awarded the 2007 Excellence in Research Award, Society of Social Work and Research.)

Henly, J.R. & Lambert, S. (2005). Nonstandard work and child-care needs of low-income parents. Chapter 30 in Bianchi, S.M., Casper, L.M., & King, R.B. (Eds.), Work, Family, Health, and Well-Being, 473-492. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Lyons, S., Henly, J.R., & Schuerman, J. (2005). Informal support in maltreating families: Its effect on parenting practices. Children and Youth Services Review, 27(1), 21-38.

Bromer, J. & Henly, J.R. (2004). Child care as family support: Caregiving practices across child care providers. Children and Youth Services Review, 26(10), 941-964.

Henly, J.R. (2002). Informal support networks and the maintenance of low-wage jobs. In Munger, F. (Ed.), Laboring Below the Line: The New Ethnography of Poverty, Low-Wage Work, and Survival in the Global Economy, 179-203. Russell Sage Foundation.

Danziger, S.K., Carlson, M., & Henly, J.R. (2001). Post-welfare employment and psychological well-being. Women and Health, 32(1/2), 47-78.

Henly, J.R. & Lyons, S. (2000). The negotiation of child care and employment demands among low-income parents. Journal of Social Issues, 56(4), 683-706.

Henly, J.R. (2000). Mismatch in the low-wage labor market: Job search perspective. In Kaye, K. & Nightingale, D.S. (Eds.), The Low-Wage Labor Market: Challenges and Opportunities for Economic Self-Sufficiency, 145-167. Urban Institute Press.

Henly, J.R. (1999). Barriers to finding and maintaining jobs: The perspectives of workers and employers in the low-wage labor market. In Handler, J.F. & White, L. (Eds.), Hard Labor: Women and Work in the Post-Welfare Era, 48-75. ME Sharpe, Inc.

Henly, J.R. (1999). Comments to G. Duncan & G. Caspary, Welfare dynamics and welfare reform, in Joseph, L.B. (Ed.), Families, Poverty, and Welfare Reform: Confronting a New Policy Era, 169-73. Chicago: Center for Urban Research and Policy Studies, Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago. Distributed by University of Illinois Press.

Henly, J.R. (1997). The complexity of support: The impact of family structure and provisional support on African American and white adolescent mothers’ well-being. American Journal of Community Psychology, 25(5), 629-655.

Lindsey, D. & Henly, J.R. (1997). The future of child welfare. In Reisch, M. & Gambrill, E. (Eds.), Social Work in the 21st Century, 100-118. Pine Forge Press.

Henly, J.R. & Danziger, S.K. (1996). Confronting welfare stereotypes: Characteristics of general assistance recipients and postassistance employment. Social Work Research, 20(4), 217-227.

Reprinted in 1997 in Ewait, P.L., Freeman, E.M., Kirk, S.A., & Poole, D. L. (Eds.), Social Policy: Reform, Research, and Practice, 124-139. NASW Press.

Wittenbrink, B. & Henly, J.R. (1996). Creating social reality: Informational social influence and the content of stereotypic beliefs. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22(6), 598-610.

Henly, J.R. (1995). Comparative research on adolescent childbearing: Understanding race differences. African American Research Perspectives, 2(1), 70-81, Spring.

Henly, J.R. (1993). The significance of social context: The case of adolescent parenting in the African American community. Journal of Black Psychology, 19(4), 461-477.