Government of Malawi's unconditional cash transfer improves youth mental health
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4602474 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gustavo Angeles (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Jacobus De Hoop (0000-0001-7809-5351, corresponding author), Sara Handa (0000-0003-2948-1891, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Sudhanshu Handa, Kelly Kilburn (0000-0002-3069-3958), Annamaria Milazzo (0000-0003-0176-9439), Amber Peterman (0000-0002-3921-5936) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 225 |
| Pages | 108-119 |
| Publication date | 2019-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Science & Medicine (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.01.037 |
| PMID | 30826585 |
| OpenAlex | W2913478111 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 41 |
| References cited | 17 |
We explore the impacts of Malawi's national unconditional cash transfer program targeting ultra-poor households on youth mental health. Experimental findings show that the program significantly improved mental health outcomes. Among girls in particular, the program reduces indications of depression by about 15 percentage points. We investigate the contribution of different possible pathways to the overall program impact, including education, health, consumption, caregiver's stress levels and life satisfaction, perceived social support, and participation in hard and unpleasant work. The pathways explain from 46 to 65 percent of the program impact, advancing our understanding of how economic interventions can affect mental health of youth in resource-poor settings. The findings underline that unconditional cash grants, which are used on an increasingly large scale as part of national social protection systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, have the potential to improve youth mental wellbeing and thus may help break the vicious cycle of poverty and poor mental health
Affect (linguistics · Cash · Cash transfers · Consumption (sociology · Cycle of poverty · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Government (linguistics · Life satisfaction · Mental health · Poverty · Psychiatry · Psychological intervention · Sociology · Agricultural risk and resilience · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Medicine · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Psychology · Social Psychology · Finance · Gerontology
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The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on youth mental health
Feasibility and acceptability of unconditional cash transfers intervention among unemployed young adults with first-episode psychosis in South Africa
Effect of combining lower- and higher-value monthly cash transfers with nutrition-sensitive agriculture, male engagement and psychosocial intervention on maternal depressive symptoms in rural Malawi
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The impact of cash transfers on mental health in children and young people in low-income and middle-income countries
Economic shocks and mental health in Bangladesh
Cash transfers targeting adolescent wellbeing
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The impact of the targeted poverty alleviation program on depression symptoms in rural China
Annual Research Review
Exploring mental health interventions for youth in Southern Africa
Mental health effects of government transfer payments in urban China—An empirical study based on CFPS panel data
Access to affordable daycare and women’s mental health in Rajasthan, India
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The impact of antiretroviral treatment and child-focused unconditional cash transfers on child mortality
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Exploring relationship pathways to prevent intimate partner violence among young women in Malawi
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Cash Transfers and After-School Programs
Pathways to stronger futures? The role of social protection in reducing psychological risk factors for child development in Haiti
Unconditional cash transfers and safe transitions to adulthood in Malawi
The worse the better? Quantile treatment effects of a conditional cash transfer programme on mental health
The effect of cash transfers on mental health
Effects of integrated psychosocial stimulation (PS) and Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) on Children's development in rural Bangladesh
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The Impact of a Conditional Cash Transfer on Multidimensional Deprivation of Young Women
Effects of a Large-Scale Unconditional Cash Transfer Program on Mental Health Outcomes of Young People in Kenya
Poverty and mental disorders
On the psychology of poverty
Psychometric Characteristics of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support
Mental health of young people
A general approach to causal mediation analysis.
The Satisfaction With Life Scale
Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors
Cash Transfers, Young Women’s Economic Well-Being, and HIV Risk
Beyond baseline and follow-up
Identifying Mechanisms Behind Policy Interventions via Causal Mediation Analysis
The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support
Social networks, social participation, and health among youth living in extreme poverty in rural Malawi
The World Health Organization quality of life assessment (WHOQOL)
A Global Measure of Perceived Stress
| Unique citing works | 41 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5.13 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 41 |