Houston families are working harder than ever. In fact, more than 75 percent of the children living in low-income families in Houston have parents who are employed, and the majority of these children — about 400,000 — have parents who work full-time, year-round. But, despite their best efforts, these parents are struggling to afford the most basic necessities for their families. In Houston, as elsewhere in Texas and the United States, a full-time job at low wages is not enough to make ends meet. Work supports such as the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and public health insurance can help narrow the gap between low earnings and the cost of basic expenses. But a critical Texas work support — child care assistance — is woefully underfunded and therefore out of reach for many qualified families. This fact sheet finds that child care is one of the largest expenses working families face, and unless they receive help with the cost of care, low-wage working parents remain unable to afford basic family necessities.
San Antonio families are working harder than ever. In fact, more than 85 percent of the children living in low-income families in San Antonio have parents who are employed, and the majority of these children — about 150,000 — have parents who work full-time, year-round. But, despite their best efforts, these parents are struggling to afford the most basic necessities for their families. In San Antonio, as elsewhere in Texas and the United States, a full-time job at low wages is not enough to make ends meet. Work supports such as the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and public health insurance can help narrow the gap between low earnings and the cost of basic expenses. But a critical Texas work support — child care assistance — is woefully underfunded and therefore out of reach for many qualified families. This fact sheet finds that child care is one of the largest expenses working families face, and unless they receive help with the cost of care, low-wage working parents remain unable to afford basic family necessities.
Staying Afloat in Tough Times tracks state-level policies that help families both avoid and cope with economic hardship. The report examines three categories of policies: work attachment and advancement, income adequacy, and asset development and protection. Although states have taken the lead over the last decade in policy efforts to help low income families, this study demonstrates that assistance is extraordinarily uneven across the states. The authors conclude that America needs a national vision of family economic security — and the leadership to implement it.
The rapid growth and diffusion of digital media technologies has changed the landscape of market segmentation in the last two decades, including its use in promoting prosocial and behavior change. New, population-specific and culturally appropriate prevention strategies can leverage the potential of digital media to influence health outcomes, especially for the greatest users of digital technology, including youth and young adults. Health behavior change campaigns are increasingly shifting resources to social media, creating opportunities for innovative interventions and new research methods. This article examines three case studies of digital segmentation: (1) tobacco control from the Truth Initiative, (2) community-based public health programs from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and (3) substance use (including opioids) and other risk behavior prevention from Public Good Projects. These case studies of recent digital segmentation efforts in the not-for-profit, government, and academic sectors show that it increases reach and frequency of messages delivered to priority populations. The practice of digital segmentation is rapidly growing, shows early signs of effectiveness, and may enhance future public health campaigns. Additional research could optimize its use and effectiveness in promoting prosocial and behavior change campaign outcomes.
Purpose: Examine association between emotional valence and intensity prompted by anti-tobacco advertising messages and perceived ad effectiveness among youth/young adults. Design: Online forced-exposure survey data from a nationally weighted, cross-sectional sample of youth/young adults, collected periodically over a 4-year period. Setting: National. Participants: Thirty-seven cross-sectional surveys conducted online from June 2015 to January 2018; total N = 9534. All participants, aged 15 to 21, were in the intervention; no control group. Intervention: Individuals participating in premarket testing of truth ads were forced exposed to one of 37 anti-tobacco ads. Measures: Emotional response, emotional intensity, and perceived ad effectiveness. Emotional response has been previously studied and measured. Including the discrete measure of "concerned" in positive emotions is unique to our study. It patterned with the other positive emotions when each ad was examined by each emotion. Intensity as measured in this study through the 5-point scale ("how much does this ad make you feel") is unique in the anti-tobacco ad literature. Although several past studies ranked the degree of emotion elicited by ads, they have not incorporated the intensity of emotion as reported by the participant themselves. The scale was used to determine whether perceived ad effectiveness is similar to those used in previous studies. Analysis: Linear regressions were estimated to assess type of emotional sentiment and level of intensity in relation to perceived effectiveness of the message. Results: All 9534 participants were exposed; no control group. The βs indicate how strongly the emotion variable influences the study outcome of perceived ad effectiveness. Positive emotions (β = .76) were more highly associated with perceived ad effectiveness (β = .06). Higher intensity with positive emotional sentiment and high-intensity negative produced the highest scores for perceived ad effectiveness (β = .30). Conclusion: Eliciting a positive, high-impact emotional response from viewers can help improve perceived effectiveness, and in turn, overall ad effectiveness.
