Learning to avoid: The long‐term effects of adolescent welfare participation on voting habits in adulthood
研究发现，非西班牙裔白人青少年时期接受福利会使其成年后投票率降低6-17个百分点，而黑人和西班牙裔青年则无此关联，机制包括污名化、缺乏公民榜样和福利支持无效。
Abstract Welfare participation is associated with lower turnout among adults. For many citizens, however, their first experiences with welfare occur during a critical time of political development in adolescence. Does growing up on welfare lower turnout in young adulthood? I identify three mechanisms linking adolescent welfare experience to voting: stigma, the absence of pro‐civics role models, and ineffective support from government welfare programs. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, I find that non‐Hispanic white adolescents who grow up on welfare are 6–17 percentage points less likely to vote compared to those without welfare experience. Adolescent welfare participation is unrelated to voting among Black and Hispanic youths. Interviews and focus groups find support for the three mechanisms. These findings highlight the importance of adolescent policy experiences for voting.