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Social assistance assessments of couple households: A vignette study on applicants’ ethnicity and gendered family roles
Author(s) -
Hussénius Klara
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
international journal of social welfare
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1468-2397
pISSN - 1369-6866
DOI - 10.1111/ijsw.12490
Subject(s) - vignette , ethnic group , social work , psychology , logistic regression , social psychology , medicine , sociology , political science , law , anthropology
Social work professionals’ assessments of social assistance (SA) eligibility for a heterosexual couple with a baby are examined. Professionals ( n = 899) spread over 43 social service offices in 19 Swedish municipalities assessed a vignette. According to the vignette, one of the parents abstained from paid work to take parental leave, which caused the couple's need for SA. Two vignette dimensions were varied: the couple's ethnicity (Swedish/Arabic) and gendered family roles (mother/father going on parental leave). Data were analysed using multilevel logistic regression modelling. The results show that the combination of the couple's gendered family roles and ethnicity seems to have bearing on the assessments. Professionals were most prone to grant SA to couples with Swedish names where the mother went from work to parental leave. The lowest granting rate was found in assessments of couples with the same gender setting and Arabic names.