Government of Malawi’s Unconditional Cash Transfer Improves Youth Mental Health

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Citation

Angeles, Gustavo; de Hoop, Jacobus; Handa, Sudhanshu; Kilburn, Kelly N.; Milazzo, Annamaria; Peterman, Amber, on behalf of the Malawi Social Cash Transfer Evaluation Team (Kelly Kilburn, Adria Molotsky,; Frank Otchere; ,; Susannah Zietz; & , Peter Mvula, Maxton Tsoka, Jacobus de Hoop, Tia Palermo, and Amber Peterman, Members) (2019). Government of Malawi's Unconditional Cash Transfer Improves Youth Mental Health. Social Science & Medicine, 225, 108-119. PMCID: PMC6829911

Abstract

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.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.01.037

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2019

Journal Title

Social Science & Medicine

Author(s)

Angeles, Gustavo
de Hoop, Jacobus
Handa, Sudhanshu
Kilburn, Kelly N.
Milazzo, Annamaria
Peterman, Amber, on behalf of the Malawi Social Cash Transfer Evaluation Team (Kelly Kilburn, Adria Molotsky,
Frank Otchere
,
Susannah Zietz
, Peter Mvula, Maxton Tsoka, Jacobus de Hoop, Tia Palermo, and Amber Peterman, Members)

Article Type

Regular

PMCID

PMC6829911

Continent/Country

Malawi

ORCiD

Angeles - 0000-0003-4598-152X
Kilburn - 0000-0002-3069-3958