Center for Health Communication
The Center for Health Communication prepares public health leaders of all kinds to effectively communicate critical health information, influence policy decisions, counter misinformation, and increase the public’s trust in health expertise.
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chc@hsph.harvard.edu
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Creator resource: To improve parents’ mental health, give families with kids a tax credit
Creator resource: To improve parents’ mental health, give families with kids a tax credit
The Center for Health Communication works to create toolkits and briefings that help content creators spread evidence-based health information on social media. The information provided is meant to be educational and is not a substitute for medical advice. This page was last updated on 12/20/24.
Key statistics
- 36 million US families received the 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit
- 5.3 million people lifted out of poverty by the 2021 Child Tax Credit
- 25% greater food insufficiency without the Child Tax Credit for families
- 13% decrease in anxiety symptoms for expanded Child Tax Credit recipients
Understand the research
Expanding the Child Tax Credit in 2021 improved adult mental health
- Living in poverty is detrimental to parents’ mental health—and to their kids’ mental health, too.
- In response to financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Congress temporarily expanded the Child Tax Credit to as much as $3,600 per child from July – December 2021 (up from $2000 per child). The expansion also allowed families to receive the CTC through automatic monthly payments rather than in one lump sum after taxes had been filed.
- Using data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, researchers looked at how the expansion of this federal program affected the mental health of low-income adults with children.
- They found that people reported fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression after receiving assistance.
- Anxiety symptoms in particular were reduced by 13.3% from baseline.
- The mental health benefits were largest among adults of Black, Hispanic, and other (non-Asian) racial and ethnic minority backgrounds. It didn’t take long for the mental health boost to show up: Anxiety symptoms decreased within a month after the monthly Child Tax Credit payments began. Depressive symptoms were reduced a few months later.
Content resources:
- Hamad et. al. Effects of the Expanded Child Tax Credit on Adult Mental Health: A Quasi-Experimental Study Health Affairs, 2023Audience Call to Action:
Audience Call to Action:
- Tell your federal representatives about the evidence that expanding the Child Tax Credit protects parents’ mental health
Hashtags:
- #CTCAwareness, #ChildTaxCredit, #CTC #HSPHCreatorsSummit