Laura Cuesta

Associate Professor of Social Work, Rutgers University, New Brunswick

Chapter Member: New Jersey-Philadelphia SSN

Areas of Expertise:

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About Laura

Cuesta’s research focuses on understanding how countries approach social problems emerging from dramatic changes in family structure; especially the increasing proportion of children being raised apart from one of their parents (usually their father); and the extent and consequences of these rapid transformations of families worldwide. Her current projects examine factors associated with union formation; union dissolution; and family complexity in Chile and Colombia; approaches to child support policy in a number of Latin American countries; and the role of child support policy on child and family well-being in Chile; Colombia; and the US.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

A Multi-Generational Study of Families Involved with Prisons and Child Protection Agencies

Lawrence M. Berger

Key Findings Brief, September 2016

Publications

"Household Debt and Adult Depressive Symptoms in the United States" (with Lawrence M. Berger and J. Michael Collins). Journal of Family and Economic Issues 37, no. 1 (2016): 42-57.

Shows how household debt affects the psychological well-being of Americans, with short term (unsecured) debt having the most negative impact on adult depressive symptoms.

"Families at the Intersection of the Criminal Justice and Child Protective Services Systems" (with Lawrence M. Berger, Maria Cancian, and and Jennifer Noyes). ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 665, no. 1 (2016): 171-194.

Uses unique longitudinal data from Wisconsin to show intergenerational and intragenerational overlap in the criminal justice and child protective services systems.

"Child Support Receipt: Does Context Matter? A Comparative Analysis of Colombia and the U.S." (with Daniel R. Meyer). Children and Youth Services Review 34, no. 9 (2012): 1876-1883.

Presents evidence that low rates of child support receipt may be a core issue across countries and, despite differences in economic development and child support policies, custodial mother families may face similar issues when it comes to receiving financial support from their children’s father.

"The Effect of Child Support on the Labor Supply of Custodial Mothers Participating in TANF" (with Maria Cancian). Children and Youth Services Review 54 (2015): 49-56.

Presents evidence that child support transfers do not reduce the labor supply of low-income custodial mothers receiving cash welfare.