Baby's First Years

Not Applicable

Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Household and Family Processes
Child Development
Brain Development

Interventions: Behavioral: Monthly cash gift payments of $333
Behavioral: Monthly cash gift payments of $20

Registration Number: NCT03593356

Lead Sponsor: University of California, Irvine

Brief Summary: Recent advances in developmental neuroscience suggest that experiences early in life can have profound and enduring influences on the developing brain. Family economic resources shape the nature of many of these experiences, yet the extent to which they affect children's development is unknown. The project's team of neuroscientists, economists and developmental psychologists is seeking to fill important gaps in scientific knowledge about the role of economic resources in early development by evaluating the first U.S. randomized controlled trial to determine whether unconditional cash gift payments have a causal effect on the cognitive, socio-emotional and brain development of infants and toddlers in low-income U.S. families.

Specifically, 1,000 mothers of infants with incomes below the federal poverty line from four diverse U.S. communities were recruited from post-partum wards and are receiving monthly cash gift payments by debit card for the first 76 months of the child's life. Parents in the experimental group and receiving $333 per month ($3,996 per year), whereas parents in the active comparator group are receiving a nominal monthly payment of $20. In order to understand the impacts of the added income on children's cognitive and behavioral development, the investigators are assessing treatment group differences at ages 4 (this lab assessment was postponed from age 3 to age 4 due to Covid-19), 6, and 8 in lab-administered measures of cognitive, language, and self-regulation development and maternal reports of socio-emotional development. A number of other maternal-reported child outcome measures were gathered at ages 1, 2 and 3. Brain circuitry may be sensitive to the effects of early experience even before early behavioral differences can be detected. In order to understand the impacts of added income on children's brain functioning at age 4, 6, and 8, the investigators will assess, during a lab visit, experimental/active comparator group differences in measures of brain activity (electroencephalography \[EEG\]). The targeted age for each data collection wave is around the child's birthday, i.e. at 12 months, 24 months, 36 months, 48 months, 72 months, and 96 months.

To understand how family economic behavior, parenting, and parent stress and well-being change in response to income enhancement, the investigators will assess experimental/active comparator differences in family expenditures, food insecurity, housing and neighborhood quality, family routines and time use, parent stress, mental health and cognition, parenting practices, and child care and preschool arrangements. School readiness and outcomes are being assessed at ages 6 and 8. This study will thus provide the first definitive understanding of the extent to which income plays a causal role in determining early child cognitive, socio-emotional and brain development among low-income families.

Detailed Description: In the Baby's First Years (BFY) study, one thousand infants born to mothers with incomes falling below the federal poverty threshold in four metropolitan areas in the United States were assigned at random within each of the metropolitan areas to one of two cash gift conditions. The sites are: New York City, the greater New Orleans metropolitan area, the greater Omaha metropolitan area, and the Twin Cities. IRB and recruiting issues led to a distribution of the 1,000 mothers across sites of 121 in one site (the Twin Cities), 295 in two of the other sites (New Orleans and Omaha) and 289 in New York. (The investigators have also randomly sampled 80 of the participating families in the Twin Cities and New Orleans to participate in an in-depth qualitative study, but do not elaborate on those plans in this document.) Mothers were recruited in postpartum wards of the 12 participating hospitals shortly after giving birth and, after consenting, were administered a 30-minute baseline interview. They then were asked to agree to receive the cash gifts. The "high-cash gift" treatment group mothers (40% of all mothers) are receiving unconditioned cash payments of $333 per month ($4,000 per year) via debit card for 76 months. Mothers in the "low-cash gift" comparator group (60% of all mothers) are receiving a nominal payment - $20 per month, delivered in the same way and also for 76 months. The 40/60 randomization assignment is stratified by site, but not by hospitals, within each of the four sites. The investigators have worked with state and local officials to ensure that, to the extent feasible, the cash gifts payments are not considered countable income for the purposes of determining benefit levels from social assistance programs.

BFY was originally formulated to study the effects of monthly unconditional cash transfers on child development for the first three years of life, with the cash gifts set to be distributed for 40 months (3 years, 4 months). In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to postpone in-person research activities, the cash transfers were extended for an additional year, through 52 months (4 years, 4 months), enabling us to postpone in-person direct child assessments to age 4. The investigators successfully arranged funding to extend the cash gifts for a total of 76 months - the approximate boundary between early and middle childhood - and informed the study participants in August 2022 about the additional 2-year extension of cash transfer.

The targeted age for each data collection wave is around the child's birthday, i.e. at 12 months, 24 months, 36 months, 48 months, 72 months, and 96 months. Interviews conducted at child ages 1, 2 and 3 provided information about family functioning as well as several maternal reports of developmentally-appropriate measures of children's cognitive and behavioral development. At ages 4, 6 and 8 measures of cognitive, language, and self-regulation development were or will be administered in university labs, while socio-emotional development is assessed via maternal report. EEG-based measures of brain activity were assessed in the home at age 1 and in labs at ages 4, 6 and 8. At age 6 and 8 the investigators will collect school behavior and engagement data.

Conditional on participants' consent and our success in securing agreements with state and county agencies, the investigators are also collecting state and local administrative data regarding parental employment, utilization of public benefits such as Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP), and any involvement in child protective services.

The family process measures that the investigators will gather are based on two theories of change surrounding the income supplements: that increased investment and reduced stress will facilitate children's healthy development. The investigators are obtaining measures of both of these pathways annually. Investment pathway: Additional resources enable parents to buy goods and services for their families and children that support cognitive development. These include higher quality housing, nutrition and non-parental child care; more cognitively stimulating home environments and learning opportunities outside of the home; and, by reducing or restructuring work hours, more parental time spent with children. Stress pathway: A second pathway is that additional economic resources may reduce parents' own stress and improve their mental health. This may allow parents to devote more positive attention to their children, thus providing a more predictable family life, less conflicted relationships, and warmer and more responsive interactions.

The compensation difference between families in the high and low cash gift groups will boost family incomes by $3,760 per year, an amount shown in the economics and developmental psychology literatures to be associated with socially significant and policy relevant improvements in children's school achievement. After accounting for likely attrition, a total sample size of 800 at age 4, 6 and 8 years, divided 40/60 between high and low payment groups, provides sufficient statistical power to detect meaningful (roughly .20 SD) differences in cognitive, emotional and brain functioning, and key dimensions of family context.

Measures and preregistered hypotheses about child- and family-based measures at all data collection waves are shown in the two tables in the Statistical Analysis Plan in "Other Documents" below; child-focused preregistered hypotheses are presented in Appendix Table 9 and maternal and family focused preregistered hypotheses are presented in Appendix Table 10. The investigators will update this registry with Age 8 measures and preregistered hypotheses before data collection begins in July 2026. The lab-based assessments at child ages 6 and 8 are part of Phase 2 of the project. The Phase 1 analysis plan covers ages 1-4.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

Sex: Female

Target Recruitment: 1000

Inclusion Criteria

mother 18 years or older;
household income below the federal poverty threshold in the calendar year prior to the interview, counting the newborn;
infant admitted to the newborn nursery and not requiring admittance to the intensive care unit;
residence in the state of recruitment;
mother not "highly likely" to move to a different state or country in the next 12 months;
infant to be discharged in the custody of the mother;
English or Spanish speaking (necessary for administration of instruments used to measure some of the child outcomes);
singleton birth

Exclusion Criteria

Mothers will not be eligible unless all of the above eight criteria are met.

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Monthly cash gift payments of $333	Monthly cash gift payments of $333	These subjects receive $333 each month for 76 months via debit card.
Monthly cash gift payments of $20	Monthly cash gift payments of $20	These subjects receive $20 each month for 76 months via debit card.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Child Language Development: Vocabulary	Age 8	Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary (EOWPVT) monolingual and bilingual version. Score range monolingual version: 0-185, bilingual version: 0-180; higher scores indicate better performance. Because the two versions of the test are not co-normed, the primary outcome will be a derived "conceptual score" or sum of the raw scores on all individual items that appear on both versions of the test. Expect higher scores in high- than low-cash gift group. Reference: Martin, N., \& Brownell, R. (2011). Expressive one-word picture vocabulary test (4th ed.). Novato: Academic Therapy Publications. If reporting a score on a scale, please include the unabbreviated scale title, the minimum and maximum values, and whether higher scores mean a better or worse outcome.
Child Academic Achievement: Reading	Age 8	Woodcock Johnson IV Test of Achievement: Letter-Word ID. Score range: 0-78; higher scores indicate better performance. Expect higher scores in high- than low-cash gift group. Reference: McGrew, K. S., \& Woodcock, R. W. (2018). Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement. Rolling Meadows, IL: Riverside Publishing.
Child Language Development: Maternal Concern for Language Delay	Age 36 months	Measured by the sum of the two questions listed below included in the Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS): 1. Do you have any concerns about how your child talks and makes speech sounds? (0: No; 1: Yes or a little) 2. Do you have any concerns about how your child understands what you say? (0: No; 1: Yes or a little)". Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 2. Higher score indicates worse outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Child Language Development outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Glascoe FP. Parents' Evaluations of Developmental Status: A Method for Detecting and Addressing Developmental and Behavioral Problems in Children. Nashville, TN: Ellsworth \& Vandermeer Press, 1997.
Child Executive Function & Behavioral Regulation: Executive Function	Age 8	Measured by the Minnesota Executive Function Scale (MEFS); score range: 0-100; higher scores indicate better performance. Expect higher scores in high- than low-cash gift group. Reference: Carlson, S.M. (2017). Minnesota Executive Function Scale: Technical report. Carlson, S. M., \& Zelazo, P. D. (2014). Minnesota Executive Function Scale: Test Manual. St. Paul, MN: Reflection Sciences, Inc.
Child Executive Function & Behavioral Regulation: Inhibitory Control and Attention	Age 8	Measured by the NIH Toolbox Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention task. Score range: 0-30; higher scores indicate better performance.Expect higher scores in high- than low-cash gift group. Reference: National Institutes of Health and Northwestern University (2006-2023). NIH Toolbox® for Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function Administrator's Manual. NIHToolbox.org. Gershon, R. C., Wagster, M. V., Hendrie, H. C., Fox, N. A., Cook, K. F., \& Nowinski, C. J. (2013). NIH Toolbox for assessment of neurological and behavioral function. Neurology, 80(11 Suppl 3), S2-S6. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182872e5f Weintraub S, Bauer PJ, Zelazo PD, Wallner-Allen K, Dikmen SS, Heaton RK, Tulsky DS, Slotkin J, Blitz DL, Carlozzi NE, Havlik RJ, Beaumont JL, Mungas D, Manly JJ, Borosh BG, Nowinski CJ, Gershon RC. I. NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB): introduction and pediatric data. Monogr Soc Res Child Dev. 2013 Aug;78(4):1-15. doi: 10.1111/mono.12031. PMID: 23952199
Child Executive Function & Behavioral Regulation: Working Memory	Age 8	Measured by Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children: 5th Edition (WISC-V) subtest Digit Span. Score Range 0-54. Higher scores indicate better performance. We will pre-register three scores (MEFS, Flanker, Digit Span),with a plan to do a confirmatory factor analysis and pre-register the impact on the common factor. Expect higher scores in high- than low-cash gift group. Reference: Wechsler, D. (2014). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fifth Edition (WISC-V). Bloomington, MN: Pearson.
Child Socio-Emotional Processing: Behavior/Problems	Age 8	Measured by the Brief Problem Monitor (BPM), assesses attentional, behavioral, and internalizing problems in children. 19 questions and answer choices. Score range: 0-38; higher scores indicate more behavioral problems. Expect lower scores in high- than low-cash gift group. Reference: Achenbach, T. M., McConaughy, S. H., Ivanova, M. Y., \& Rescorla, L. A. (2011). Manual for the ASEBA Brief Problem Monitor (BPM). Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, \& Families.: ASEBA.
Child Socio-Emotional Processing: Maternal Concern for Behavioral and Social-Emotional Problems	Age 36 months	Measured by the sum of the two questions listed below, which are part of the Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS): 1. Do you have any concerns about how your child behaves? (0: No; 1: Yes or a little) 2. Do you have any concerns about how your child gets along with others? (0: No; 1: Yes or a little). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 2. Higher score indicates worse outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Child Socio-Emotional Processing outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Glascoe FP. Parents' Evaluations of Developmental Status: A Method for Detecting and Addressing Developmental and Behavioral Problems in Children. Nashville, TN: Ellsworth \& Vandermeer Press, 1997.
Child Brain Function: Resting Brain Function	Age 8	Measured by high-density in-lab electroencephalography (EEG). Ages 6 and 8 Primary hypothesis: Because of limitations in power expected with multiple testing adjustments, we are preregistering a single composite index of mid-to-high-frequency whole-brain power summed across alpha, beta, and gamma bands (defined as between 7 and 45 Hz). This frequency composite index sums absolute power (μV2) across all single-Hz intervals in the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma bands (7-45 Hz). We hypothesize that, in the eyes-closed condition, the high-cash gift group will show more power in this composite relative to the low-cash gift group. One-tailed t-tests will be used to test this directional hypothesis. See the Statistical Analysis Plan (Phase 2) for additional details and references.
Child Health, Sleep	Age 36 months	Measured by an adapted Short Form of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS™). Minimum score: 3; Maximum score: 15. Higher score indicates a better outcome. Reference: Yu, L., Buysse, D. J., Germain, A., Moul, D. E., Stover, A., Dodds, N. E., ... \& Pilkonis, P. A. (2012). Development of short forms from the PROMIS™ sleep disturbance and sleep-related impairment item banks. Behavioral sleep medicine, 10(1), 6-24.
Child Health, Overall Health, Medical Care, Diagnosis of Condition or Disability	Age 36 months	Measured by an index of six items (see Appendix Table 7 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 3; Maximum score: 14. Higher score indicates a worse outcome. Reference: Halim, M. L., Yoshikawa, H., \& Amodio, D. M. (2013). Cross-generational effects of discrimination among immigrant mothers: Perceived discrimination predicts child's healthcare visits for illness. Health Psychology, 32(2), 203.
Child Academic Achievement: Reading Comprehension	Age 8	Woodcock Johnson IV Test of Achievement: Passage Comprehension. Score range: 0-52. Expect higher scores in high- than low-cash gift group. Reference: McGrew, K. S., \& Woodcock, R. W. (2018). Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement. Rolling Meadows, IL: Riverside Publishing.
Child Academic Achievement: Math	Age 8	Woodcock Johnson IV Test of Achievement: Letter-Word ID. Score range: 0-78; higher scores indicate better performance. Expect higher scores in high- than low-cash gift group. Reference: McGrew, K. S., \& Woodcock, R. W. (2018). Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement. Rolling Meadows, IL: Riverside Publishing.
Child Fluid Reasoning	Age 6	Measured by the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) fluid reasoning index, assessed through a composite of two tasks: picture concepts (score range: 0-27; higher scores indicate better performance) and matrix reasoning (score range: 0-26; higher scores indicate better performance). Expect higher scores in high- than low-cash gift group. Note: The Picture Concept subtest had to be dropped on 9/17/2024 due to floor effects. Reference: Wechsler, D. (2012). Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV). San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.
Child Perceptual Reasoning	Age 8	Measured by the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence-Second Edition (WASI-II) perceptual reasoning index, assessed through a composite of two tasks: block design (score range: up to 8 years old: 0-57; \> 9 yo: 0-71; higher scores indicate better performance) and matrix reasoning (up to 8 years old: 0-24; \> 9 yo: 0-30; higher scores indicate better performance). Expect higher scores in high- than low-cash gift group. Reference: Wechsler, D. (2011). Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence-Second Edition (WASI-II). San Antonio, TX: NCS Pearson.
Child Physiological Stress: Nail Cortisol	Age 8	Child nail samples will be collected to yield a measure of the concentration of cortisol in pg/mg (picograms per milligram). To ensure cortisol levels are within an expected range, values above 500 and equal to or less than 0 will be assigned a missing value. To account for potential outliers, values below 500 will be truncated at the 99th percentile. Cortisol values will be log-transformed. We hypothesize the high-cash gift group will have lower cortisol values when compared to the low-cash gift group. If both fingernail and toenail are collected we will control for whether fingernail or toenail. Reference: Phillips, R., Kraeuter, A. K., McDermott, B., Lupien, S., \& Sarnyai, Z. (2021). Human nail cortisol as a retrospective biomarker of chronic stress: A systematic review. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 123, 104903.
Maternal Attentional Resources	Age 8	NIH Toolbox Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention Test. Age-corrected standardized score. We expect a higher value of the maternal Flanker score for the high-cash gift group than the low-cash gift mothers. Higher scores indicate better performance. Prior to the Flanker administration, respondent/mother will be asked to listen and reflect for a minute on these questions: "Imagine that an unforeseen event requires of you an immediate $1,000 expense. Are there ways in which you may be able to come up with that amount of money on a very short notice? How would you go about it? How stressful would it be to manage this? Gershon et al. (2013). NIH Toolbox for assessment of neurological and behavioral function. Neurology, 80(11 Suppl 3) S2-S6. Slotkin J, et al. (2012) NIH Toolbox Scoring and Interpretation Guide (Northwestern and NIH). Zelazo PD, et al. (2013) II. NIH Toolbox cognition battery (CB): Measuring executive function and attention. Monogr Soc Res Child Dev 78:16-33.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Child Language Development: Language Milestones	Age 12 months	Language Milestones measured by Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ)- Communication Subscale. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Child Language Development outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Squires, J., Bricker, D. D., \& Twombly, E. (2009). Ages \& stages questionnaires. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.
Child Language Development: Vocabulary	Age 24 months	Communicative Development measured by Short Form Versions of MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Child Language Development outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Fenson, L. (2000). Short-form versions of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21, 95 - 116.
Child Executive Function: Executive Function	Age 48 months	Measured by the pencil tap test. This item was dropped on September 13, 2022, due to evidence of floor effects, and consistent reports from research staff that children were not understanding the instructions. Minimum value: 0; Maximum value: 16. Higher score indicates a better outcome. References: Diamond, A., \& Taylor, C. (1996). Development of an aspect of executive control: development of the abilities to remember what I said and to "do as I say, not as I do". Developmental psychobiology, 29(4), 315-334.
Child Socio-Emotional Processing: Behavior	Age 12 months	Behavior measured by NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development Mother-Child Interaction Task (positive/negative mood, activity level, sustained attention, positive engagement). Due to funding limitations, this was not feasible to code. Reference: Griffin, J. A., et al. (2007). NICHD Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development. National Institute of Health. Adapted script from mother-child-interaction at 15 months.
Child Socio-Emotional Processing: Problems	Age 24 months	Problems measured by Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (BITSEA). We will estimate the statistical significance of the family of related measures in the Child Socio-Emotional Processing outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Briggs-Gowan, et al. (2004). The Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment: screening for social-emotional problems and delays in competence. Journal of pediatric psychology, 29(2), 143-155.
Child Pre-Literacy	Age 48 months	Pre-Literacy measured by The Reading House. Minimum value: 0; Maximum value: 14. Higher score indicates a better outcome. Reference: Hutton, et al. (2019). The Reading House: A Children's Book for Emergent Literacy Screening During Well-Child Visits. Pediatrics, 143 (6): e20183843. 10.1542/peds.2018-3843 Hutton et al. (2021). Validation of The Reading House and Association With Cortical Thickness. Pediatrics, 147(3), e20201641. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-1641
Child Intelligence Quotient	Age 48 months	Measured by the Wechsler Nonverbal Scale of Ability. Modified on September 30, 2022 to no longer measure child IQ, as described below. Minimum score: 10; Maximum score: 90. Higher score indicates a better outcome. Note: The IQ score is calculated using two subtests -- Matrices and Recognition -- and we began our fieldwork on July 9, 2022 with both. On the basis of preliminary analysis of the first 71 cases, we discovered that 21% of participants scored at the floor of the Recognition assessment. We therefore dropped the Recognition subtest from our data collection instrument on September 30 2022, precluding us from calculating IQ in subsequent participants. Scores on the Matrices subtest, which measures visual processing and abstract spatial perception (not IQ per se), are now registered as an age-4 secondary outcome. Reference: Wechsler, D., Naglieri, J. A. (2006). Wechsler Nonverbal Scale of Ability. San Antonio, TX: Pearson.
Child Resting Brain Function	Age 8	Our primary hypothesis (detailed above) is based on data gathered in the eyes- closed condition. We also preregister the corresponding analyses of data from the eyes-open condition as secondary hypotheses, with the same directional hypotheses as the eyes-closed condition. A second set of secondary analyses are based on a different estimation approach. Consistent with another RCT examining brain activity, we will analyze band-specific effects using mixed-effects models, with group as the between-subjects factor and region as within-subjects factor, to examine ITT impacts on each band of relative power in the eyes-closed condition. Our secondary hypotheses for each band are as follows: Theta (high-cash\<low-cash), Alpha (high-cash\>low-cash), Beta (high-cash\>low-cash), and Gamma (high-cash\>low-cash). One-tailed t-tests will be used given directional hypotheses. No further multiple-testing adjustments beyond the us use of multi-level models will be used. See Statistical Analysis Plan.
Child Task-Related Brain Function	Age 48 months	Auditory Discrimination Brain Function measured by mismatch negativity (MMN) ERP with larger differences between standard and deviant stimulus in high-cash gift group compared to the low-cash gift group. References: Cheour, M., Leppänen, P. H., \& Kraus, N. (2000). Mismatch negativity (MMN) as a tool for investigating auditory discrimination and sensory memory in infants and children. Clinical neurophysiology, 111(1), 4-16. Garcia-Sierra, A., et al.. (2011). Bilingual language learning: An ERP study relating early brain responses to speech, language input, and later word production. Journal of Phonetics, 39(4), 546-557. Kuhl, P. K., et al.. (2005). Links between social and linguistic processing of speech in preschool children with autism: behavioral and electrophysiological measures. Developmental science, 8(1), F1-F12.
Child Health: Body Mass Index (BMI)	Age 8	Body Mass Index. Measured by CDC BMI percentile scales. We expect to see a reduced percentage of overweight or obese (greater than or equal to 85th percentile) children in the high-cash gift group compared to the low-cash gift group. We will report mean percentile scores of the two groups in descriptive analyses.
Child Health, Physiological Stress	Age 48 months	Measured by hair cortisol concentration. Note: Our original plan was to measure physiological stress using hair cortisol concentration. The first several months of data collection revealed large racial and ethnic differences in willingness to provide a hair sample, due to both cultural and practical reasons. Because of the large amounts of non-random missing data, which would both compromise our statistical power and limit the generalizability of any findings, we dropped hair cortisol from our data collection procedures on October 25, 2022. Reference: Ursache, A., Merz, E. C., Melvin, S., Meyer, J., \& Noble, K. G. (2017). Socioeconomic status, hair cortisol and internalizing symptoms in parents and children. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 78, 142-150.
Child Health, Sleep	Age 24 months	Measured by an adapted Short Form of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS™) Minimum score: 4; Maximum score: 20. Higher score indicates a better outcome. Reference: Yu, L., Buysse, D. J., Germain, A., Moul, D. E., Stover, A., Dodds, N. E., ... \& Pilkonis, P. A. (2012). Development of short forms from the PROMIS™ sleep disturbance and sleep-related impairment item banks. Behavioral sleep medicine, 10(1), 6-24.
Child Health, Overall Health, Medical Care, Diagnosis of Condition or Disability	Age 24 months	Measured by an index of six items (see Appendix Table 7 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items) Reference: Halim, M. L., Yoshikawa, H., \& Amodio, D. M. (2013). Cross-generational effects of discrimination among immigrant mothers: Perceived discrimination predicts child's healthcare visits for illness. Health Psychology, 32(2), 203.
Child Health, Overall Health, Diagnosis of Condition or Disability	Age 48 months	Measured by an index of survey items (see Appendix Table 7 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Reference: Idler, E. L., \& Benyamini, Y. (1997). Self-rated health and mortality: a review of twenty-seven community studies. Journal of health and social behavior, 21-37
Child Health, Overall Health	Age 8	Measured by an index of survey items (see Appendix Table 9 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Reference: Idler, E. L., \& Benyamini, Y. (1997). Self-rated health and mortality: a review of twenty-seven community studies. Journal of health and social behavior, 21-37
Child Health: Chronic Health Condition	Age 8	Has child been diagnosed with any chronic health condition? Yes/No. If yes; asthma and/or something else. Expect lower rate in high- than low-cash gift group. Reference: BFY Study PIs
Child Epigenetic Pace of Aging	Age 8	Methylation pace of aging was developed from DNA-methylation analysis of Pace of Aging in the Dunedin Study birth cohort. Pace of Aging is a composite phenotype derived from analysis of longitudinal change in 18 biomarkers of organ-system integrity. In contrast, so-called epigenetic clocks are trained on chronological age. Increments of methylation pace of aging correspond to "years" of physiological change occurring per 12-months of chronological time. The second iteration (DunedinPACE) takes into account an additional measurement occasion and only includes the most reliable DNA methylation probes, i.e. probes with little variation between technical replicates. If a higher quality measure of epigenetic aging at the time of analysis becomes available, we we will substitute that instead.We will also report GrimAge Acceleration, which we consider an exploratory analysis. GrimAge represents a DNA-methylation metric designed to predict morbidity and mortality. References: see Table 9
Child DNA Methylation	Age 8	Salivary DNA-methylation profiles of cognitive functioning, i.e., "Epigenetic-g", can be computed on the basis of weights from a blood-based epigenome wide association study of general cognitive functions (g) in adults (McCartney et al., 2022). General cognitive ability was derived from the first unrotated principal component of logical memory, verbal fluency and digit symbol tests, and vocabulary. Epigenetic-g is conceptually distinct from biological aging. If a higher quality measure of epigenetic profile of cognitive functioning becomes available at the time of analysis, we we will substitute that instead. Reference: McCartney, D.L., Hillary, R.F., Conole, E.L.S. et al. Blood-based epigenome-wide analyses of cognitive abilities. Genome Biol 23, 26 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-021-02596-5
Child Nutrition: Consumption of Healthy Foods	Age 8	Measured by an index of survey items (see Appendix Table 9 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Expect higher scores in high- than low-cash gift group. Reference: Los Angeles County WIC Survey. (2017). Retrievable from: http://lawicdata.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/WIC-Parents-Quex-English-FINAL.pdf
Child Nutrition: Consumption of Healthy Food	Age 6	Measured by an index of survey items (see Appendix Table 9 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Expect higher scores in high- than low-cash gift group. Reference: Los Angeles County WIC Survey. (2017). Retrievable from: http://lawicdata.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/WIC-Parents-Quex-English-FINAL.pdf
Child Nutrition: Consumption of Unhealthy Foods	Age 8	Measured by an index of survey items (see Appendix Table 9 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Expect lower scores in high- than low-cash gift group. References: Los Angeles County WIC Survey. (2017). Retrievable from: http://lawicdata.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/WIC-Parents-Quex-English-FINAL.pdf Hunsberger M, O'Malley J, Block T, Norris JC. Relative validation of Block Kids Food Screener for dietary assessment in children and adolescents. Matern Child Nutr. 2012:1-11. doi:10.1111/j.1740-8709.2012.00446.x.
Any Maternal Concern for Developmental Delay: Total "Predictive Concerns" in the Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS)	Age 36 months	Measured by the total number of maternal-reported concerns that are "predictive of developmental delay" in the Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 5. Higher score indicates worse outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Any Maternal Concern for Developmental Delay outcome cluster using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Glascoe FP. Parents' Evaluations of Developmental Status: A Method for Detecting and Addressing Developmental and Behavioral Problems in Children. Nashville, TN: Ellsworth \& Vandermeer Press, 1997.
Any Maternal Concern for Developmental Delay: Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS)	Age 36 months	Measured by the total score across categories of components of the Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS), which includes 10 survey items. Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 10. Higher score indicates worse outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Any Maternal Concern for Developmental Delay outcome cluster using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Glascoe FP. Parents' Evaluations of Developmental Status: A Method for Detecting and Addressing Developmental and Behavioral Problems in Children. Nashville, TN: Ellsworth \& Vandermeer Press, 1997.
Diagnosis of Developmental Condition	Age 8	Dichotomous measure 1:yes 0:no, constructed from the questionnaire categories: Diagnosis of Dev. Condition: speech delay, autism, ADHD, something else (this Q is part of Health Qs) We will estimate whether there are group differences, but do not formulate a directional hypothesis, because of two offsetting possibilities: i) the high-cash gift group may have better access to services, which may lead to higher rates of diagnosis and/or ii) the cash gifts may lead to fewer developmental conditions
Child Special Services (IEP)	Age 8	Maternal report of whether the child has an IEP or receives special educational services using questions adapted from the School Enrollment and Expectations section of the PSID Child Development Supplement. 1: yes; 0: no We will estimate whether there are group differences, but do not formulate a directional hypothesis, because of two offsetting possibilities: i) the high-cash gift group may have better access to services, which may lead to higher rates of diagnosis and receipt of special education and/or ii) the cash gifts may lead to higher school achievement and therefore lower need for special education and individual education plans. Reference: Adapted from the School Enrollment and Expectations (SEE) section of the 2021 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) Child Development Supplement: Beaule et al.(2023). PSID-2021 Main Interview User Manual: Release 2023. Institute
Household Economic Hardship: Household Poverty Rate	Age 8	Household Poverty Rate measured using the Census Bureau's Poverty thresholds by Size of Family and Number of Children. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Household Economic Hardship outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: US Census Bureau
Household Economic Hardship: Index of Economic Stress	Age 8	Index of Economic Stress measured by an additive index of six items (see Appendix Table 10 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 6. Higher score indicates more ecomomic stress. Expect less stress for high-cash group. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Household Economic Hardship outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Kling, J.R., Liebman, J.B., Katz, L.F. (2007). Experimental analysis of neighborhood effects. Econometrica, 75(1), 83-119.
Household Economic Hardship: Index of Ecomomic Stress	Age 6	Index of Economic Stress measured by an additive index of six items (see Appendix Table 10 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 6. Higher score indicates more ecomomic stress. Expect less stress for high-cash group. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Household Economic Hardship outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Kling, J.R., Liebman, J.B., Katz, L.F. (2007). Experimental analysis of neighborhood effects. Econometrica, 75(1), 83-119.
Household Economic Hardship: Maternal Hardship	Age 8	Maternal Hardship measured by one item (see Appendix Table 10 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document). Minimum score: 1; Maximum score: 4. Higher score indicates more hardship. Expect less hardship for high-cash group. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Household Economic Hardship outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: BFY Study PIs
Household Economic Hardship: Index of Food Insecurity	Age 48 months	Index of Food Insecurity measured by the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module: Six-Item Short Form. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Household Economic Hardship outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: The U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module: Six-Item Short Form retrieved from: https://www.ers.usda.gov/media/8282/short2012.pdf
Social Services Receipt; Number of Benefits Received by Mother	Age 36 months	Measured by an additive index of 9 items (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 5. Reference: study PIs
Mother's Labor Market and Education Participation: Time to Labor Market Re-entry From Birth	Age 12 months	Time to Labor Market Re-entry from Birth measured by the number of months from child's birth until mother's reentry into the labor market (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Mother's Labor Market and Education Participation outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: study PIs
Mother's Labor Market and Education Participation: Time to Full-Time Labor Market Reentry From Birth	Age 12 months	Time to Full-Time Labor Market Reentry from Birth measured by the number of months from child's birth until mother's full-time reentry into the labor market (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Mother's Labor Market and Education Participation outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: study PIs
Mother's Labor Market and Education Participation: Mother's Labor Market Participation	Age 8	Dichotomous variable indicating whether mother is participating in the labor market. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Mother's Labor Market and Education Participation outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: BFY Study PIs
Mother's Labor Market and Education Participation: Mother's Education and Training Attainment	Age 36 months	Mother's Education and Training Attainment measured by a survey item (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 1. Higher score indicates better outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Mother's Labor Market and Education Participation outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: study PIs
Maternal Substance Abuse: Opioid Use	Age 36 months	Opioid Use measured by a survey item (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for item). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 4. Higher score indicates worse outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Maternal Substance Abuse outcome cluster using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Kling, J.R., Liebman, J.B., Katz, L.F. (2007). Experimental analysis of neighborhood effects. Econometrica, 75(1), 83-119.
Mother's Labor Market and Education Participation: Mother's Education Attainment	Age 8	Mother's Education Attainment measured by a survey item (see Appendix Table 10 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 1. Higher score indicates better outcome. Expect more education in high-cash gift group. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Mother's Labor Market and Education Participation outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: BFY Study PIs
Mother's Labor Market and Education Participation: Mother's Training Attainment	Age 8	Mother's Training Attainment measured by a survey item (see Appendix Table 10 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 1. Higher score indicates better outcome. Expect more training in high-cash gift group. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Mother's Labor Market and Education Participation outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: BFY Study PIs
Mother's Labor Market and Education Participation: Maternal Earnings	Age 8	Mother's Earnings in the previous calendar year. Expect higher income for high-cash group. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Mother's Labor Market and Education Participation outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)
Child-Focused Expenditures: Index of Expenditures Since Birth	Age 12 months	Index of Child-Focused Expenditures since birth measured by an additive index of survey items (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Child-Focused Expenditures outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Lugo-Gil, J., Yoshikawa, H. (2006). Assessing expenditures on children in low-income, ethnically diverse, and immigrant families. National Poverty Center Working Paper Series, 06-36. National Study of Early Care and Education
Child-Focused Expenditures: Index of Expenditures in Past 30 Days	Age 48 months	Index of Expenditures in past 30 days measured by a dollar amount sum of responses to survey items (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Child-Focused Expenditures outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Lugo-Gil, J., Yoshikawa, H. (2006). Assessing expenditures on children in low-income, ethnically diverse, and immigrant families. National Poverty Center Working Paper Series, 06-36. National Study of Early Care and Education
Child-focused Expenditures: Index of Child-Focused Expenditures in Past 30 Days	Age 6	Index of Expenditures in past 30 days measured by a dollar amount sum of responses to survey items (see Appendix Table 10 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Expect higher spending for high-cash group. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Child-Focused Expenditures outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). References: Lugo-Gil, J., Yoshikawa, H. (2006). Assessing expenditures on children in low-income, ethnically diverse, and immigrant families. National Poverty Center Working Paper Series, 06-36. Schild et al. (2023). Effects of the Expanded Child Tax Credit on Household Spending: Estimates Based on US Consumer Expenditure Survey Data (No. w31412). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.bls.gov/osmr/research-papers/2023/pdf/ec230010.pdf
Child-focused Expenditures: Index of Child-focused Expenditures in Past 30 Days	Age 8	Index of Expenditures in past 30 days measured by a dollar amount sum of responses to survey items (see Appendix Table 10 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Expect higher spending for high-cash group. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Child-Focused Expenditures outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). References: Lugo-Gil, J., Yoshikawa, H. (2006). Assessing expenditures on children in low-income, ethnically diverse, and immigrant families. National Poverty Center Working Paper Series, 06-36. Schild et al. (2023). Effects of the Expanded Child Tax Credit on Household Spending: Estimates Based on US Consumer Expenditure Survey Data (No. w31412). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.bls.gov/osmr/research-papers/2023/pdf/ec230010.pdf
Child-focused Expenditures: Index of Expenditures on All Children in the Household, Including Target Child	Age 8	Index of Expenditures in past 30 days measured by a dollar amount sum of responses to survey items (see Appendix Table 10 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Expect higher spending for high-cash group. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Child-Focused Expenditures outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). References: Lugo-Gil, J., Yoshikawa, H. (2006). Assessing expenditures on children in low-income, ethnically diverse, and immigrant families. National Poverty Center Working Paper Series, 06-36. Schild et al. (2023). Effects of the Expanded Child Tax Credit on Household Spending: Estimates Based on US Consumer Expenditure Survey Data (No. w31412). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.bls.gov/osmr/research-papers/2023/pdf/ec230010.pdf
Child-Focused Expenditures: Cost of Paid Child Care	Age 48 months	Cost of Paid Child Care measured by survey item (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Higher score indicates better outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Child-Focused Expenditures outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Lugo-Gil, J., Yoshikawa, H. (2006). Assessing expenditures on children in low-income, ethnically diverse, and immigrant families. National Poverty Center Working Paper Series, 06-36. National Study of Early Care and Education
Child-Focused Expenditures: Use of Center-Based Care	Age 36 months	Use of Center-Based Care measured by survey item (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 1. Higher score indicates better outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Child-Focused Expenditures outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Lugo-Gil, J., Yoshikawa, H. (2006). Assessing expenditures on children in low-income, ethnically diverse, and immigrant families. National Poverty Center Working Paper Series, 06-36. National Study of Early Care and Education
Housing and Neighborhoods: Index of Perceptions of Neighborhood Safety	Age 36 months	Index of Perceptions of Neighborhood Safety measured by an additive index of survey items (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 6. Higher score indicates a better outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Housing and Neighborhoods outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Kling, J.R., Liebman, J.B., Katz, L.F. (2007). Experimental analysis of neighborhood effects. Econometrica, 75(1), 83-119.
Housing and Neighborhoods: Index of Housing Quality	Age 24 months	Index of Housing Quality measured by an additive index of survey items (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Housing and Neighborhoods outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Kling, J.R., Liebman, J.B., Katz, L.F. (2007). Experimental analysis of neighborhood effects. Econometrica, 75(1), 83-119.
Housing and Neighborhoods: Excessive Residential Mobility	Age 36 months	Excessive Residential Mobility measured by survey items (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 1. Higher score indicates worse outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Housing and Neighborhoods outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Kling, J.R., Liebman, J.B., Katz, L.F. (2007). Experimental analysis of neighborhood effects. Econometrica, 75(1), 83-119.
Housing and Neighborhoods: Homelessness	Age 36 months	Homelessness measured by survey items (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 1. Higher score indicates worse outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Housing and Neighborhoods outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Kling, J.R., Liebman, J.B., Katz, L.F. (2007). Experimental analysis of neighborhood effects. Econometrica, 75(1), 83-119.
Housing and Neighborhoods: Neighborhood Poverty	Age 8	Neighborhood Poverty measured by the proportion of residents in the respondent's census tract that are below the poverty line, using census data. Expect less neighborhood poverty in the high-cash group. Reference: Kling, J.R., Liebman, J.B., Katz, L.F. (2007). Experimental analysis of neighborhood effects. Econometrica, 75(1), 83-119.
Family and Maternal Perceived Stress: Perceived Stress	Age 36 months	Perceived Stress measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 32. Higher score indicates worse outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Family and Maternal Perceived Stress outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., \& Mermelstein, R. (1994). Perceived stress scale. Measuring stress: A guide for health and social scientists.
Family and Maternal Perceived Stress: Parenting Stress	Age 48 months	Parenting Stress measured by the Aggravation in Parenting Scale. Note: Index dropped from age 4 survey owing to time constraints Reference: The Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, retrieved from https://psidonline.isr.umich.edu/cds/cdsi_usergd.pdf
Maternal Happiness and Optimism: Global Happiness	Age 36 months	Global Happiness measured by survey item (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 1; Maximum score: 3. Higher score indicates better outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Maternal Happiness and Optimism outcome cluster using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: The General Social Survey from NORC at the University of Chicago, retrieved from: http://gss.norc.org/Get-Documentation/questionnaires
Maternal Happiness	Age 8	Global Happiness measured by survey item (see Appendix Table 10 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 1; Maximum score: 3. Higher score indicates better outcome. Expect higher score in high-cash group. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Maternal Happiness and Optimism outcome cluster using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: The General Social Survey from NORC at the University of Chicago, retrieved from: http://gss.norc.org/Get-Documentation/questionnaires
Maternal Happiness and Optimism: Optimism	Age 36 months	Optimism measured by the Adult Hope Scale. Minimum score: 10; Maximum score: 30. Higher score indicates better outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Maternal Happiness and Optimism outcome cluster using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Snyder, C.R., Harris, C., Anderson, J.R., Holleran, S.A., Irving, L.M., Sigmon, S.T., Yoshinobu, L., Gibb, J., Langelle, C., Harney, P. (1991). The will and the ways: development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(4), 570-585.
Maternal Physiological Stress: Maternal Hair Cortisol	Age 48 months	Measured by maternal hair cortisol. Note: Our original plan was to measure physiological stress using hair cortisol concentration. The first several months of data collection revealed large racial and ethnic differences in willingness to provide a hair sample, due to both cultural and practical reasons. Because of the large amounts of non-random missing data, which would both compromise our statistical power and limit the generalizability of any findings, we dropped hair cortisol from our data collection procedures on October 25, 2022. Reference: Ursache, A., Merz, E.C., Melvin, S., Meyer, J., Noble, K.G. (2017). Socioeconomic status, hair cortisol and internalizing symptoms in parents and children. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 78, 142-150.
Maternal Executive Function	Age 8	Measured by the Minnesota Executive Function Scale (MEFS). Minimum score: 60; Maximum score: 140. Higher score indicates a better outcome. We expect a higher value of the maternal MEFS standardized score for the high-cash gift group mothers than the low-cash gift mothers. Reference: Carlson, S. M., \& Zelazo, P. D. (2014). Minnesota Executive Function Scale: Test Manual. St. Paul, MN: Reflection Sciences, Inc. Carlson, S. M. (2017). Minnesota Executive Function Scale: Technical Report, v. 2. St. Paul, MN: Reflection Sciences, Inc. Reflection Sciences (2021). Minnesota executive function scale technical report. Reflection Sciences. https://reflectionsciences.com/wp-content/uploads/MEFS-Technical-Report-July-2021.pdf
Maternal Mental Health: Index of Maternal Depression	Age 8	Index of Maternal Depression measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8). Min value: 0; Max value: 24. Higher score indicates worse outcome. We expect less depression in the high- as opposed to low-cash group. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Maternal Mental Health outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Kroenke, K. \& Spitzer, R.L. (2002). The PHQ-9: a new depression diagnostic and severity measure. Psychiatric annals, 32(9), 509-515.
Maternal Mental Health: Index of Maternal Anxiety	Age 8	Index of Maternal Anxiety measured by the GAD-7. Min value: 0; Max value: 21. Higher score indicates worse outcome. We expect less anxiety in the high- as opposed to low-cash group. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Maternal Mental Health outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JBW, Löwe B. A Brief Measure for Assessing Generalized Anxiety Disorder: The GAD-7. Arch Intern Med. 2006;166(10):1092-1097. doi:10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092
Maternal Mental Health: Index 1 of Maternal Anxiety	Age 36 months	Index of Maternal Anxiety measured by the GAD-7. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Maternal Mental Health outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JBW, Löwe B. A Brief Measure for Assessing Generalized Anxiety Disorder: The GAD-7. Arch Intern Med. 2006;166(10):1092-1097. doi:10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092
Maternal Mental Health: Index 2 of Maternal Anxiety	Age 36 months	Index of Maternal Anxiety measured by the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Min value: 0; Max value: 44. Higher score indicates worse outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Maternal Mental Health outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Steer, R.A. \& Beck, A.T., (1997). Beck Anxiety Inventory. In C.P. Zalaquett \& R.J. Wood (Eds), Evaluating stress: A book of resources (pp. 23-40). Lanham, MD, US: Scarecrow Education
Maternal Substance Abuse: Alcohol and Cigarette Use	Age 36 months	Alcohol and Cigarette Use measured by an additive index of survey items (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 8. Higher score indicates worse outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Maternal Substance Abuse outcome cluster using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Kling, J.R., Liebman, J.B., Katz, L.F. (2007). Experimental analysis of neighborhood effects. Econometrica, 75(1), 83-119.
Chaos in the Home: Index of Chaos in the Home	Age 24 months	Measured by the Home Environment Chaos Scale. Reference: Evans, G.W., Gonnella, C., Marcynyszyn, L.A., Gentile, L, \& Salpekar, N. (2005). The role of chaos in poverty and children's socioemotional adjustment. Psychological Science, 16(7), 560-565.
Maternal Relationships: Physical Abuse	Age 24 months	Measured by a survey item (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for item). We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Maternal Relationships outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: User's Guide for the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study Public Data, Year 3. (2018). Retrieved from: https://fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/sites/fragilefamilies/files/year_3_guide.pdf
Maternal Relationships: Frequency of Arguing	Age 24 months	Measured by a survey item (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for item). We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Maternal Relationships outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: User's Guide for the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study Public Data, Year 3. (2018). Retrieved from: https://fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/sites/fragilefamilies/files/year_3_guide.pdf
Maternal Relationships: Relationship Quality	Age 36 months	Measured by a dichotomous indicator generated from an additive index of survey items (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items and cutoff point for high or low quality). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 1. Higher score indicates worse outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Maternal Relationships outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: User's Guide for the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study Public Data, Year 3. (2018). Retrieved from: https://fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/sites/fragilefamilies/files/year_3_guide.pdf
Maternal Physical Health: Global Health	Age 8	Global Health measured by one survey item (see Appendix Table 10 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Expect better health for high-cash group. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Maternal Physical Health outcome measured during the same wave cluster using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Idler, E. L., \& Benyamini, Y. (1997). Self-rated health and mortality: a review of twenty-seven community studies. Journal of health and social behavior, 21-37.
Maternal Physical Health: Sleep	Age 36 months	Sleep measured by an additive index of survey items (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 3; Maximum score: 15. Higher score indicates a better outcome. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Maternal Physical Health outcome cluster measured during the same wave using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Kling, J.R., Liebman, J.B., Katz, L.F. (2007). Experimental analysis of neighborhood effects. Econometrica, 75(1), 83-119.
Maternal Physical Health: Body Mass Index	Age 8	Body Mass Index measured by Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) growth charts. Dichotomous measure based on CDC BMI percentile scales We expect to see a reduced percentage of overweight or obese (BMI greater than or equal to 25) mothers in the high-cash gift group compared to the low-cash gift group. We will report mean BMI of the two groups in descriptive analyses. Reference: Kuczmarski, R. J. (2000). CDC growth charts; United States.
Parent-Child Interaction Quality: Adult Word Count	Age 12 months	Adult Word Count measured by LENA Processing Software. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Parent-Child Interaction Quality outcome cluster using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Xu, D., Yapanel, U., \& Gray, S. (2009). Reliability of the LENA Language Environment Analysis System in young children's natural home environment. LENA Foundation.
Parent-Child Interaction Quality: Conversational Turns	Age 12 months	Conversational Turns measured by LENA Processing Software. We will estimate the statistical significance of the entire family of related measures in the Parent-Child Interaction Quality outcome cluster using step-down resampling methods for multiple testing (see statistical analysis plan for more details; Westfall and Young, 1993). Reference: Xu, D., Yapanel, U., \& Gray, S. (2009). Reliability of the LENA Language Environment Analysis System in young children's natural home environment. LENA Foundation.
Parent-Child Interaction Quality: Index of Mother's Positive Parenting Behaviors	Age 8	Two tasks to be determined. Coding: Measured using Emotional Availability scale (EAS) - 4th Edition middle childhood/youth version (Biringen et al., 2008; Biringen et al., 2014) coding of parenting behaviors from a total of four maternal sub-scales (sensitivity, structuring, non-intrusiveness, and non-hostility) with responses scored on a 7-point scale across the two PCI tasks. The additive total composite score will be pre-registered. We hypothesize a higher composite score for the high-cash gift group relative to the low-cash gift group. Please see details of confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory analysis, and all references in Table 10 in the Statistical Analysis Plan.
Parent-Child Interaction Quality: Maternal Language Quantity	Age 8	Measured by the total number of word tokens (adult word count) in maternal speech during the parent-child interaction tasks (Anderson et al 2021; Rowe, 2008; Rowe, 2012). Coded through transcripts at the utterance level. We hypothesize a higher adult word count for mothers in the high-cash gift group relative to the low-cash gift group. References: Anderson, N. J., Graham, S. A., Prime, H., Jenkins, J. M., \& Madigan, S. (2021). Linking quality and quantity of parental linguistic input to child language skills: A meta-analysis. Child Development, 92(2), 484-501. Rowe, M. (2008). Child-directed speech: relation to socioeconomic status, knowledge of child development and child vocabulary skill. Journal of Child Language, 35, 185-205. doi:10.1017/S0305000907008343 Rowe, M. (2012). A Longitudinal Investigation of the Role of Quantity and Quality of Child-Directed Speech in Vocabulary Development. Child Development, 83(5), 1762-1774.
Parent-Child Interaction Quality: Maternal Language Quality	Age 8	Measured through three indicators of quality: Mean length of utterance (MLU; average number of morphemes per utterance), word types (number of different word roots produced) as indicators of language complexity and diversity, respectively (Anderson et al 2021; Rowe, 2008; Rowe, 2012), and the proportion of utterances that are wh- questions -What, Where, When, Which, Why, Who, and How (referential and inferential questions)-(Luo et al., 2022; Cristofaro \& Tamis-LeMonda, 2012) in maternal speech during the parent-child interaction tasks. Language quality variables will be coded through transcripts at the utterance level. We hypothesize higher language quality scores, either the composite factor or the individual scores, for the high-cash gift group relative to the low-cash gift group. Please see details of planned analysis and all references in Table 10 in the Statistical Analysis Plan.
Maternal Epigenetic Pace of Aging	Age 8	Expect slower DunedinPACE- pace of aging in high-cash group: Methylation pace of aging was developed from DNA-methylation analysis of Pace of Aging in the Dunedin Study birth cohort (Belsky et al., 2022).. Pace of Aging is a composite phenotype derived from analysis of longitudinal change in 18 biomarkers of organ-system integrity (Belsky et al., 2015). Increments of methylation pace of aging correspond to "years" of physiological change occurring per 12-months of chronological time. We will also report GrimAge Acceleration and PhenoAge Acceleration as exploratory analyses. GrimAge represents a DNA-methylation metric designed to predict morbidity and mortality (Lu et al., 2019). Please see details and references in Appendix Table 10.
Maternal DNA Methylation	Age 48 months	Measured using method reported in Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document. Please also see preregistration at OSF: https://osf.io/ahv2p/?view_only= Reference: McCartney, D.L., Hillary, R.F., Conole, E.L.S. et al. Blood-based epigenome-wide analyses of cognitive abilities. Genome Biol 23, 26 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-021-02596-5
Frequency of Parent-Child Activity: Self-Report of Parent-Child Activities	Age 8	Additive index of activities where the number of days reported doing the activity are multiplied by the number of minutes on a given day. We expect higher amount for high cash group. Activities are: read books, tell stories, play together, pretend play, physical games outside, learning activities, watch tv or videos. 1. How many days did you participate in \[activity\]? (1: no days; 2: 1-2 days; 3: 3-5 days; 4: 6-7 days) 1a. On those days, how many minutes do you do typically do this per day? (1: 15 minutes or less; 2: 15-30 minutes; 3: more than 30 minutes). References: Rodriguez, E. T., \& Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2011). Trajectories of the home learning environment across the first 5 years: Associations with children's vocabulary and literacy skills at prekindergarten. Child development, 82(4), 1058-1075. BFY Study PIs
Frequency of Parent-Child Activity: Child Meal and Sleep Routine Index	Age 8	Frequency of Parent-Child Activity measured by an additive index of survey items (see Appendix Table 10 in Statistical Analysis Plan document for items). Minimum score: 0 Maximum score: 2. Higher score indicates better outcome. Expect higher score for high-cash group. Reference: BFY Study PIs
Maternal Discipline: Spanking Discipline Strategy	Age 12 months	Measured by a survey item (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Reference: Reichman, N.E., Teitler, J.O., Garfinkel, I., MclAnahan, S.S. (2001). Fragile Families: Sample and design. Children and Youth Services Review, 23(4-5), 303-326.
Maternal Discipline; Spanking Discipline Strategy	Age 36 months	Measured by a survey item (see Appendix Table 8 in "Analysis Plan and Measures" document for items). Minimum score: 0; Maximum score: 1. Higher score indicates worse outcome. Reference: Reichman, N.E., Teitler, J.O., Garfinkel, I., MclAnahan, S.S. (2001). Fragile Families: Sample and design. Children and Youth Services Review, 23(4-5), 303-326.
Maternal Discipline: Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (CTSPC)	Age 8	Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (CTSPC) Subscales: Nonviolent Discipline, Psychological Aggression, and Corporal punishment and 1 item from the Severe Assault (physical abuse) subscale. Total 14 items about conflict strategies with child and harsh discipline are asked about the past year. Min: 14 Max: 98 We expect a reduction of harsh discipline in the high-cash group compared to the low-cash group. References: Straus, M. A., Hamby, S. L., Finkelhor, D., Moore, D. W., \& Runyan, D. (1998). Identification of child maltreatment with the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales: Development and psychometric data for a national sample of American parents. Child abuse \& neglect, 22(4), 249-270. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0145-2134(97)00174-9 Cotter, A., Proctor, K. B., \& Brestan-Knight, E. (2018). Assessing child physical abuse: An examination of the factor structure and validity of the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (CTSPC). Children and Youth Services Review, 88, 467-475.
Child School Retention	Age 8	Maternal report of whether the child has repeated a grade, adapted from the School Enrollment and Expectations section of the PSID Child Development Supplement. Item: Has child "ever" been held back a grade? Expect fewer retentions in high cash group. Adapted from the School Enrollment and Expectations (SEE) section of the 2021 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) Child Development Supplement: Beaule, A. Campbell, F., Insolera, N., Juska, P., McAloon-Fernandez, R., McGonagle, K., Mushtaq, M., Simmert, B., \& Warra, J. (2023). PSID-2021 Main Interview User Manual: Release 2023. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. https://psidonline.isr.umich.edu/data/Documentation/UserGuide2021.pdf
Child Engagement in School	Age 8	Maternal report of child's engagement in school using an item adapted from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. "How often would you say that (CHILD) cares about doing well in school"? 4 answer choices: 1. none of the time; 2. some of the time, 3. most of the time; 4. all of the time. Score range: 1-4; higher scores indicate more engagement in school. Expect more engagement in high cash group. Reference: Ehrle, J. L., \& Moore, K. M. (1999). 1997 NSAF Benchmarking Measures of Child and Family Well-Being. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute. National Survey of America's Families Methodology Report No. 6. https://webarchive.urban.org/UploadedPDF/Methodology_6.pdf
Child School Suspensions	Age 8	Maternal report of the number of school suspensions, adapted from the Survey of Income and Program Participation.One item: Has child ever been suspended or expelled from school? (no/yes). Expect fewer suspensions in high cash group. Reference: Adapted from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP): U.S. Census Bureau. (2023). 2022 Survey of Income and Program Participation Users' Guide. U.S. Department of Commerce Economic and Statistics Administration. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/sipp/tech-documentation/methodology/2022_SIPP_Users_Guide_SEP23.pdf
Child School Attendance	Age 8	Estimated number of days missed in last 12 months. Expect fewer absences in high-cash gift group. Reference: BFY Study PIs
School Quality	Age 8	Gathered from school names and city/district. We expect an increase in school quality for the high-cash gift group. The measure we select will be a function of what data will be available at the time of Age 8 wave.
Parent School Involvement	Age 8	Additive index of survey items (see Appendix Table 10 in Statistical Analysis Plan document for items). Minimum score: 0 Maximum score: 4. Higher score indicates better outcome. We expect a positive effect on high-cash group. Reference: Tourangeau, K., Nord, C., Lê, T., Wallner-Allen, K., Vaden-Kiernan, N., Blaker, L. and Najarian, M. (2019). Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011) User's Manual for the ECLS-K:2011 Kindergarten-Fifth Grade Data File and Electronic Codebook, Public Version (NCES 2019-051). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019051.pdf
Enrichment Activities: Child Enrichment	Age 8	Additive index of survey items (see Appendix Table 10 in Statistical Analysis Plan document for items). Minimum score: 0 Maximum score: 4. Higher score indicates better outcome. We expect a positive effect on high-cash group. Reference: Tourangeau, K., Nord, C., Lê, T., Wallner-Allen, K., Vaden-Kiernan, N., Blaker, L. and Najarian, M. (2019). Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011) User's Manual for the ECLS-K:2011 Kindergarten-Fifth Grade Data File and Electronic Codebook, Public Version (NCES 2019-051). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019051.pdf
Enrichment Activities: Child Lessons, Sports, Etc. Activity Participation	Age 8	Additive index of survey items (see Appendix Table 10 in Statistical Analysis Plan document for items). Minimum score: 0 Maximum score: 4. Higher score indicates better outcome. We expect a positive effect on high-cash group. Reference: Tourangeau, K., Nord, C., Lê, T., Wallner-Allen, K., Vaden-Kiernan, N., Blaker, L. and Najarian, M. (2019). Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011) User's Manual for the ECLS-K:2011 Kindergarten-Fifth Grade Data File and Electronic Codebook, Public Version (NCES 2019-051). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019051.pdf

Trial Locations

Locations (1): 12 hospitals in the following four metropolitan areas: New York, Omaha, New Orleans, and Twin Cities
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New York, New York, United States