Peer-reviewed article
Impacts of Social Assistance on Child Well-Being in Vietnam: The Mediating Role of Household Welfare
Hoang Thi Hue, Phuong Thi Xuan Ngo, Yen Thi Bao Le, Lan Huong Nguyen, Chi Tran et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This study looks at how social assistance, household welfare and child well-being are related in Vietnam. It covers both objective and subjective aspects of child well-being. It uses Structural Equation Modeling on secondary data from the 2020-2021 Vietnam Sustainable Development Goal Indicators for Children and Women survey, run by the General Statistics Office and UNICEF. The authors report that household welfare acts as a link: higher social assistance raises household welfare, which in turn improves child well-being. They suggest ways to manage and improve social assistance programmes.
Key points
- Child well-being is analysed on both objective and subjective aspects, rather than on a single dimension.
- Data come from the 2020-2021 Vietnam SDG Indicators for Children and Women survey (GSO and UNICEF).
- Household welfare mediates the link between social assistance and child well-being.
- Higher social assistance is associated with higher household welfare, which improves child well-being.
- The study makes recommendations for managing and improving social assistance programmes.
Limitations
The abstract gives no effect sizes, sample details or specific programme names, so the strength of the findings and the types of social assistance covered are unclear. It describes a survey-based statistical model, not a before-and-after or comparison-group evaluation of a defined intervention, so it cannot show that social assistance causes better child outcomes.
Abstract
As individuals’ living standards increase, the needs for the well-being of individuals are becoming more complicated, especially among children. Even though multidimensional methods for researching child well-being in Vietnam have made some progress, analyses of single dimensions of child well-being remain common. The research analyzes the relationship between social assistance, household welfare and child well-being on both objective and subjective aspects by applying Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) through the secondary data collected from the Vietnam Sustainable Development Goal Indicators for Children and Women survey in the period 2020-2021 by the General Statistics Office (GSO) and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) of Vietnam. The research results emphasize the mediating role of household welfare as high social assistance increases household welfare, thereby improving child well-being in Vietnam. Based on the research results, the research proposes several recommendations for the management and improvement of social assistance programs, thereby improving child well-being in Vietnam.