Effects of a Large-Scale Unconditional Cash Transfer Program on Mental Health Outcomes of Young People in Kenya
Open accessAbstract
Purpose This study investigates the causal effect of Kenya's unconditional cash transfer program on mental health outcomes of young people. Methods Selected locations in Kenya were randomly assigned to receive unconditional cash transfers in the first phase of Kenya's Cash Transfer Program for orphans and Vulnerable Children. In intervention locations, low-income households and those with orphans and vulnerable childrens began receiving monthly cash transfers of $20 in 2007. In 2011, 4 years after program onset, data were collected on the psychosocial status for youth aged 15-24 years from households in intervention and control locations (N = 1960). The primary outcome variable was an indicator of depressive symptoms using the 10-question Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Secondary outcomes include an indicator for hopefulness and physical health measures. Logistic regression models that adjusted for individual and household characteristics were used to determine the effect of the cash transfer program. Results The cash transfer reduced the odds of depressive symptoms by 24 percent among young persons living in households that received cash transfers. Further analysis by gender and age revealed that the effects were only significant for young men and were larger among men aged 20-24 years and orphans. Conclusions This study provides evidence that poverty-targeted unconditional cash transfer programs, can improve the mental health of young people in low-income countries.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
A trial of a similar programme in Kenya reported statistically significantly lower rates of depression in young men compared with young women.
“A trial of a similar programme in Kenya reported statistically significantly lower rates of depression in young men compared with young women. 439”
From The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on youth mental health (2024) · cites this paper as [439]
The Results (Sample characteristics) report depressive symptoms in 33% of participants, with no difference between young men and young women. The statistically significant finding was instead a lower prevalence among young men in the intervention group than among young men in the control group; it was not a significant comparison of men with women. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Screening for Depression in Well Older Adults: Evaluation of a Short Form of the CES-D
Andresen, E. M., Malmgren, J. A., Carter, W. B., & Patrick, D. L. (1994) · American Journal of Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/s0749-3797(18)30622-6 · Cited by 5,403 · see citing works
Mental health of young people: A global public-health challenge
Patel, V., Flisher, A. J., Hetrick, S., & McGorry, P. (2007) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(07)60368-7 · Cited by 3,126 · see citing works
Child and adolescent mental health worldwide: evidence for action
Kieling, C., Baker-Henningham, H., Belfer, M., Conti, G., Ertem, I., Omigbodun, O., Rohde, L. A., Srinath, S., Ulkuer, N., & Rahman, A. (2011) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(11)60827-1 · Cited by 2,449 · see citing works
Gender differences in depression: Critical review
Piccinelli, M., & Wilkinson, G. (2000) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.177.6.486 · Cited by 2,376 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Other studies have shown that women are more likely to be depressed and that this divide is more pronounced during adolescence [35,36].”
Cross-national epidemiology of major depression and bipolar disorder
Weissman, M. M. (1996) · JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association · doi:10.1001/jama.1996.03540040037030 · Cited by 2,302 · see citing works
Gender differences in depression
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2001) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00142 · Cited by 1,474 · see citing works
Poverty and common mental disorders in low and middle income countries: A systematic review
Lund, C., Breen, A., Flisher, A. J., Kakuma, R., Corrigall, J., Joska, J. A., Swartz, L., & Patel, V. (2010) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.04.027 · Cited by 1,375 · see citing works
Poverty and mental disorders: breaking the cycle in low-income and middle-income countries
Lund, C., De Silva, M., Plagerson, S., Cooper, S., Chisholm, D., Das, J., Knapp, M., & Patel, V. (2011) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(11)60754-x · Cited by 929 · cited 1× · see citing works
“A recent review of the evidence on interventions that address both these causal pathways concluded that the mental health effects of poverty alleviation programs was inconclusive, while the effects of mental health programs on poverty alleviation were mostly associated with improved economic outcomes [12].”
Background
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 22
- [1]Prince M Patel M Saxena S No health without mental health The Lancet 2007 370 9590 859 877 17804063
- [6]Flisher AJ Lund C Funk M Mental health policy development and implementation in four African countries Journal of Health Psychology 2007 12 3 505 516 17440000
- [7]Patel V Kleinman A Poverty and common mental disorders in developing countries Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2003 81 8 609 615 14576893 PMC2572527
- [8]Saraceno B Barbui C Poverty and mental illness. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry Revue Canadienne de Psychiatrie 1997 42 3 285 290 9114944
- [9]Handa S Halpern CT Pettifor A Thirumurthy H The Government of Kenya's Cash Transfer Program reduces the risk of sexual debut among young people age 15-25 PLoS ONE 2014 9 1 e85473 10.1371/journal.pone.0085473 24454875 PMC3893206 · DOI
- [10]Pettifor A MacPhail C Nguyen N Rosenberg M Can money prevent the spread of HIV? A review of cash payments for HIV prevention AIDS and Behavior 2012 16 7 1729 1738 22760738 PMC3608680
- [11]Baird S Garfein R McIntosh C Ozler B Effect of a cash transfer programme for schooling on prevalence of HIV and herpes simplex type 2 in Malawi: a cluster randomised trial Lancet 2012 379 9823 1320 1329 22341825
- [13]Cluver L Gardner F Risk and protective factors for psychological well-being of children orphaned by AIDS in Cape Town: A qualitative study of children and caregivers' perspectives AIDS Care 2007 19 3 318 325 17453564
- [14]Cluver L Gardner F Operario D Psychological distress amongst aids-orphaned children in urban South Africa Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines 2007 48 8 755 763 17683447
- [16]Ssewamala F Han C Neilands T Asset ownership and health and mental health functioning among AIDS-orphaned adolescents: Findings from a randomized clinical trial in rural Uganda Social Science & Medicine 2009 69 2 191 198 19520472 PMC2819297
- [19]Snyder C Hoza B Pelham W The development and validation of the Children's Hope Scale Journal of Pediatric Psychology 1997 22 3 399 421 9212556
- [20]Asante K Andoh-Arthur J Prevalence and determinants of depressive symptoms among university students in Ghana Journal of affective disorders 2015 171 161 166 25305431
- [21]Othieno C Okoth R Peltzer Risky HIV sexual behaviour and depression among University of Nairobi students Annals of general psychiatry 2015 14 1 16 25873984 PMC4396741
- [22]Tomita A Burns J Depression, disability and functional status among community-dwelling older adults in South Africa: evidence from the first South African National Income Dynamics Study International journal of geriatric psychiatry 2013 28 12 1270 1279 23512338 PMC3751982
- [25]Guse T Vermaak Y Hope, psychosocial well-being and socioeconomic status among a group of South African adolescents Journal of Psychology in Africa 2011 21 4 527 533
- [26]Sacks D Age limits and adolescents Pediatrics & Child Health 2003 8 9 577 578 20019831 PMC2794325
- [27]Kenya CT-OVC Evaluation Team The impact of the Kenya CT-OVC Program on human capital Journal of Development Effectiveness 2012 4 38 49
- [28]Oreopoulos P 2007 Do dropouts drop out too soon? Wealth, health and happiness from compulsory schooling Journal of public Economics 2007 91 11 2213 2229
- [29]Baird S De Hoop J Özler B Income shocks and adolescent mental health Journal of Human Resources 2013 48 2 370 403
- [31]Macours K Norbert S Renos V Cash transfers, behavioral changes, and cognitive development in early childhood: Evidence from a randomized experiment American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2012 4 2 247 273
- [32]Ozer E Fernald L Weber A Does alleviating poverty affect mothers' depressive symptoms? A quasi-experimental investigation of Mexico's Oportunidades programme International Journal of Epidemiology 2011 40 1565 1576 21737404 PMC3235019
- [35]Nolen-Hoeksema S Girgus J The emergence of gender differences in depression during adolescence Psychological bulletin 1994 115 3 424 443 8016286
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Lancet Commission on global mental health and sustainable development
Patel, V., Saxena, S., Lund, C., Thornicroft, G., Baingana, F., Bolton, P., Chisholm, D., Collins, P. Y., Cooper, J. L., Eaton, J., et al. (2018) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(18)31612-x · Cited by 3,692 · see citing works
Poverty, depression, and anxiety: Causal evidence and mechanisms
Ridley, M., Rao, G., Schilbach, F., & Patel, V. (2020) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aay0214 · Cited by 1,220 · see citing works
The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on youth mental health
McGorry, P. D., Mei, C., Dalal, N., Alvarez-Jimenez, M., Blakemore, S.-J., Browne, V., Dooley, B., Hickie, I. B., Jones, P. B., McDaid, D., et al. (2024) · The Lancet Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(24)00163-9 · Cited by 663 · see citing works
Community Interventions to Promote Mental Health and Social Equity
Castillo, E. G., Ijadi-Maghsoodi, R., Shadravan, S., Moore, E., Mensah, M. O., Docherty, M., Aguilera Nunez, M. G., Barcelo, N., Goodsmith, N., Halpin, L. E., et al. (2019) · Current Psychiatry Reports · doi:10.1007/s11920-019-1017-0 · Cited by 387 · see citing works
Banati, P., Jones, N., & Youssef, S. (2020) · The European Journal of Development Research · doi:10.1057/s41287-020-00325-5 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Government of Malawi's unconditional cash transfer improves youth mental health
Angeles, G., de Hoop, J., Handa, S., Kilburn, K., Milazzo, A., & Peterman, A. (2019) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.01.037 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Kilburn, K., Thirumurthy, H., Halpern, C. T., Pettifor, A., & Handa, S.
- Affiliations
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- United Nations Children's Fund (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kilburn, Kelly
- Venue
- Journal of Adolescent Health
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-02
- Volume
- 58
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 223-229
- ISSN
- 1054-139X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4724529
- OpenAlex
- W2220683370
- Cited by
- 164
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 31.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Adolescent Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Government of the Republic of Kenya
- National Institutes of Health (5r01mh093241-03)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH093241)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD050924)
- Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Child Nutrition and Water Access
- Keywords
- unconditional cash transfers, mental health, depressive symptoms, youth mental health, orphans and vulnerable children, poverty targeting, low-income households, hope, adolescent depression, gender differences, Kenya
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Child, Child Welfare, Depression, Family Characteristics, Female, Humans, Kenya, Male, Mental Health, Poverty, Public Assistance, Random Allocation, Sex Factors, Vulnerable Populations, Child, Orphaned, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
