“I Used to Get WIC . . . But Then I Stopped”: How WIC Participants Perceive the Value and Burdens of Maintaining Benefits

Abstract

This study examines how individuals assess administrative burdens and how these views change over time within the context of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides food to pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under age five. Using interview data from the Baby’s First Years: Mothers’ Voices study (n = 80), we demonstrate how the circumstances of family life, shifting food needs and preferences, and the receipt of other resources shape how mothers perceive the costs and benefits of program participation. We find that mothers’ perceptions of WIC’s costs and benefits vary over time and contribute to program participation trajectories, so many eligible people do not participate; need alone does not drive participation decisions.

Keywords

• nutrition assistance
• administrative burden
• social policy
• poverty
• inequality