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Article History

Received: 5 February 2026

Accepted: 28 July 2026

First Online: 13 August 2026

Declarations

Ethical Statement: Compliance With Ethical Requirements: The author confirms that this research was conducted in accordance with all relevant ethical guidelines for social science research. As the study utilizes the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), which is a publicly available, de-identified secondary dataset, it does not involve direct intervention with human subjects.

Conflict Of Interest: The author declares that he has no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Ethical Approval: This study was conducted using secondary data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. As the data is de-identified and publicly accessible, this research was deemed exempt from Institutional Review Board (IRB) review by the University of Delaware.

Informed Consent: Informed consent was obtained by the U.S. Census Bureau from all individual participants included in the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) at the time of original data collection. No further consent was required for this secondary analysis of de-identified data.