Study finds loss of child support grant damages mental health

A study by academics linked to Stellenbosch University and Erasmus University in Rotterdam has found evidence of a decline in the mental health of adolescents ageing out of South Africa’s child support grant (CSG).

The grant, meant to eradicate widespread child poverty, has been in place since 1998, evolving to become the state’s largest cash transfer.

Academics Tsepang Khumalo, Ronelle Burger, and Marisa von Fintel looked into the loss of this support, zooming in on nearly 8,000 adolescents tracked as they age out of the CSG.

To arrive at their outcomes, the researchers used the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), a screening instrument for depressive symptoms that ranges from 0 to 30.

The results of the study, titled “The mental health impact for adolescents ageing out of South Africa’s child support grant,“ found evidence that the cessation of the CSG increases depressive symptoms in adolescents.

“South Africa is a compelling country case study for this research question due to its stark poverty and inequality and, in particular, its high levels of youth unemployment and cash transfer dependence,” the study reads.

“We find that adolescents who had aged out of the CSG programme had, on average, 1.73 points higher CES-D score than adolescents who have not aged out of the CSG programme based on the regression discontinuity design analysis.

“In a period where many countries are rolling back social security and cash transfers due to fiscal concerns, it is particularly relevant to examine whether sharp and abrupt exits may erode much of the realised gains.”

The government spends about R100bn annually on the CSG, which has a cut-off age of 18 years.

With about 3.3 million people aged 15 to 24 not in employment, education, or training, the academics said it was critical to grasp the effects of ending cash transfers at this stage of adolescence, when negative events could have a large and enduring socioeconomic impact.

“Our findings show evidence suggesting that there are unintended consequences of withdrawing financial support from vulnerable populations, especially during adolescence, where adversity and disruption may have more enduring consequences for human capital formation,” the paper says.

“Adolescent mental health problems have been shown to be associated with long-term negative adult functioning. Investing in adolescents is crucial to protect the returns on investments made in early childhood and to safeguard the health and wellbeing of future adult populations.”

The paper said more research is needed to supplement a limited evidence base and that, more broadly, the findings suggest that social development requires an integrated, intersectoral life-course perspective.

The research comes as finance minister Enoch Godongwana imposes stricter compliance conditions on the South African Social Security Agency’s (Sassa) operating budget, requiring the agency to implement strict verification and surveillance protocols.

Due to an increasingly restrictive approach to social spending, the department of social development underspent on grants by R4.8bn over the last year, according to the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ).

Godongwana told parliament earlier in 2026 that interventions aimed at cutting losses from fiscus waste through improved verification systems allowed Sassa to save millions from grant cancellations.

“The conditions placed on Sassa have yielded the following by December: 6-million bank accounts and 8-million credit bureau clients [have been] checked, 291,581 grant beneficiaries [have been] flagged for review, 8,599 disability and old-age grant recipients [have been] adjusted, saving R3.64m, and 34,661 grants cancelled, saving R170.7m.”

Kelle Howson, senior researcher at the Institute for Economic Justice, said while the institute does not conduct primary research directly on the topic, there are strong indications that adequate, accessible social grants improve the mental health of recipients and their families.

“This makes sense, because poverty and insecurity are linked to poor mental health, and when people have a reliable safety net and don’t need to worry about where their children’s next meal will come from, their wellbeing significantly improves.

“Past research in South Africa has found that the CSG improves adult mental health, and that it is also protective against depression being passed on to the next generation. In Kenya, a large-scale experiment has also had documented positive impacts on mental wellbeing.”

She said the institute conducted research in 2024 on exclusion from the social relief of distress (SRD) grant, where interview participants reported that when they lost access to the SRD, they experienced feelings of stress, hopelessness and thoughts of suicide.

“These problems are primarily borne by individuals and families, but there is also a collective, social cost to restrictive social grants, when it comes to mental health impacts. Poor mental health in communities increases the burden on social services, health care systems and even carceral systems.”

There are “very few indications”, she said, that the government takes the issue of mental health into account when designing social assistance policy.

“We have argued that to a large extent, the government has failed to base its decisions on social grants on empirical evidence or sound macroeconomic logic.

“The National Treasury has dominated social development policy in recent years, and the minister of finance has used his power of veto to constrain and limit social grant values and coverage.”

At a time when unemployment, poverty and hunger are increasing, the pressure to reduce social security spending is “unconscionable and cannot be said to be based on any sound evidence” on mental health, or supporting economic growth, she said.

The Treasury referred Business Times’ queries to the department of social development, saying its role is to assess the fiscal impact of such provisions. Social development had not responded by the time of going to print.