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Author: Bell, Lorraine R.
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Bell, Lorraine R. |
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Schooling Trajectories: Patterns of Women's Education and Training in Early Mid-Life Ph.D. Dissertation, Duke University, 1998. DAI-A 59/11, p. 4028, May 1999 Cohort(s): Young Men Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning Keyword(s): Current Population Survey (CPS) / CPS-Fertility Supplement; Education, Adult; Labor Force Participation; Occupational Status; Technology/Technological Changes; Training, Occupational; Training, Post-School; Unemployment Rate, Regional The traditional conceptualization of the transition to adulthood suggests that schooling ends when full time labor force participation begins. However, recent data suggest that there is a large population of adult students enrolled in both formal educational and occupational training. Despite this, little research exists which examines why workers return to school. This study examines the factors which influence whether working women enroll in adult schooling during early mid-life (ages 30–50). Of particular interest is understanding whether adult schooling is used to compensate for negative occupational characteristics or to maintain relative occupational status. Further, this study examines how changing technology in the 1980's influenced the likelihood of re-training. The data for this study come primarily from the Young Women's cohort of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience, 1968–1991, with additional information derived from the Current Population Surveys and the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. The general findings of the logistic regressions suggest that adult schooling is a much more common educational trajectory than expected and that both formal education and occupational attainment seem to be status maintenance mechanisms. However, results of these analyses also suggest that adult schooling is neither delayed post-secondary education or an individually sponsored form of on-the-job training. Initial educational attainment and aspirations are the most powerful factors that influence whether adults participate in adult schooling and the type of schooling that is pursued. Women with some post-secondary education have particularly distinctive patterns of adult schooling, especially in the face of technological change. While adult formal education and adult occupational training result from different processes, there is little evidence that the status distinction between education and training found at the secondary level exists for adult schooling. Adult formal education is the product of occupational aspirations and relative position in an occupational hierarchy. Occupational training, on the other hand, seems to be a characteristic of individual occupations. Further, only occupational training is influenced by changes associated with increases in technology. Despite these differences in processes, higher status workers are more likely to return to both types of schooling. |
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Bibliography Citation
Bell, Lorraine R. Schooling Trajectories: Patterns of Women's Education and Training in Early Mid-Life. Ph.D. Dissertation, Duke University, 1998. DAI-A 59/11, p. 4028, May 1999. |