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Author: Richter, Dirk
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Hasl, Andrea
Kretschmann, Julia
Richter, Dirk
Voelkle, Manuel
Brunner, Martin
Investigating Core Assumptions of the "American Dream": Historical Changes in How Adolescents' Socioeconomic Status, IQ, and GPA Are Related to Key Life Outcomes in Adulthood
Psychology and Aging 34,8 (December 2019): 1055-1076.
Also: https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2019-73776-003.html
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Keyword(s): Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Body Mass Index (BMI); Depression (see also CESD); Educational Outcomes; Grade Point Average (GPA)/Grades; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; I.Q.; Income; Occupational Prestige; Parental Influences; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

The present study examines how historical changes in the U.S. socioeconomic environment in the 20th century may have affected core assumptions of the "American Dream." Specifically, the authors examined whether such changes modulated the extent to which adolescents' intelligence (IQ), their grade point average (GPA), and their parents' socioeconomic status (SES) could predict key life outcomes in adulthood about 20 years later. The data stemmed from two representative U.S. birth cohorts of 15- and 16-year-olds who were born in the early 1960s (N = 3,040) and 1980s (N = 3,524) and who participated in the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth (NLSY). Cohort differences were analyzed with respect to differences in average relations by means of multiple and logistic regression and for specific points in each outcome distribution by means of quantile regressions. In both cohorts, IQ, GPA, and parental SES predicted important educational, occupational, and health-related life-outcomes about 20 years later. Across historical time, the predictive utility of adolescent IQ and parental SES remained stable for the most part. Yet, the combined effects of social-ecological and socioeconomic changes may have increased the predictive utility (that is, the regression weights) of adolescent GPA for educational, occupational, and health outcomes over time for individuals who were born in the 1980s. Theoretical implications concerning adult development, aging, and late life inequality are discussed.
Bibliography Citation
Hasl, Andrea, Julia Kretschmann, Dirk Richter, Manuel Voelkle and Martin Brunner. "Investigating Core Assumptions of the "American Dream": Historical Changes in How Adolescents' Socioeconomic Status, IQ, and GPA Are Related to Key Life Outcomes in Adulthood." Psychology and Aging 34,8 (December 2019): 1055-1076.
2. Hasl, Andrea
Voelkle, Manuel
Kretschmann, Julia
Richter, Dirk
Brunner, Martin
A Dynamic Structural Equation Approach to Modeling Wage Dynamics and Cumulative Advantage across the Lifespan
Multivariate Behavioral Research published online (7 February 2022): DOI: 10.1080/00273171.2022.2029339.
Also: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00273171.2022.2029339
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Intelligence; Modeling, Structural Equation; Research Methodology; Wage Dynamics; Wage Growth

Wages and wage dynamics directly affect individuals' and families' daily lives. In this article, we show how major theoretical branches of research on wages and inequality--that is, cumulative advantage (CA), human capital theory, and the lifespan perspective--can be integrated into a coherent statistical framework and analyzed with multilevel dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM). This opens up a new way to empirically investigate the mechanisms that drive growing inequality over time. We demonstrate the new approach by making use of longitudinal, representative U.S. data (NLSY-79). Analyses revealed fundamental between-person differences in both initial wages and autoregressive wage growth rates across the lifespan. Only 0.5% of the sample experienced a "strict" CA and unbounded wage growth, whereas most individuals revealed logarithmic wage growth over time. Adolescent intelligence and adult educational levels explained substantial heterogeneity in both parameters. We discuss how DSEM may help researchers study CA processes and related developmental dynamics, and we highlight the extensions and limitations of the DSEM framework.
Bibliography Citation
Hasl, Andrea, Manuel Voelkle, Julia Kretschmann, Dirk Richter and Martin Brunner. "A Dynamic Structural Equation Approach to Modeling Wage Dynamics and Cumulative Advantage across the Lifespan." Multivariate Behavioral Research published online (7 February 2022): DOI: 10.1080/00273171.2022.2029339.