Search Results

Source: American Sociological Association
Resulting in 99 citations.
1. Albers, Alison Burke
Poverty, Social Mediators, and Early Adolescents' Mental Health
Presented: Anaheim, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2001
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Adolescent Behavior; Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Bias Decomposition; Child Self-Administered Supplement (CSAS); Children; Family Characteristics; Family Income; Gender; Health, Mental/Psychological; Household Composition; Neighborhood Effects; Parenting Skills/Styles; Peers/Peer influence/Peer relations; Poverty

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The literature on income's effects on children and adolescents far outpaces current knowledge about the potential ways in which income and its correlates actually operate. Drawing on twelve years of data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY) data set, this paper examines how longitudinal patterns of poverty experiences predict children's mental health during early adolescence with a focus on social mediators -- namely family and peers. The analyses draw on two assessments of mental health across the transition from late childhood (10 and 11 years old) to early adolescence (12 and 13 old). The long-term income and poverty measures generally were not associated with externalizing and internalizing symptoms for both boys and girls within the context of the change model. Yet, current economic stress significantly predicted externalizing symptoms for girls. For boys, family disruption, maternal negativity and peer pressure contributed to externalizing symptoms throughout all the models. For girls, neighborhood disorder and parenting practices contributed to levels of internalizing symptoms. These findings underscore the value of identifying the features that produce mental health outcomes among early adolescents, and the processes through which the effects occur.
Bibliography Citation
Albers, Alison Burke. "Poverty, Social Mediators, and Early Adolescents' Mental Health." Presented: Anaheim, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2001.
2. Angle, John
Dynamics of the Inequality Process
Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1999
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Income; Modeling; Social Influences; Wealth

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The inequality process (IP) is a model of competition for wealth, derived from the surplus theory of social stratification. The IP models the stock concept of wealth to explain the flow concept of wealth, income. Here, derived are the IP dynamics of individual wealth conditioned on the IP parameter for education: (1) gains independent of the size of wealth; (2) losses proportional to the size of wealth; (3) a smaller proportion lost when a loss is incurred, the greater the IP analogue of education; & (4) mean gain equal to the size of loss only at the mean of wealth of those with the same parameter for level education. Year-to-year differences of individual wage & salary incomes in the 1990s in the 1979 panel of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth show (A) year-to-year increases independent of the size of wage & salary income; (B) mean year-to-year decreases directly proportional to the size of wage & salary income; (C) for those with year-to-year decreases, a mean proportional decrease smaller for the more educated; & (D) mean year-to-year increase approximately equals mean loss at the mean wage & salary income of those with the same education. The IP hypotheses are confirmed empirically.
Bibliography Citation
Angle, John. "Dynamics of the Inequality Process." Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1999.
3. Avellar, Sarah A.
Family Wage? A Cross-Cohort Comparison of the Motherhood Wage Penalty
Presented: Anaheim, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, 2001.
Cohort(s): NLSY79, Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Fertility; Maternal Employment; Mothers, Income; Wage Penalty/Career Penalty; Wages; Wages, Women

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Bibliography Citation
Avellar, Sarah A. "Family Wage? A Cross-Cohort Comparison of the Motherhood Wage Penalty." Presented: Anaheim, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, 2001.
4. Bahr, Stephen J.
Effects of Income and Age at Marriage on Marital Stability
Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1977
Cohort(s): Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Assets; Earnings; Ethnic Groups/Ethnicity; Family Resources; Marital Dissolution; Marital Stability; Marriage

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This research examines the effects of ethnic status, age at marriage, and family assets on marital stability. All three variables were found to significantly affect the chances of instability. The work of Bumpass and Sweet (1972) and Cutright (1971) was supported by the data showing that the effects of age at marriage on marital separation do not primarily reflect economic effects of early marriage. Likewise, it was suggested that the high rate of instability among blacks cannot be explained by their poorer economic status and rate of early marriage.
Bibliography Citation
Bahr, Stephen J. "Effects of Income and Age at Marriage on Marital Stability." Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1977.
5. Bean, Frank D.
Berg, Ruth R.
Van Hook, Jennifer V. W.
Socioeconomic and Cultural Incorporation and Family Behavior Among Mexican Americans
Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1995
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Current Population Survey (CPS) / CPS-Fertility Supplement; Education; Family Environment; Family Structure; Family Studies; Hispanics; Marital Disruption; Sex Roles; Social Roles; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Develops and tests hypotheses about how processes of socioeconomic and cultural incorporation might work individually and in combination to explain marital disruption patterns among Mexican-origin women in the US in relation both to those of non-Hispanic whites and blacks and to those of Mexican women. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and Current Population Survey data permitting three-generational breakdowns of the Mexican-origin population are used to examine how the effect on marital disruption of education, an important indicator of socioeconomic incorporation, varies by generational status, an important indicator of cultural incorporation. The results indicate an educational/marital disruption relationship among native-born Mexican Americans that is both negative and similar in level to that of non-Hispanic whites, but an education/disruption relationship among Mexican immigrants that is positive but lower in level. It is argued that these results do not support the idea that cultural factors explain Mexican-origin marital disruption patterns, but rather the ideas that: (1) the limited socioeconomic opportunities available to lower-socioeconomic-status women increase the risk of disruption among both Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites; and (2) the family adaptation strategies of lower-socioeconomic-status Mexican-origin newcomers to the US, because they involve reliance on and support for strong conjugal relationships, foster low rates of divorce and separation. (Copyright 1995, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Bean, Frank D., Ruth R. Berg and Jennifer V. W. Van Hook. "Socioeconomic and Cultural Incorporation and Family Behavior Among Mexican Americans." Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1995.
6. Beattie, Irenee Rose
Learning "Self-Sufficiency": How High Schools Help Women Avoid Welfare
Presented: Anaheim, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2001
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Education; High School; Modeling; Poverty; Schooling; Welfare; Women; Women's Education

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This research fills gaps in education and welfare research by analyzing the longitudinal effect of high school experiences on women's risk of welfare receipt and on the proximate causes of receipt - teen childbearing, dropping out of high school, limited work experience, single motherhood, and adult poverty. I draw from theoretical arguments about the role of schooling in society and empirical work demonstrating the importance of within- and between-school variation in shaping student outcomes. I use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data (1979-1998) and event history, logistic and OLS regression to determine how high school helps women avoid welfare. Analyzing the effects of curricular tracking, school context, and school resources on first welfare receipt and its proximate causes, I find that curricular tracking and school context indirectly affect welfare receipt through their effects on each of the proximate causes of receipt. Further, I find that women's risks of first welfare receipt is directly diminished by enrollment in college track coursework and by attending high schools with lower concentrations of poor students, net of extensive, time-varying controls for family background, adult poverty, work experience, fertility and other factors.
Bibliography Citation
Beattie, Irenee Rose. "Learning "Self-Sufficiency": How High Schools Help Women Avoid Welfare." Presented: Anaheim, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2001.
7. Beck, Scott Herman
Cole, Bettie S.
Hammond, Judith A.
Religious Heritage and Premarital Sex: Evidence from a National Sample of Young Adults
Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1990
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Gender Differences; Marital Status; Parental Influences; Racial Differences; Religious Influences; Sexual Activity; Sexual Behavior

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

A typology of religious organizations is developed to assess the impact of religious heritage (parents' religious affiliation), as well as the affiliations of young respondents, on premarital sexual intercourse, using interview data from 1979 & 1983 national longitudinal surveys on four subsamples: white females & males, & black females & males. Logistic regression was used to model the effects of religious affiliation contrasts along with control variables on two dichotomous dependent variables, premarital sex & teenage sex. For both white females & males, a heritage of institutionalized sect membership (Pentecostals, Mormons, & Jehovah's Witnesses, primarily) produced the lowest likelihoods of premarital sex (adult or teenage). In certain models for the female & male white sample, Fundamentalists & Baptists also displayed lower probabilities of premarital sex compared to the contrast group of mainline Protestants. Affiliation differences in premarital sex behavior were muted in the black samples, & among black males there were no significant differences. In special subsamples of white female & male "teen virgins," the institutionalized sect group exhibited the lowest probabilities of premarital sex, even when controlling for church attendance. It thus appears that religious heritage is a relevant factor not only in the formation of attitudes regarding sexuality but also in regard to sexual behavior. (Copyright 1990, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Beck, Scott Herman, Bettie S. Cole and Judith A. Hammond. "Religious Heritage and Premarital Sex: Evidence from a National Sample of Young Adults." Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1990.
8. Bennett, Neil G.
Bloom, David E.
The Influence of Nonmarital Childbearing on the Formation of Marital Unions
Presented: Cincinnati, OH, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1991
Cohort(s): NLSY79, Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Behavior; Childbearing; Fertility; Marriage; Modeling, Hazard/Event History/Survival/Duration; National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The central objective of this paper is to explore the interrelationships between outof-wedlock childbearing and subsequent marriage behavior. In Section II we document a negative association between these events in three large survey data sets. We also fit some simple hazard models, which account for the varying degrees of exposure to marriage formation experienced by individuals, that show that this negative association persists (although somewhat less strongly) when one contrasts women who are comparable in terrns of a standard set of social and demographic background variables. In Section III we attempt to disentangle some of the alternative explanations for the negative association between out-of-wedlock childbearing and subsequent marriage. We do this by examining the effect of children (both those maritally and nonmaritally borne) on a woman's remarriage prospects and by analyzing some time use data for unwed mothers and other women. We also explore the presence of reverse causality in the relationship between unwed motherhood and marriage by examining whether women who think they are less likely to marry (for whatever reason) have higher rates of unwed motherhood. Our results are summarized and discussed in Section IV. The data sets were extracted from Cycle IV of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), and the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women (NLSYW).
Bibliography Citation
Bennett, Neil G. and David E. Bloom. "The Influence of Nonmarital Childbearing on the Formation of Marital Unions." Presented: Cincinnati, OH, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1991.
9. Borker, Susan
Makarushka, Julia Loughlin
Mudrick, Nancy R.
Socioeconomic Changes Associated with Social Role Displacements in the Middle Years
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1978
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Divorce; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Socioeconomic Status (SES); Transfers, Public; Welfare; Widows; Work History

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This research concerned the determination of income choices by women who have experienced a role displacement. Our findings corroborate other work which indicates that the divorced and separated generally receive more income from wages, and that widows use public transfer income when their children are young, but return to work as their children get older. We also found that health is a factor in choice of work or public transfer dependency. In addition to the limits that health places on the ability to work, mature women with equally poor health but unequal labor force histories and educations may utilize the limits imposed by health differently as they choose between public transfers and employment as sources of income.
Bibliography Citation
Borker, Susan, Julia Loughlin Makarushka and Nancy R. Mudrick. "Socioeconomic Changes Associated with Social Role Displacements in the Middle Years." Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1978.
10. Borker, Susan
Makarushka, Julia Loughlin
Mudrick, Nancy R.
Rudolph, Claire
Earnings Patterns and Marital Disruption: The Experience of Mature Women
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1978
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavioral Differences; Earnings; Household Demand; Household Income; Marital Disruption; Remarriage; Wives

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The variables which predict the hourly wages of employed women are explored in order to illuminate the relationship between women's marital status and their incomes. We emphasize two findings: first, the predictability of income per hour is greater for formerly married women than currently married women. Second, remarried women behave differently than first married women. Further, these differences in behavior, i.e., maximization of earnings, appear characteristic of first married women who will later be divorced or separated. Differences in income are related to women's job choices, choices in which the need or desire for income is balanced by the convenience, appropriateness or interest of available jobs. Three factors are explored which may affect these choices for women who are or have been married: first, the amount of other household income; second, the other demands on the woman's time, energy and status behavior; third, the experience (including the anticipation of the experience) of being formerly married.
Bibliography Citation
Borker, Susan, Julia Loughlin Makarushka, Nancy R. Mudrick and Claire Rudolph. "Earnings Patterns and Marital Disruption: The Experience of Mature Women." Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1978.
11. Brown, Clair
How 'Economic' are Women's Work Decisions?
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1982
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Employment; Housework/Housewives; Wages; Wages, Reservation; Wages, Women; Work Reentry

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Work decisions for women (aged 37-51 in l974) are simulated assuming that women maximize the economic return to work within an institutional framework. In addition to the wage test, which measures the potential market wage against the value of housework time, a minimum income test is used. Within this framework, only one-third of the women's work decisions were consistent with the efficiency test based on wages. Over half of the decisions were market-oriented (i.e., women were working more than predicted) and one-tenth were home-oriented. With the income test added, three out of seven women's work decisions were economically rational and one-third were market-oriented.
Bibliography Citation
Brown, Clair. "How 'Economic' are Women's Work Decisions?" Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1982.
12. Caputo, Richard K.
Economic Mobility in a Youth Cohort, 1979-1993
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1998
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Marital Status; Mobility, Economic; Mobility, Social; Social Environment; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Draws on National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data to examine correlates of economic mobility among a youth cohort (N = 2,745) stratified by ethnicity/race & sex, 1979-1993. Findings show that (1) 14.2% of the families of youth reported no change in economic level; (2) low-income white males & females had greater upward mobility than other sex & ethnicity/race groups; (3) black females had the least upward mobility & the most downward mobility relative to other groups; (4) only highest grade completed accounted for variance in lifetime economic mobility across all sex & ethnicity/race groups; & (5) other correlates of economic mobility - eg, marital status, years of full-time work, & use of public assistance programs - varied by sex & ethnicity/race groups. Implications for poverty-related policy are discussed.
Bibliography Citation
Caputo, Richard K. "Economic Mobility in a Youth Cohort, 1979-1993." Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1998.
13. Carlson, Lisa
Guzzo, Karen Benjamin
Wu, Hsueh-Sheng
Birth Spacing and Working Mothers’ Within-Organization Career Paths
American Sociological Association published online (4 March 2024).
Also: https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231241230845
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Births, Repeat / Spacing; Employment; Job Patterns; Labor Force Participation; Motherhood; Motherhood Penalty; Wage Penalty/Career Penalty; Work Disruption; Work History; Work Reentry; Working Patterns

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The mechanisms behind mothers’ wage penalties remain unclear. In this article, the authors consider the role of birth spacing and changes in employers after a second birth. Using the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and competing risk event history models, the authors investigate how spacing between first and second births influences the likelihood of returning to a pre–second birth employer, changing employers, or remaining outside of the labor force within six months of the second birth. The authors find no differences in the influence of birth spacing on the likelihood of returning to an employer versus changing employers but that shorter birth spacings relate to lower likelihoods of returning to the labor market. There is some evidence that birth spacing and postbirth employment varies by age at first birth, marital status, and occupation. Overall, the results suggest that although birth spacing is relevant for returning postbirth to employment, job changes are unlikely to drive mothers’ wage penalties.
Bibliography Citation
Carlson, Lisa, Karen Benjamin Guzzo and Hsueh-Sheng Wu. "Birth Spacing and Working Mothers’ Within-Organization Career Paths." American Sociological Association published online (4 March 2024).
14. Cho, Pill Jay
Education and Income of Women: An Analysis of NLS
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1982
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Earnings; Education, Secondary; Educational Attainment; Employment; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Vocational Training

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The effects of education on earnings are not direct but indirect through employment. Level of educational attainment is a proxy for the level of some marketable "skills", which include knowledge and expertise. Education, as a proxy for skills, is used here broadly to include informal (vocational training and other learning experiences) as well as formal school education. Therefore, in testing the modified hypothesis and ascertaining whether the general proposition also holds true for women, both the number of years of school completed and the number of months of vocational training completed were used. Data were obtained from the women subset of the NLS. The effects of number of years of school completed on earnings through employment, controlling for such background variables as labor market conditions, number of children, and health conditions, were found to be significant. The effects of number of months of vocational training completed were barely significant. These findings are consistent with findings from evaluations of numerous short-term training programs, and indicate that emphasis on, and higher investments in, long-range programs under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Higher Education Act are more desirable than training programs such as WIN or CETA.
Bibliography Citation
Cho, Pill Jay. "Education and Income of Women: An Analysis of NLS." Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1982.
15. Cho, Pill Jay
Work and Welfare: A LISREL Analysis of NLS
Presented: Toronto, Canada, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1981
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Employment; LISREL; Marital Disruption; Mothers; Research Methodology; Welfare

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This study concentrates on the labor supply of women whose marital status is similar to that of welfare (AFDC) mothers. The LISREL analysis uses the maximum likelihood method for estimating the unknown coefficients in a set of linear structural equations. It allows for both errors in equations (disturbances) and errors in the observed variables (measurement errors) and yield estimates of the residual covariance matrix and the measurement error co- variance matrix as well as estimates of the unknown coefficients in the structural equations, provided that all parameters are identified. The results of the LISREL analysis show that none of the control variables of labor supply has significant effects on the labor supply of welfare mothers.
Bibliography Citation
Cho, Pill Jay. "Work and Welfare: A LISREL Analysis of NLS." Presented: Toronto, Canada, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1981.
16. Comeau, Jinette
Boyle, Michael
Maternal Emotional Support and Children's Trajectories of Depression and Anxiety: Moderation by Economic Context
Presented: Seattle WA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2016
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Anxiety; Child Health; Depression (see also CESD); Parent-Child Relationship/Closeness; Poverty

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using data from the Child Supplement of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N=7,354), this paper examines the relative impact of stability and change in children's exposure to poverty from age 4 to 14 on trajectories of maternal emotional support, and the extent to which these dynamic experiences of poverty moderate the association between maternal emotional support and children's trajectories of depression and anxiety. Whereas children who are always poor are exposed to the lowest levels of emotional support at age 4 and over time, relief from poverty is associated with an increase in emotional support. Over time, the association between emotional support and children's depression and anxiety is non-linear, with children who are always poor or who move into poverty deriving more benefits than their counterparts who are never poor.
Bibliography Citation
Comeau, Jinette and Michael Boyle. "Maternal Emotional Support and Children's Trajectories of Depression and Anxiety: Moderation by Economic Context." Presented: Seattle WA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2016.
17. Conaway, Carrie L.
Involuntary Unemployment and Occupational Sex Segregation
Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2000
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Benefits, Insurance; Gender; Gender Differences; Labor Market Outcomes; Labor Market Segmentation; Occupational Segregation; Occupations, Female; Unemployment; Unions

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Occupational sex segregation has been associated with a host of negative labor market outcomes for women. But unlike many other measures, the effects of gender differences in unemployment rates tend to favor women. Women tend to be somewhat less likely to be unemployed than men, and their unemployment spells are less cyclical. Furthermore, men are more likely to become involuntarily unemployed, particularly as part of a temporary layoff. This result is in opposition to many predictions from gender discrimination, queuing, and labor market segmentation theories. I theorize that this may occur because temporary unemployment is seen as a positive outcome, providing leisure and (in some cases) unemployment insurance benefits, and/or because men are trading off employment stability in order to avoid working in "female" occupations. I use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine the relationship between gender, occupational segregation, and unemployment. Across a series of event-history analyses, I find robust evidence that being male and working in a male-dominated occupation are statistically significantly associated with a higher likelihood of temporary, though not permanent, involuntary unemployment. Thus the gendered organization of work appears to have a significant effect on the probability of temporary involuntary unemployment.
Bibliography Citation
Conaway, Carrie L. "Involuntary Unemployment and Occupational Sex Segregation." Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2000.
18. Cook, Judith A.
Grey, Dennis
Child Care Arrangements Among Adolescent and Young Adult Parents: Findings from a National Survey
Presented: San Antonio, TX, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1984
Cohort(s): NLSY79, Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Age at First Birth; Child Care; Family Influences; Teenagers

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The purposes of this study are to identify the characteristics related to use of a particular type of caretaker (in this case a relative or nonrelative) in families with preschool children. This involves the use of a model to explain the child care choices of employed mothers of preschoolers in the years 1967 and 1971 by Richard Shortlidge, and applying this model to data from the 1978 NLS of Young Women and the 1982 NLSY. This analysis identifies age, race, sex, family composition, and region of residence as important variables. The model first demonstrates that characteristics of family composition are major influences on the nature of child care arrangements. Some household characteristics, such as the presence of a spouse or an adult, represent a family's child care resources, while others, such as the presence of both an infant and preschooler, signify additional child care responsibilities. A second finding was that the model works better to explain the child care cho ices of females than it does for males, more likely because of the strong emphasis on women's role as child caretaker in American society. Third, differences exist in predicting the child care choices of females by age at first birth. Female teenagers at birth are more constrained in their child care choices by the presence of a parent to care for the child, their region of residence and city size, and the need to arrange child care for both an infant and preschoolers.
Bibliography Citation
Cook, Judith A. and Dennis Grey. "Child Care Arrangements Among Adolescent and Young Adult Parents: Findings from a National Survey." Presented: San Antonio, TX, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1984.
19. Cooksey, Elizabeth C.
Karnehm, Amy Lynn
Children of Young Mothers: The Effect of Mother's Marital Status on Children's Behavior
Presented: Los Angeles, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1994
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Birthweight; Child Health; Children, Behavioral Development; Marital Status; Mothers, Adolescent; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Bibliography Citation
Cooksey, Elizabeth C. and Amy Lynn Karnehm. "Children of Young Mothers: The Effect of Mother's Marital Status on Children's Behavior." Presented: Los Angeles, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1994.
20. Cooksey, Elizabeth C.
Menaghan, Elizabeth G.
Jekielek, Susan Marie
Children's Behavior Problems: Effects of Current Conditions and Maternal Resources
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1996
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Behavioral Problems; Bias Decomposition; Family Structure; Fathers, Absence; Human Capital; Maternal Employment; Mothers, Education; Mothers, Income

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Bibliography Citation
Cooksey, Elizabeth C., Elizabeth G. Menaghan and Susan Marie Jekielek. "Children's Behavior Problems: Effects of Current Conditions and Maternal Resources." Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1996.
21. Cooney, Rosemary S.
Cullinan, Meritta B.
Atypicality of Occupational Attainment: Preemployment Aspirations, Parental Role Modeling and Work Experience
American Sociological Association, 1988
Cohort(s): Young Men, Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Employment; Family Background and Culture; Occupational Aspirations; Occupational Attainment; Parental Influences; Role Models; Sociability/Socialization/Social Interaction; Transition, School to Work

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper presents an examination of the relevance of the socialization perspective, particularly aspirations and parental role modeling, for understanding sex-type of first full-time civilian job after leaving full-time education and current job. Data were drawn from the 1966-1980 NLS, with the sample restricted to whites aged 14-18 who were enrolled full time at the initial survey date-1966 for men and 1968 for women. The general conceptual framework is derived from the status attainment literature. Major elaborations include marital/family and work histories, with attention to the sequencing of these experiences before and after their first job. While the greatest direct influence of family background and aspirations is shown, as expected, to be on first job, it is important to evaluate indirect influence, through first job, on subsequent work and family life history experiences. [Sociological Abstracts, Inc.]
Bibliography Citation
Cooney, Rosemary S. and Meritta B. Cullinan. "Atypicality of Occupational Attainment: Preemployment Aspirations, Parental Role Modeling and Work Experience." American Sociological Association, 1988.
22. D'Amico, Ronald
Informal Peer Networks and School Sentiments as Integrative and Social Control Mechanisms
Presented: Detroit, MI, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1983
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavior; Control; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Educational Aspirations/Expectations; High School; Peers/Peer influence/Peer relations; Racial Differences; Teenagers

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The amount of non-study time which youth spend in high school and their expression of positive sentiments towards their schools are taken to be indicators of degree of involvement in and commitment to educational institutions, respectively. According to social control theory, these variables should be positively associated with a tendency for students to embrace socially accepted modes of behavior. These hypotheses are tested by investigating the effect of non-study school time and school sentiments on youths' educational aspirations and their commission of delinquent acts. Results show mixed support for the hypotheses, with important race and sex differences found.
Bibliography Citation
D'Amico, Ronald. "Informal Peer Networks and School Sentiments as Integrative and Social Control Mechanisms." Presented: Detroit, MI, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1983.
23. Danziger, Sandra K.
Kaye, Kelleen
Koff, Elisa
Trends in Welfare Receipt and Nonmarital Births: Is There a Link?
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Abortion; Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Childbearing; Contraception; Family Studies; Fertility; Marital Status; Parents, Single; Racial Differences; Sexual Activity; Welfare

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In 1993, the number of births to single mothers reached over 1 million, almost 33% of all births. Addressed here is whether welfare plays a role in rising births to single mothers. Information from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth is used to compare characteristics of mothers by marital status at the time of birth & 5 years later to assess how prone they are to welfare receipt. Also examined is the extent to which increases in single childbearing & the underlying trends in marriage rates, single birthrates, & married birthrates match trends in Aid to Families with Dependent Children caseload expansion. Finally, assessed is whether rates of welfare participation among never-married mothers by age & race have declined or increased during a period of increasing nonmarital fertility. Both program & population data are used, & policy implications are drawn for current proposals that hope to lower nonmarital births by restricting or reducing welfare. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Danziger, Sandra K., Kelleen Kaye and Elisa Koff. "Trends in Welfare Receipt and Nonmarital Births: Is There a Link?" Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996.
24. Daymont, Thomas N.
Tsai, Pan Long
Sex Inequality in the Labor Market: A Multidisciplinary Approach
Presented: Toronto, Canada, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1981
Cohort(s): Young Men, Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Discrimination, Sex; Earnings; Family Influences; Gender Differences; Life Cycle Research; Marital Status; NLS of H.S. Class of 1972; Part-Time Work; Research Methodology; Schooling; Sex Equality; Sexual Division of Labor

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The authors argue that by considering theories from a variety of disciplines and the complementarities among them, our understanding of sex inequality in the labor market can be improved. Further, these theories suggest important sex differences in labor market preferences and preparations that have not previously been included in empirical studies. Our results indicate that at least for young college graduates, a substantial amount of sex inequality in labor market position is due to the traditional sex-based division of labor within the home and sex differences in labor market preferences, preparations, and participation. These factors accounted for nearly one-half of the sex difference in occupational sex type and almost 90 percent of the sex difference in hourly earnings. The results also indicated that no one set of factors were dominant in explaining occupational and sex inequality in earnings.
Bibliography Citation
Daymont, Thomas N. and Pan Long Tsai. "Sex Inequality in the Labor Market: A Multidisciplinary Approach." Presented: Toronto, Canada, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1981.
25. Dechter, Aimee R.
Furstenberg, Frank F. Jr.
Harris, Kathleen Mullan
The Changing Consequences of Adolescent Childbearing: A Comparison of Fertility and Marriage Patterns Across Cohorts
Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1990
Cohort(s): Mature Women, NLSY79, Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Childbearing; Childbearing, Adolescent; Educational Attainment; Fertility; First Birth; Marital Status; Racial Differences; Teenagers

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Much is known about the implications of adolescent childbearing for the fertility and marital patterns of contemporary cohorts of women in the U.S., however, it is not known whether the long term implications of teenage childbearing for future family formation are persistent across successive cohorts of women. This paper focuses on differences in the implications of the timing of first birth on subsequent childbearing and on marital patterns, across several cohorts. The fertility and marital patterns are discussed within the context of social and historical changes, including the soaring rates of both high school completion and out of wedlock childbearing. The differences between adolescent mothers and others are contrasted across cohorts born in the following periods: the 1920s and 1930s; the years surrounding the Second World War; and in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The data, drawn from the Mature Women, Young Women, and Youth Cohorts of the NLS, suggest that differentials associated with the timing of first birth in the risks of out of wedlock childbearing, marriage, and divorce have increased and differentials in subsequent fertility have converged across the cohorts. Futhermore, racial differences in the differentials associated with adolescent childbearing have increased with respect to the marriage indicators and decreased with respect to children ever born.
Bibliography Citation
Dechter, Aimee R., Frank F. Jr. Furstenberg and Kathleen Mullan Harris. "The Changing Consequences of Adolescent Childbearing: A Comparison of Fertility and Marriage Patterns Across Cohorts." Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1990.
26. Deluca, Stefanie
Plank, Stephen B.
Estacion, Angela
Can Career and Technical Education Impact College Enrollment? An Examination of Specific Programs and Course Taking
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2004
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): College Enrollment; Transition, School to Work; Vocational Education

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In contrast to the visible efforts in American schools to increase academic standards are the less obvious efforts to improve the academic preparation and outcomes for non-college bound students. Between 1990-1998, several pieces of legislation were passed that directly affected the high school experience of vocational students. Using five rounds of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, we examine vocational education in U.S. high schools. Specifically, we examine course-taking in career and technical education (CTE), participation in particular school-to-work programs (e.g., job shadowing, mentoring, and cooperative education), and the integration of these courses with academic courses. We focus upon whether opportunities and participation rates changed during the 1990s, perhaps as a result of federal legislation. Further, we give attention to the CTE participation rates and effects of participation for females, minorities and other subgroups. Descriptive statistics and regression models are employed to study the effects of CTE on first postsecondary attendance and type of postsecondary institution. We find that net of background and achievement characteristics, CTE participation has a positive effect on college enrollment, particularly in two-year institutions. Students who participate in career major programs and cooperative education programs experience an increased likelihood of college attendance.
Bibliography Citation
Deluca, Stefanie, Stephen B. Plank and Angela Estacion. "Can Career and Technical Education Impact College Enrollment? An Examination of Specific Programs and Course Taking." Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2004.
27. Dixon, Megan M.
Karnehm, Amy Lynn
Shepelak, Norma J.
Adolescent Repeat Births: A Role Conflict/Status Attainment Model
Presented: Toronto, Canada, Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 1997
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Births, Repeat / Spacing; Contraception; Education; Mothers, Education; Sex Education

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In the past thirty years societal interest in unwed adolescent pregnancies has grown. While much research has documented the nature and extent of early teenage pregnancies, there has been less development of theoretical models integrating the psychological and structural factors that explain this social phenomenon. In this study a status attainment model of adolescent repeat births is developed and tested. The model is unique in that it analyzes adolescent motherhood as an important symbolic status. Adolescents may seek to attain this status in the absence of alternative legitimate avenues of success - income and education. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (Center for Human Resource Research 1995), we test this model. Of the 160 unwed women in this sample who had given birth before their twentieth birthday, 84 had a second birth within a five year period. There was no significant difference between teens who had a repeat birth and those who did not for the following variables: race, residence, number of siblings or adolescent's mother's education.

A multivariate model of repeat births was developed integrating contraceptive behaviors, education and income. All three factors were directly related to repeat births at the p<.05 level of significance. Specifically, teens who used effective methods of contraception were less likely to have a repeat birth. Repeat births were also less likely to occur among adolescents with more years of schooling. Likewise, young mothers whose families had relatively high incomes were more likely to avoid a repeat birth.

This study provides social scientists and policy makers with evidence that psychological and structural factors of our society may be encouraging teens to bear children. While supporting effective contraceptive behaviors is necessary, teens also need motivation to use contraceptives. Equitable distribution of income and educational opportunities may provide adolescent girls with legitimate means to attaining status, and thus motivate them to use effective contraceptive techniques for the prevention of subsequent pregnancies.

Bibliography Citation
Dixon, Megan M., Amy Lynn Karnehm and Norma J. Shepelak. "Adolescent Repeat Births: A Role Conflict/Status Attainment Model." Presented: Toronto, Canada, Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 1997.
28. Duran-Aydintug, Candan
Argys, Laura
Allen, Stephanie
Impact of Family Structure and Family Transition on Children's Behavioral Outcomes
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2007
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Adolescent Behavior; Alcohol Use; Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Child Self-Administered Supplement (CSAS); Delinquency/Gang Activity; Drug Use; Marital Status; Smoking (see Cigarette Use); Substance Use

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

More and more children live in different family structures and experience family transition(s). To examine the effects of family structure and family transitions on children's behavioral outcomes, we use data from the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Work Experience of Youth (NLSY79). The variables we focus our analyses are the marital status and behavioral outcome variables. The models we use are estimated separately for boys and girls and do shed light on previous literature and findings as same children in a given family are followed over a period of time. Preliminary results of different (cross sectional and fixed effect) models are presented to show the differences in outcome variables.
Bibliography Citation
Duran-Aydintug, Candan, Laura Argys and Stephanie Allen. "Impact of Family Structure and Family Transition on Children's Behavioral Outcomes." Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2007.
29. England, Paula A.
Reid, Lori Lynn
Kilbourne, Barbara Stanek
Farkas, George
Devaluation of Female Jobs: Findings from the NLSY
Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1995
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Comparable Worth; Economics of Gender; Gender Differences; Human Capital; Job Analysis; Job Requirements; Occupational Segregation; Occupations, Female; Sexual Division of Labor; Skills; Wage Determination; Wage Levels; Wages, Women; Women's Studies; Working Conditions

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Research on comparable worth suggests that employers do not set the wage band for a job according to job content alone, but rather that the sex or race composition of job incumbents biases this assessment. Here, tested is the hypothesis that, net of individuals' human capital, and net of job demands (for skill or difficult working conditions), jobs with a higher proportion of women offer lower wages to all workers in the job. The analysis uses measures of sex composition that pertain to more detailed job categories than used in prior research. Estimated are the net effects of the % female in these categories, using pooled panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979-1987. It is concluded that jobs are devalued when they contain more females; employers offer lower wages in such jobs than in more heavily male jobs with comparable characteristics. (Copyright 1995, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
England, Paula A., Lori Lynn Reid, Barbara Stanek Kilbourne and George Farkas. "Devaluation of Female Jobs: Findings from the NLSY." Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1995.
30. Fan, Pi-Ling
Marini, Margaret Mooney
Change in the Gender Gap in Earnings at Career Entry
Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1995
Cohort(s): NLSY79, Young Men, Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Family Structure; Gender Differences; Human Capital; Income; Job Aspirations; Racial Differences; Wage Differentials; Wage Gap; Work Attachment

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Measures the amount of change in the gender gap in earnings at career entry between the birth cohorts of 1944-1954 & 1957-1965. Career entry is defined as entry into the first full-time civilian job held after first leaving full-time education in order to exclude short-term & partial attachments to the labor force during the schooling process. Data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience indicate that the gender gap in earnings at career entry delined [sic] from 74.8% to 85.1% among whites & from 82.9% to 85.2% among blacks over the period studied. The relative importance of alternative explanatory mechanisms in accounting for change in the gender gap in earnings for each racial group is examined. Also considered are the effects of change in gender differences in worker characteristics, including human capital, family structure, & occupational aspirations, & change in the external influences of employing organizations & social networks on the gender difference in occupational & industrial placement. (Copyright 1995, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Fan, Pi-Ling and Margaret Mooney Marini. "Change in the Gender Gap in Earnings at Career Entry." Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1995.
31. Felmlee, Diane Helen
Consequences of Employment Discontinuity for Women's Occupational Attainment
Presented: Toronto, Canada, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1981
Cohort(s): Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Family Constraints; Labor Force Participation; Mobility; Mobility, Job; Occupational Attainment; Wages; Work Histories

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The employment pattern of many females is characterized by breaks in wage employment. The hypothesis that such discontinuities will adversely affect females' occupational attainment is tested. Data from the NLS of Young Women (1968-1973) are used to construct complete work histories for white females who are not enrolled in school full- time. Using a continuous-time stochastic model, rates of upward and downward mobility are compared for job changes with and without a break in employment. Mobility is measured in terms of wages and socioeconomic status. The findings support the hypothesis. There are immediate attainment costs associated with a break in employment for white females. Job changes separated by periods of nonemployment have higher rates of downward mobility and lower rates of upward mobility than uninterrupted job shifts. Additional analyses uncover differences in the processes of changing jobs with or without an intervening period of nonemployment as well as the negative consequences of family constraints on women's attainment.
Bibliography Citation
Felmlee, Diane Helen. "Consequences of Employment Discontinuity for Women's Occupational Attainment." Presented: Toronto, Canada, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1981.
32. Ferree, Myra M.
Causal Models of Stability and Change in Women's Work: Relevant Attitudes and Employment Behavior
Presented: Toronto, Canada, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1981
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Attitudes; Behavior; Employment; Husbands, Influence; Simultaneity

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Data from the NLS of Mature Women indicate that normative attitudes toward employment underwent considerable real change in the period 1967-1972 even when allowances are made for the inevitable measurement error in the variables. The model of attitudes that was constructed from the three items available longitudinally had two distinct work-relevant dimensions. The major factor was a general orientation toward working for its own sake; the second factor reflected the relative importance of the individual's own preferences as compared to her husband's and was termed "independence." The relationship between attitudes and employment was found to be complex and mutually reinforcing. The longitudinal model, which provided the best fit to the data, showed the general attitude toward employment having a substantial impact on subsequent employment while both this general attitude and independence were somewhat affected by prior employment. In this longitudinal model, attitude clearly had more effect upon employment than the reverse. An analysis of reciprocal causation for the simultaneous relationships, however, showed the predominant direction of causation running from employment to attitude. This relationship was substantial when only prior employment was controlled (as in 1967), but persisted even when both prior employment and prior attitude were controlled (as in 1972). Those women who were employed in the period 1968-1971, in particular, were more likely to develop more favorable attitudes toward employment in 1972. While the effects of employment on attitudes are not as great as some previous studies have suggested, it does appear that attitudes are influenced by employment as well as having an impact on attachment to the labor force.
Bibliography Citation
Ferree, Myra M. "Causal Models of Stability and Change in Women's Work: Relevant Attitudes and Employment Behavior." Presented: Toronto, Canada, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1981.
33. Ferree, Myra M.
Women's Work and Employment Attitudes: A Longitudinal Causal Model
Presented: Toronto, Canada, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1981
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Employment; Research Methodology; Work Attitudes

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Although the aggregate of women's employment has been rising while women's sex role attitudes have been becoming more favorable, the nature of the relationship, if any, between work and attitude for individual women has not been adequately examined. Prior studies have suggested a feedback process in which employment affects attitude more than the reverse, but have been flawed by insufficient attention to measurement problems, especially the difficulty differential reliability creates for causal inference. Using a confirmatory model fitting approach to longitudinal data, the present study shows there to be two distinct work-relevant attitudes; while the change in both since l977 is related to the extent of a women's prior employment, only one feeds back into greater labor force participation in subsequent years. The effect of attitude on employment, however, appears to be comparable in magnitude to the effect of employment on attitude when reliability of measurement is taken into account.
Bibliography Citation
Ferree, Myra M. "Women's Work and Employment Attitudes: A Longitudinal Causal Model." Presented: Toronto, Canada, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1981.
34. Gasper, Joseph Michael
What is the Effect of Dropping Out of High School on Delinquency?
Presented: Montreal, QC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 11-14, 2006
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Crime; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Education; Heterogeneity; High School Dropouts; Modeling, Fixed Effects

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Previous research on the relationship between dropping out of high school and subsequent involvement in delinquency has yielded ambiguous results. This study seeks to improve upon prior studies in three ways: (1) by controlling for possible selection effects, (2) by examining how other factors may serve to condition the effects of dropping out on delinquency, including postschool factors, and (3) by exploring differences between temporary and permanent dropouts. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), I examine the causal effect of dropping out on delinquency. I conduct two types of analyses. In the first analysis, ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression models address selection effects by controlling for observed differences between dropouts and youths in school. Results largely replicate those of recent research. In the second analysis, fixed effects models control for unobserved heterogeneity. Results indicate that although dropping out for school reasons and for other, unspecified reasons are associated with higher levels of involvement in delinquency, dropping out does not cause an increase in offending. The observed relationships are spurious due to preexisting differences between dropouts and youth in school. Dropping out contributes little to the explanation of changes in delinquency across time. Dropping out for economic reasons is associated with a decrease in offending only after controls for between-person variation are included, suggesting a protective effect of dropping out to work. I conclude with implications and suggestions for future research.
Bibliography Citation
Gasper, Joseph Michael. "What is the Effect of Dropping Out of High School on Delinquency?" Presented: Montreal, QC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 11-14, 2006.
35. Geschwender, Laura Ellen
Parcel, Toby L.
Why Do Southern Children Have Lower Verbal Facility Scores Than Children in Other Regions?
Presented: Cincinnati, OH, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1991
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Bias Decomposition; Child Development; Children; Children, Academic Development; Children, Home Environment; Ethnic Groups/Ethnicity; General Assessment; Geographical Variation; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Maternal Employment; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Religious Influences; Tests and Testing

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper seeks to explain regional differences in young children's scores on standardized tests of verbal facility. Using a sample of 3 to 6 year old children of employed mothers in 1986 from the NLSY, the author regresses children's verbal facility on region, and adds explanatory variables in sets. It was found that factors explaining much of the regional variation in verbal facility include: maternal ethnicity, maternal measured mental ability, mother being raised fundamentalist, maternal religious attendance, home environment, maternal hourly pay, and maternal work hours. These factors are discussed as possible indicators of environmental complexity. The findings have implications for regional differences in social inequality.
Bibliography Citation
Geschwender, Laura Ellen and Toby L. Parcel. "Why Do Southern Children Have Lower Verbal Facility Scores Than Children in Other Regions?" Presented: Cincinnati, OH, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1991.
36. Goldscheider, Frances Kobrin
Waite, Linda J.
Housework in the Family Economy: Division of Labor between Wife, Husband, and Children. Also: Work in the Home: The Productive Context of Family Relationships
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1989 and Albany, Conference on Demographic Perspectives, 1990
Cohort(s): Mature Women, Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Attitudes; Children; Family Resources; Housework/Housewives; Husbands; Sex Roles; Sexual Division of Labor; Time Use

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper examines how families allocate the labor of their members to the productive activities that constitute housework, focusing on trade-offs between adults and children, and between spouses, using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Mature and Young Women, including questions on responsibility for a series of household tasks, asked in 1982 and 1983. Consistent effects of limitations of the wife's time available for housework are found; both hours of work and disability increase the amount of housework done by husbands and children. Nontraditional attitudes about sex roles in the family also increase the contribution of husbands and children to housework. Finally, families headed by remarried couples share housework in different ways than do others; stepfathers appear less involved in the family division of labor than other men, leaving children to pick up the slack. Clearly, family members can and do substitute for each other in housework economy; how they do so depends on the availability of various members, attitudes, and past family experiences. [Sociological Abstracts, Inc.]
Bibliography Citation
Goldscheider, Frances Kobrin and Linda J. Waite. "Housework in the Family Economy: Division of Labor between Wife, Husband, and Children. Also: Work in the Home: The Productive Context of Family Relationships." Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1989 and Albany, Conference on Demographic Perspectives, 1990.
37. Goosby, Bridget J.
The Effects of Poverty Status and Duration on Adolescent Self-Esteem
Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2002
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); CESD (Depression Scale); Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Poverty; Welfare

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth in 1994, this paper addresses the degree to which differing poverty experiences have an effect on the global self-worth and depression and anxiousness experienced by young adolescents. Regression analysis were conducted on 2855 African American and white adolescents ages 10-14. The results of the analysis show that the effects of poverty timing do influence the later psychological outcomes in early adolescence. The analysis also found that these effects are mediated by the mother's mental health and behavior. These findings suggest that maternal mental health and warmth towards their children play an important role in buffering the impact of poverty during early adolescence. Suggestions for directions in future research are discussed.
Bibliography Citation
Goosby, Bridget J. "The Effects of Poverty Status and Duration on Adolescent Self-Esteem." Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2002.
38. Greenstein, Theodore N.
Causal Structure of Children's Cognitive Outcomes: Effects of Family Economic Well-Being and Family Structure
Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1999
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Children; Children, Home Environment; Cognitive Ability; Family Structure; Fathers, Presence; Marital Status; Maternal Employment

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

To study the effects of family structure & economic circumstances on child cognitive ability, the 1986-1994 Child Supplements to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were used to make 4 synthetic cohorts of children ages 5-12. Using these data, a structural equation model of the process through which family structure & economic circumstances affect child cognitive ability was tested. Results indicate that (1) the effects of family income on cognitive ability are indirect & mediated by quality of the child's home environment; (2) while family structure variables, e.g., mother's marital status & presence of the child's father in the household, have modest effects on cognitive ability, their effects are transmitted primarily through quality of the home environment; & (3) maternal employment has little effect on child cognitive ability.
Bibliography Citation
Greenstein, Theodore N. "Causal Structure of Children's Cognitive Outcomes: Effects of Family Economic Well-Being and Family Structure." Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1999.
39. Greenstein, Theodore N.
Maternal Employment and Children's Cognitive Outcomes: A Latent Trajectory Model
Presented: Anaheim, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2001
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Maternal Employment

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

To study the effects of family structure and economic circumstances on child cognitive ability, the 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, and 1994 Child Supplements to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were used to create synthetic cohorts of children ages 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, and 11-12 years. Using these data, a multivariate latent trajectory model of the process through which maternal employment affects child cognitive ability was created and tested. Results suggest that maternal hours of employment have positive effects on child cognitive development: the intercept of the work hours trajectory has positive and statistically-significant effects on both the intercept and the slope of the cognitive ability trajectory, implying that maternal employment during the first years of schooling has positive effects on child cognitive ability, and that continued maternal employment has no effect on the trajectory of child cognitive ability.
Bibliography Citation
Greenstein, Theodore N. "Maternal Employment and Children's Cognitive Outcomes: A Latent Trajectory Model." Presented: Anaheim, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2001.
40. Greenstein, Theodore N.
Clayton, Karen J.
Labor Force Participation of Young Married Women
Sine Loco, SL, American Sociological Association, 1987
Cohort(s): Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Labor Force Participation; Marital Status; Women

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using panel data from the NLS of Young Women, the labor force participation of 1,747 white married females is examined from the time of first marriage until the birth of first child. Multiple regression analyses indicate that the factors having significant effects on labor force participation during this period (in order of magnitude of effects) are: husband's attitudes toward wife's labor force participation, wife's most recent income, wife's education, wife's age, premarital labor force experience, husband's current income, and wife's mother's work experience. Implications and suggestions for further research are discussed. [Sociological Abstracts, Inc.]
Bibliography Citation
Greenstein, Theodore N. and Karen J. Clayton. "Labor Force Participation of Young Married Women." Sine Loco, SL, American Sociological Association, 1987.
41. Hardy, Melissa A.
Racial Differences in Retirement
Presented: San Antonio, TX, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1984
Cohort(s): Older Men
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Duncan Index; Pensions; Racial Differences; Retirement/Retirement Planning; Social Security; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Determinants of retirement for older black wage-and-salary workers are examined to assess the extent of racial differences in retirement patterns and status. Using 1976 and 1978 data from the NLS of Older Men, retirement models for blacks and whites are compared. The major differences involve job tenure, joint policies of compulsory retirement and second pension coverage, and Duncan's index of SES-factors that influence the amount of retirement income. In general, private pension coverage is more important to whites; blacks appear to be more heavily influenced by factors that determine Social Security benefits.
Bibliography Citation
Hardy, Melissa A. "Racial Differences in Retirement." Presented: San Antonio, TX, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1984.
42. Harper, Cynthia Channing
Youth Crime and Family Formation: Does Fatherhood Pull Young Men Out of the High Risk Set for Jail?
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Delinquency/Gang Activity; Fatherhood; Heterogeneity; Incarceration/Jail; Marriage; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Parenthood; Peers/Peer influence/Peer relations; Variables, Independent - Covariate

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Investigates patterns of family formation among a contemporary US youth cohort to assess the association of young fatherhood with criminal activity - whether male reproduction in a nonconventional family unit is likely to be associated with delinquent social behaviors or, conversely, to help pull young men into the social order in increased concern for the future generation. Individual-level data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are used to track a sample of 6,000+ males ages 14-22, 1979-present. The survey is nationally representative, but oversamples disadvantaged populations, who are at higher risk of both young fatherhood & youth crime. Several statistical methodologies are used to model the pathway to incarceration, including continuation ratio models & longitudinal event history analysis, which considers the effects of time-varying covariates. The final methodology is a fixed effects analysis of sibling pairs to control for unobserved heterogeneity, since selection into family formation patterns & criminal activities are strong. Results show that young fathers face greatly increased odds of criminal outcomes, compared to their peers. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Harper, Cynthia Channing. "Youth Crime and Family Formation: Does Fatherhood Pull Young Men Out of the High Risk Set for Jail?" Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996.
43. Hauser, Robert M.
Carter, Wendy Y.
The Bell Curve as a Study of Social Stratification
Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 1995
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; I.Q.; Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Background

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In this presentation, Hauser and Carter critique Murray and Herrnstein's The Bell Curve using analysis of NLSY79 data. The following is an excerpt from a summary of their presentation written by the Institute for Research on Poverty:

"Much empirical analysis in The Bell Curve is based upon two data sets, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (a large sample of American youth, aged 14-22 in 1979, who have been followed annually since then) and the Children of the NLSY, which matches women in the NLSY with their children. Both data sets contain good measures of cognitive ability, but, say Hauser and Carter, are used poorly by Herrnstein and Murray. Most of the original analysis in the book consists of graphical displays of reduced-form logistic or linear regression equations in which some measure of educational or socioeconomic attainment, contact with the criminal justice system, or child-rearing success has been regressed on two variables, AFQT score in the IQ metric, adjusted for age at administration, and a composite measure of the socioeconomic status (SES) of the family of orientation. This measure is limited in content to father's and mother's educational attainments, father's occupational status, and family income in 1979, the first year of the NLSY. This is a minimally adequate specification, but it tends to understate the effects of social background by omitting such variables as number of siblings, intact family, rural or metropolitan origin, and regional origin. Thus, in Herrnstein and Murray's analysis, the social background variable becomes a straw man, largely used to highlight the effects of ability. From the study of stratification, it is known that the explanatory power of measured social background is modest, but it is also known that the effects are important and worth understanding. No measures of the explanatory power of the equations are reported in The Bell Curve, so that the inexpert reader never learns tha t most of the variation remains unexplained.

Bibliography Citation
Hauser, Robert M. and Wendy Y. Carter. "The Bell Curve as a Study of Social Stratification." Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 1995.
44. Hayward, Mark D.
The Effects of the Work Role on Early Retirement
Presented: San Antonio, TX, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1984
Cohort(s): Older Men
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Early Retirement; Health Factors; Pensions; Retirement/Retirement Planning; Work History

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The influence of the occupational work role on the early retirement transition of older men is examined. Attention is focused both on the independent effects of work characteristics and on the extent to which these characteristics account for the effects of certain traditional determinants of early retirement. Using data from the NLS of Older Men and the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, a model of early retirement is specified in which two labor force continuation ratios reflecting dichotomous contrasts between early and late retirement are a function of major dimensions of the occupational work role (cognitive skill, manipulative skill, social skill, and physical and environmental demands), other job attributes (union membership, wage compulsory retirement regulations, and job tenure), and certain traditional explanatory factors (health, pension coverage). The results indicate that aspects of the occupational work role are major determinants of early retirement. Moreover, the findings suggest that when the nature of work is controlled, the influence of health increases while the effects of pension coverage decline. Past research may have overestimated the actual pecuniary influence of pension benefits while underestimating the influence of health limitations.
Bibliography Citation
Hayward, Mark D. "The Effects of the Work Role on Early Retirement." Presented: San Antonio, TX, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1984.
45. Hayward, Mark D.
Hardy, Melissa A.
Grady, William R.
Career Relinquishment Patterns Among Older Men in the United States
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1986
Cohort(s): Older Men
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Career Patterns; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Labor Force Participation; Occupations; Retirement/Retirement Planning

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This study investigates the influence of the occupational context and other sociodemographic characteristics on men's rates of retirement, disability, and death in the U.S. The intent is to identify career relinquishment processes for major subgroups in the labor market to more firmly ground current theory building attempts. Using a hazards model approach, the authors estimate a dynamic model of career relinquishment and identify the effects of occupations and sociodemographic factors on the three events marking the termination of the labor force career. Estimates from the hazards models were used to construct multi-decrement working life tables. The results allow quantification of, for a cohort of older men, the implications of the occupational context and sociodemographic factors in terms of the relative frequency of retirement, disability, and death, the pace of labor force withdrawal, and the number of years workers of a given age can anticipate being in the labor force. To provide substantive direction for future research, possible mechanisms which may explain the observed subgroup differences in withdrawal patterns are discussed.
Bibliography Citation
Hayward, Mark D., Melissa A. Hardy and William R. Grady. "Career Relinquishment Patterns Among Older Men in the United States." Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1986.
46. Heron, Melonie
Kozimor-King, Michele Lee
Hayward, Mark D.
The Effects of Race on Men's Mid- and Late-Career Occupational Mobility
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996
Cohort(s): Older Men
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Age and Ageing; Career Patterns; Data Quality/Consistency; Education; Geographical Variation; Job Status; Mobility; Mobility, Job; Racial Differences; Wealth

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Examines the mid- & late-career mobility experiences for black & white men ages 45-64, drawing on data derived from the National Longitudinal Survey of Older Men, to assess the extent to which differences in achievement processes persist into mid- & late career, & to examine whether blacks & whites differ in terms of age vulnerability of careers. Contrary to these hypotheses, controlling for individual & job characteristics, race is significant only for upward within-employer mobility. Moreover, everything else being equal, blacks demonstrate high rates of upward mobility. Other factors, e.g., job sector, wealth, education, & geographical location, were more important than race for between-employer moves & within-employer downward mobility. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Heron, Melonie, Michele Lee Kozimor-King and Mark D. Hayward. "The Effects of Race on Men's Mid- and Late-Career Occupational Mobility." Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996.
47. Hiller, Dana V.
Determinants of Household and Childcare Task Sharing
Presented: [S.L.], American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1980
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Earnings, Wives; Household Demand; Husbands; Sex Roles; Sociability/Socialization/Social Interaction; Variables, Independent - Covariate; Wives, Income; Wives, Work

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Competing hypotheses explaining husband/wife division of family work are reviewed. It is argued that these should be subsumed within two key explanations: relative power of spouses, and socialization. In addition, within the socialization explanation, social class phenomena should be distinguished from sex-role ideology. Data from the NLS Mature Women Cohort are used to compare the strength of these explanations in predicting degree of household help and child-care help received by 1,288 wives in 1974. Thirteen independent variables as indexes of relative power and socialization are analyzed. While zero order correlations and regression coefficients are not dramatic in any instance, relative power, as measured by wife's employment and wife's income, is shown to be the dominant explanation for degree of help received with household chores and child care. Minority women also receive more help than white women. Little support is indicated for socialization explanations.
Bibliography Citation
Hiller, Dana V. "Determinants of Household and Childcare Task Sharing." Presented: [S.L.], American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1980.
48. Houseknecht, Sharon K.
Hango, Darcy William
Surprising Effects of Marital Conflict and Disruption on Children's Health
Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Meetings, August 2000
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Child Health; Divorce; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Marital Conflict

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper investigates the effect of inconsistency between parental marital conflict and disruption on children's health using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). Two alternative hypotheses, the stress vulnerable hypothesis and the stress resistant hypothesis, provide the basis for the analysis. The results support the stress resistant hypothesis, and, therefore, challenge the widespread notion that marital conflict and disruption have only adverse effects for children. We find that children's health is enhanced when minimal marital conflict preceded disruption and when marital conflict is high but there is no disruption. The positive effects are for boys only. There are no significant effects for girls.
Bibliography Citation
Houseknecht, Sharon K. and Darcy William Hango. "Surprising Effects of Marital Conflict and Disruption on Children's Health." Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Meetings, August 2000.
49. In, Jung
College as a "Contested Terrain" Heterogeneous Effects of Majors on College Pathways and Post-College Outcomes
Presented: Montreal, QC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2017
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): College Graduates; College Major/Field of Study/Courses; Family Background and Culture; Income; Vocational Education

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Sociologists have long debated the effects of family origin on the outcomes of college graduates. Inspired by recent evidence of this effect, we examine how children's college majors and post-college outcomes mediate the effects of family origin using NLSY79. Theoretically, this paper distinguishes between the effect of heterogeneous paths and the heterogeneous effects of the same path. The results show that family origin only negatively affected the post-college income of female graduates who chose vocational majors. This implies that the choice of a vocational major in college potentially functioned as an equalizer for women with less privileged family origins.
Bibliography Citation
In, Jung. "College as a "Contested Terrain" Heterogeneous Effects of Majors on College Pathways and Post-College Outcomes." Presented: Montreal, QC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2017.
50. Jacobs, Jerry A.
Sex-Segregation of Occupations as a Circulating System
Presented: [S.L.], American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1985
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Career Patterns; Mobility; Mobility, Occupational; Occupations, Female; Occupations, Male

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Evidence demonstrating a substantial degree of career mobility between male-dominated and female-dominated occupations is presented, focusing on the mechanism by which the sex-segregated structure of occupations is reproduced. Despite a high degree of segregation, the career patterns of individuals indicate substantial circulation between female-dominated, sex-neutral, and male-dominated occupations. Evidence on career patterns from the NLS of Mature Women and the Current Population Study shows that, for individuals changing detailed occupations, there is only a slight positive relationship between the sex-type of initial occupation and that of occupation of destination. Particularly striking is the high rate of attrition of women in male-dominated occupations, a substantial proportion of whom move to female-dominated jobs. Log-linear models are tested that indicate the consistency of this pattern for a variety of labor-market situations and for a range of demographic groups. The implications of these findings for research on sex-segregation and for policies designed to reduce sex-segregation are discussed.
Bibliography Citation
Jacobs, Jerry A. "Sex-Segregation of Occupations as a Circulating System." Presented: [S.L.], American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1985.
51. Jekielek, Susan Marie
Nonstandard Work Schedules, Family, and Relationship Quality
Presented: Atlanta, GA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2003.
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Marital Satisfaction/Quality; Marital Stability; Parenthood; Part-Time Work; Shift Workers; Work Hours/Schedule

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This study uses data from the NLSY79 to examine the influence of nonstandard work hours on relationship quality for a sample of 1,016 dual-earner couples with children. Across a variety of outcomes, when one spouse or partner works a nonstandard shift, this is associated with a higher frequency of arguing and lower levels of positive interaction with their partner, compared to couples that both work day shifts. Analyses also consider the influences of more and younger children on the effect of nonstandard schedules, married vs cohabiting relationships, and relationship duration.
Bibliography Citation
Jekielek, Susan Marie. "Nonstandard Work Schedules, Family, and Relationship Quality." Presented: Atlanta, GA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2003.
52. Jekielek, Susan Marie
The Relative and Interactive Effects of Parental Conflict and Parental Marital Disruption on Child Well-Being
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Children, Well-Being; Marital Conflict; Marital Disruption; Marital Status; Parental Influences; Parents, Behavior; Well-Being

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth are drawn on to ascertain whether children are better off when they remain in two-parent families characterized by marital conflict, or when their parents dissolve their marital relationship. Looking at levels of anxiety & depression/withdrawal among 1,640 children ages 6-14, it is found that both parental conflict & marital disruption, particularly disruption within the previous 2 years, decrease children's emotional well-being. It is also found that children who remain in high conflict environments generally exhibit higher levels of anxiety & depression/withdrawal than do children who have experienced high levels of parental conflict, provided that their parents had divorced at least 2 years previously. The results are in accord with the possibility that parental divorce, following high conflict, may actually improve the well-being of children relative to a high-conflict family status. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Jekielek, Susan Marie. "The Relative and Interactive Effects of Parental Conflict and Parental Marital Disruption on Child Well-Being." Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996.
53. Jennison, Karen M.
Johnson, Kenneth A.
Drinking Problems in Adult Children of Alcoholics: Evidence from a National Survey
Presented: Miami, FL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1993
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Cigarette Use (see Smoking); Family History; Health, Mental/Psychological; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Psychological Effects; Siblings

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Surveys of Youth (NLSY) are used to predict DSM-III-R defined alcohol dependence severity in 1989. The sample consisted of 5,051 family history positives (FHPs) and 5,263 family history negatives (FHNs), which were subsequently reclassified into four mutually exclusive groups: those with 1) alcoholism in first-degree family members only (N=1,762), 2) alcoholic second-degree relatives only (N=1,969), 3) both first and second-degree alcoholic family members (N=1,320), and FHNs as controls. The results indicate, as previous research suggests, that ACOAs drink more heavily, experience earlier onset of problems, and develop greater severity of alcohol dependence than non-ACOAs. Sons of alcoholics are at greater risk than daughters of alcoholics, and that alcoholism in first and second-degree relatives rather than in first or second-degree relatives alone predicts greater likelihood of developing severe alcohol dependence.
Bibliography Citation
Jennison, Karen M. and Kenneth A. Johnson. "Drinking Problems in Adult Children of Alcoholics: Evidence from a National Survey." Presented: Miami, FL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1993.
54. Jennison, Karen M.
Johnson, Kenneth A.
If You're Smoking You've Just Got to Have a Drink: Cigarette Smoking by American Women and Interactions with Alcohol Use in a Longitudinal Study
Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1995
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Addiction; Alcohol Use; Behavior; Behavioral Problems; Cigarette Use (see Smoking); Health Factors; Rehabilitation; Substance Use; Women

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

To explore whether drinking may be a risk factor for tobacco use as well as a barrier that impedes the reduction of smoking prevalence among women, examined is cigarette smoking and drinking covariance within diverse subgroups of 6,283 young adult women in the general population using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth (NLSY), Multivariate repeated analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicates that women smokers as a group differ significantly from nonsmokers in higher alcohol consumption patterns, at baseline and over time, with specific convergence in the quantity of drinks ingested per day and the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Although women smokers tend to be drinkers and to drink in greater volume than nonsmokers, as women reach middle age their smoking is more likely to be associated with quantity and less likely with frequency of drinking. Findings suggest that the smoking factor should be addressed in alcohol rehabilitation for women and that the implications of alcohol use be made an explicit part of smoking cessation programs. (Copyright 1995, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Jennison, Karen M. and Kenneth A. Johnson. "If You're Smoking You've Just Got to Have a Drink: Cigarette Smoking by American Women and Interactions with Alcohol Use in a Longitudinal Study." Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1995.
55. Jennison, Karen M.
Johnson, Kenneth A.
Impact of Familial Alcoholism Density, Environmental Exposure, and Depression on Recurrent Use of Alcohol and Illicit Drugs in the General Population
Presented: Toronto, Canada, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1997
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Drug Use; Family Environment; Family Influences; Fathers; Gender Differences; Substance Use

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth (N=9,000+ young adults, ages 23-35) are used to test several hypotheses concerning familial alcoholism. Investigated at 2 points in time within a 4-year interval was the impact of familial alcoholism density (FAD), familial environmental exposure to alcohol (FEA), & depression on high-risk drinking practices & lifetime illicit drug use. Results of two-stage least squares analyses indicate that the cross-lagged effects of both FAD & FEA stressors persist into adulthood & are sequentially associated with respondents' substance use & psychosocial functioning at the second time period. Higher levels of depressive symptoms & negative moods had a greater mediating influence on all classes of substance use relationships than lower levels of depressive symptoms. Males were more affected by FAD, specifically of the alcoholic father type & the father's alcoholic relatives, than were females. Women, particularly in regard to alcohol use, were more affected by FEA than men, suggesting that women may be differentially more sensitive to the effects of living with an alcoholic parent or close relative than men. Other findings & implications of the study are discussed, & directions for future research are suggested. (Copyright 1997, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Jennison, Karen M. and Kenneth A. Johnson. "Impact of Familial Alcoholism Density, Environmental Exposure, and Depression on Recurrent Use of Alcohol and Illicit Drugs in the General Population." Presented: Toronto, Canada, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1997.
56. Jennison, Karen M.
Johnson, Kenneth A.
Parental Alcoholism as a Risk Factor for DSM-IV Alcohol Abuse and Dependence in American Women: Another Look at the Moderating Effects of Dyadic Cohesion in Marital Communication Using Latent Structural Models
Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1999
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Family Environment; Family History; Health, Mental/Psychological; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Marital Satisfaction/Quality; Marriage; Parental Influences; Siblings; Women

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Important trends in research over the past decade indicate that women are equally or even more greatly affected by familial alcoholism than are men. Although it is increasingly recognized that the adverse drinking outcomes predicted for adult children of alcoholics (COAs) are not inevitable and only a small percentage develop alcohol dependence or grow up to be alcoholic, currently relative little knowledge exists regarding moderating factors which reduce their vulnerability. This study identifies a multiple mediator latent structural model of the intergenerational transmission of risk for DSM-IV assessed alcohol abuse and dependence among women COAs in adulthood. The effects of both parental alcoholism and family environment are estimated at three time points spanning ten years across 5 year intervals: 1984, 1989 and 1994 using data from a subsample of 4,449 women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). Dyadic cohesion in marital communication (greater marital cohesion, harmony and less verbal disagreement, discord and conflict) is a proposed moderating factor that may operate in adulthood to lower the risk of female COAs developing alcohol abuse and dependence. Maximum likelihood estimates of the effects of alcohol mediators measured over time indicate that direct parental effects for adverse outcomes decline when COAs are in their late twenties and early thirties. Indirect parental effects through environmental influences dramatically increase the risk for abuse and dependence among COAs at this time, however, if they have one or more alcoholic siblings, especially an alcoholic sister. Dyadic cohesion and positive interpersonal communication patterns were found to effectively moderate the relationship that existed between parental alcoholism, environmental influences and adverse alcohol consequences. COAs with satisfactory marital communication also evidenced higher levels of intimacy with their partners, perceived the division of housework to be fairer, shared more responsibilities and burdens of the household, and had less conflict over in-laws and other domestic issues than other women COAs. The protective benefits of a good marriage against the risks of alcoholism remained when applied to younger and older subjects, and across all ethnic backgrounds, even after adjusting for other factors such as employment status.
Bibliography Citation
Jennison, Karen M. and Kenneth A. Johnson. "Parental Alcoholism as a Risk Factor for DSM-IV Alcohol Abuse and Dependence in American Women: Another Look at the Moderating Effects of Dyadic Cohesion in Marital Communication Using Latent Structural Models." Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1999.
57. Jennison, Karen M.
Johnson, Kenneth A.
Resilience to Drinking Vulnerability in Women with Alcoholic Parents: The Moderating Effects of Dyadic Cohesion in Marital Communication
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Addiction; Alcohol Use; Family History; Marital Satisfaction/Quality; Marital Stability; Resilience/Developmental Assets; Substance Use

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Although adult children of alcoholics (ACAs) are at high risk for subsequent alcohol abuse & drinking problems in later life, not all are adversely affected by their family history. Many exhibit resilience & function normally despite exposure to severe alcoholism & family discord during childhood. Yet, there exists relatively little knowledge of the moderating factors that reduce the risk of drinking vulnerability for ACAs. Based on a subset of questions from the Dyadic Adjustment Scale from the 1988 & 1992 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, dyadic cohesion in marital communication (frequency of interaction & agreement on substantive issues that affect couples) was examined in 4,235 women as a resilience factor that could potentially mitigate adverse drinking outcomes for women ACAs. The results of a 2-stage least squares regression analysis indicated that the transmission of risk for drinking vulnerability was effectively moderated by positive interpersonal communication patterns indicative of supportive dyadic interaction. The importance of dyadic cohesion as a resilience factor in women ACAs suggest that the enhancement & development of effective communication skills for couples in therapy for alcohol problems, in one or both partners, should remain a major aspect of therapeutic & treatment goals. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Jennison, Karen M. and Kenneth A. Johnson. "Resilience to Drinking Vulnerability in Women with Alcoholic Parents: The Moderating Effects of Dyadic Cohesion in Marital Communication." Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996.
58. Joshi, Pamela Kumari
Mothers and Nonstandard Work: Effects on Children's Home Environments
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1998
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Bias Decomposition; Divorce; Family Formation; Home Environment; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Labor Market Segmentation; Mothers; Part-Time Work; Unions; Work Hours/Schedule; Working Conditions

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Changing employer practices leading to the development & increasing use of new work arrangements, eg, temporary, part-time, contract, & on-call work, have been well documented. As mothers' labor force participation increases, both men & women are experiencing growing dissatisfaction with their ability to integrate their work & family lives. Some argue that nonstandard work arrangements help families by improving flexibility in schedules that allow parents more time to meet their children's needs. Others argue that nonstandard work arrangements are substandard jobs that may alleviate work & family conflicts, but to the detriment of mother's careers. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth mother-child sample for 1994 are used to estimate a model of children's home environments, showing that nonstandard work arrangement as a general category positively influences children's home environments, controlling for family & work characteristics. Individual categories of nonstandard work (temp agency, temp direct hire, contractor, consultant, involuntary part-time) are not significant predictors of children's home environments. Running the models separately by mothers' education shows that specific categories of nonstandard work also positively impact children's lives. It should be noted that these nonstandard work arrangements are significant only when wages, job tenure, & workplace benefits are held constant. Thus, nonstandard work arrangements by themselves will not improve children's home environments; a variety of other workplace policies need to be in place.
Bibliography Citation
Joshi, Pamela Kumari. "Mothers and Nonstandard Work: Effects on Children's Home Environments." Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1998.
59. Karnehm, Amy Lynn
Shepelak, Norma J.
Meaning of Motherhood: Testing a Sociocultural Model of Identity Transformation
Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1999
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Divorce; Family Studies; Marriage; Motherhood; Parenthood; Women's Roles

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Because the meaning of being a mother & wife is no longer central to a woman's identity, yet still involves being primary emotional caregiver as well as an economic provider, women's identities have taken on multiple role saliences (Stryker, 1968; McCall & Simmons, 1978). Martha McMahon's (1995) landmark qualitative study on engendered motherhood sought to understand the sociocultural dynamics that affect a woman's identity transformation into "mother." Here, this model is tested using data from the 1994 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (subsample N = 244). Initial results indicate differences by social class groupings in terms of both readiness for & the responsibility of motherhood for full-time workers.
Bibliography Citation
Karnehm, Amy Lynn and Norma J. Shepelak. "Meaning of Motherhood: Testing a Sociocultural Model of Identity Transformation." Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1999.
60. King, Valarie
Variation in the Consequences of Outside Father Involvement for Children's Well-Being: The Effects of Race, Education, and Wedlock Status
Presented: Miami, FL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1993
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Child Support; Children, Well-Being; Fathers, Absence; Fathers, Involvement; Fathers, Presence; Marital Status; Mothers, Education; Mothers, Race; Parental Marital Status; Parents, Single; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Racial Differences; Self-Esteem; Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using data from the child supplement to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), this study tests whether the effects of nonresidential father involvement on child well-being vary by race, mother's education, or whether the child was born in marriage or out-of-wedlock. The results show few interactive effects and no identifiable set of conditions emerged that increased or reduced the importance of father involvement for child well-being.
Bibliography Citation
King, Valarie. "Variation in the Consequences of Outside Father Involvement for Children's Well-Being: The Effects of Race, Education, and Wedlock Status." Presented: Miami, FL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1993.
61. Kobrin, Frances E.
Waite, Linda J.
Effects of Family Stability and Nestleaving Patterns on the Transition to Marriage
Presented: Detroit, MI, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1983
Cohort(s): Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Divorce; Family Formation; Family Structure; Marriage; Mothers, Behavior; Nestleaving

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Data from the Young Women cohort of the NLS are used to explore patterns of family formation related to two major areas of change in U.S. family structure: (1) the increasing experience of parental divorce; and (2) decline in age of leaving home. The following two questions are addressed. First, are children who grow up in an intact family more likely to marry at any given age than those who do not? Interpretations of results showing the "heritability" of divorce include a possible reluctance by partners who have experienced divorce as children to invest enough in their marriages to keep them going; it seems plausible that they might also be less willing to take the risk at all. This hypothesis may explain the consistent finding of lower marriage rates for blacks than for nonblacks. Second, are children who leave home early, thus experiencing a "role hiatus" in terms of family relationships, less likely to marry at a given age than those who have not had this experience? While many women go away to school, and so increase their economic alternatives to marriage, many others attend college while living at home, and are thus less exposed to alternative spending patterns, and less likely to experience autonomy and independence before marriage.
Bibliography Citation
Kobrin, Frances E. and Linda J. Waite. "Effects of Family Stability and Nestleaving Patterns on the Transition to Marriage." Presented: Detroit, MI, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1983.
62. Kowaleski-Jones, Lori
Welfare Receipt and Family Structure: Evaluating the Effects on Child Cognitive Outcomes
Presented: Los Angeles, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1994
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Child Development; Cognitive Development; Family Income; Family Structure; Maternal Employment; Mothers, Adolescent; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Self-Esteem; Welfare

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper examines the impact of public and private support systems on cognitive outcomes for children born to adolescent mothers. The data for this analysis were drawn from the 1979 to 1988 rounds of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The sample consists of 1358 children who were between the ages of six and ten in 1988. The key inputs for this analysis are average family income, intensity of mother's employment, and presence of a significant other, as indicators of private support systems, and average number of survey years that the family received welfare benefits, as indicators of public support systems, over the life span of the child. The initial maternal resources on which they may draw intellectual skills and self esteem are controlled in all analyses. Overall, the findings indicate that private support systems are important in shaping the children's cognitive development but these effects are sometimes contingent on the levels of maternal resources available. These results suggest that total family income is a more important predictor of reading ability than is a history of welfare receipt. Rather than focusing on the potential-negative effects of welfare receipt on children, researchers should be investigating the ways in which adolescent mothers who rely on welfare may not have intellectual, emotional, or economic resources sufficient to ensure optimal child development. Researchers and policy analysts should also be concerned with how a lack of maternal resources may interact with available private support systems to impinge on their children's development. Update version, 1996, available from the author.
Bibliography Citation
Kowaleski-Jones, Lori. "Welfare Receipt and Family Structure: Evaluating the Effects on Child Cognitive Outcomes." Presented: Los Angeles, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1994.
63. Kraft, Joan Marie
Coverdill, James E.
Employment, Job Characteristics, and the Use of Birth Control by Sexually Active, Never-Married Black, Hispanic, and White Women
Presented: Cincinnati, OH, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1991
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Childbearing, Premarital/Nonmarital; Contraception; Hispanics; Occupational Status; Racial Differences; Sexual Activity; Wages

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

An investigation of ways that employment and job characteristics influence the use of birth control by sexually active, unmarried, Hispanic, black, and white women ages 17-28. Data from the 1982-1985 waves of the NLSY support the hypothesis that women who work, especially those in high-wage, high-status, and full-time jobs, will find premarital conceptions to be costlier than women who do not work and those in lesser jobs, and as a result, will be more likely to try to avoid a premarital conception through the use of birth control. [Sociological Abstracts, Inc]
Bibliography Citation
Kraft, Joan Marie and James E. Coverdill. "Employment, Job Characteristics, and the Use of Birth Control by Sexually Active, Never-Married Black, Hispanic, and White Women." Presented: Cincinnati, OH, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1991.
64. Krapp, Peter
Age, IQ and Ability
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Age and Ageing; Cognitive Development; Data Quality/Consistency; Demography; Ethnic Differences; Genetics; I.Q.; Intelligence; Racial Differences; Racial Studies; Social Influences; Socioeconomic Status (SES); Teenagers; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT; Tests and Testing

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The development of abilities, & of differences in cognitive abilities between racial & ethnic groups, has long been a contested topic both within sociology & between psychology & sociology. The recent publication of The Bell Curve (see IRPS No. 79/95c02104) has revived the social Darwinist interpretations of these differences according to which individual intelligence scores represent biologically inherited abilities. It also suggests that racial & ethnic differences in such scores represent genetic differences in cognitive ability. At the individual level of analysis, The Bell Curve found many social behaviors of interest to be more closely correlated with intelligence test scores of teenagers than with their socioeconomic status (SES). It compared measures of SES dominated by parents' education to 1980 measures of cognitive ability as predictors of 1980 behaviors. However, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth contains data on intelligence tests administered earlier. When test taking ability (intelligence) is measured by intelligence tests in high school, the differences between the effects of SES & test scores vanish. When earlier intelligence test scores are used, the effect of test scores vanishes altogether. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Krapp, Peter. "Age, IQ and Ability." Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996.
65. Kühhirt, Michael
Klein, Markus
Demirer, Ibrahim
Children’s Academic Achievement and Behavior Problems at the Intersection of Gender and Family Environment
American Sociological Association published online (12 October 2023).
Also: https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231231199395
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Academic Development; Behavior; Behavioral Problems; Children; Children, Academic Development; Families, Single-Parent; Family Environment; Family Structure; Gender; Mothers; Mothers, Education

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This article investigates whether gender differences in children's math, reading, and behavior problems vary across mothers' education and family structure. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth-Children and Young Adults (N > 6,200; age range = 5–14; 51 percent female; 30 percent Black, 20 percent Hispanic, and 50 percent other ethnic backgrounds), we hypothesized that boys growing up with less educated mothers and in single-parent families may lag behind girls more significantly in reading and behavior problems. They may be less ahead in math than their peers from more advantaged backgrounds. Our findings demonstrate this heterogeneity of gender differences by maternal education but not by family structure. This may indicate that cultural norms associated with gender play a significant role in explaining the observed heterogeneity across family circumstances. We replicated these findings for academic achievement using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class 1998-1999.
Bibliography Citation
Kühhirt, Michael, Markus Klein and Ibrahim Demirer. "Children’s Academic Achievement and Behavior Problems at the Intersection of Gender and Family Environment." American Sociological Association published online (12 October 2023).
66. Leahey, Erin
Guo, Guang
Gender Differences in Mathematics: Evidence from the NLSY and the NELS
Presented: Chicago, IL, Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 1999
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Modeling, Growth Curve/Latent Trajectory Analysis; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using data from the NLSY and NELS and curvilinear growth models, we examine gender differences in mathematical trajectories from elementary school through high school. We analyze subsamples of high-scoring students and also different areas of math, such as reasoning and geometry. Despite relatively equal starting points in elementary school, and relatively equal slopes, we find that boys have a faster rate of acceleration. By the 12th grade, this results in a slight gender difference, which is most pronounced in geometry.
Bibliography Citation
Leahey, Erin and Guang Guo. "Gender Differences in Mathematics: Evidence from the NLSY and the NELS." Presented: Chicago, IL, Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 1999.
67. Li, Zhonghe
The Impact of First Non-Marital Birth on the Formation of the First Marriage
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1998
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Age at First Birth; Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Cohabitation; Family Formation; Gender Differences; Marital Status; Poverty; Racial Differences

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Adopting Cox regression models, data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are used to examine the effects of the first nonmarital birth on the formation of the first marriage. Results show that having a nonmarital birth increases the likelihood of marriage for black & Hispanic women, but decreases that for white women although the effects are not statistically significant for Hispanic & white women. Living in poverty is negatively associated with the likelihood of marriage across racial/ethnic groups, but has its strongest effect among blacks, for whom the longer they received Aid to Families with Dependent Children in the previous calendar year, the less likelihood of their marriage. Family structure does not show any impact on white or black women's marriage behavior. Being "not enrolled in regular school" is associated with higher risk of marrying among white women. Living with a partner increases black & Hispanic women's likelihood of marriage. Income has a negative impact on marriage only among whites. Growing up in a single-mother family is associated with a higher risk of not being enrolled in school. Among those who are not enrolled in school, nonmarital childbearing greatly reduces likelihood of marrying.
Bibliography Citation
Li, Zhonghe. "The Impact of First Non-Marital Birth on the Formation of the First Marriage." Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1998.
68. Marini, Margaret Mooney
Fan, Pi-Ling
Education and the Gender Gap in Earnings at Career Entry
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1996
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Discrimination, Sex; Gender Differences; High School; Higher Education; Income; Job Aspirations; Occupational Aspirations; Occupational Segregation; Social Environment; Unions; Wage Gap; Wage Rates

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Analyzes the gender wage gap at career entry for 2 groups of workers, those with only vs [sic] more than a high school education, using a new approach that identifies several alternative explanatory mechanisms that account for the sorting of women & men into different types of jobs that offer different levels of reward. Because labor market rewards derive from the occupancy of labor market positions, matching processes operating at the microlevel that sort individual workers into existing slots, or openings, in a given microlevel structure of jobs & associated wages are examined. It is argued that the gender difference in wages at career entry results from several types of influences that affect the sorting of workers into jobs with different levels of reward: (1) gender differences in job-related skills & credentials, (2) gender differences in adult family roles, (3) gender differences in work & family aspirations, (4) gender discrimination by employers, & (5) gender differences in the availability & use of information & influence via social networks. Based on analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth collected 1979-1991, it is shown that the gender gap in wages at career entry is larger for those with only high school education (20%) than for those with more than high school education (13%). The difference in the size of the wage gap for the 2 education groups arises because there is greater occupational segregation by gender for occupations requiring only high school education than for those requiring more than high school education. The findings on the microlevel processes that match individuals to jobs indicate that gender segregation & the association between the gender type & wage rate of jobs within the organizational structure of the labor market are perpetuated to some degree by microlevel processes that produce gender differences in the aspirations & qualifications with which workers enter the labor market but at least as much & probably more by microlevel processes that operate at the point of career entry to channel women & men with the same aspirations & qualifications into different (gender-typed) jobs. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Marini, Margaret Mooney and Pi-Ling Fan. "Education and the Gender Gap in Earnings at Career Entry." Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1996.
69. McLeod, Jane D.
Fettes, Danielle L.
Trajectories of Failure: The Educational Careers of Children with Mental Health Problems
Presented: New York, NY, Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 2007.
Also: http://research.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/8/2/9/4/p182944_index.html
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); CESD (Depression Scale); Children, Academic Development; College Enrollment; Depression (see also CESD); Educational Aspirations/Expectations; Educational Attainment; GED/General Educational Diploma/General Equivalency Degree/General Educational Development; High School Completion/Graduates; High School Diploma; Modeling, Growth Curve/Latent Trajectory Analysis; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); School Completion; School Dropouts

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In this paper, we address two critical gaps in prior research regarding the association of children's mental health problems with educational attainment: the lack of attention to the temporal form of the association and the failure to consider diverse explanations. Using data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth data set, we identify latent classes that characterize trajectories of internalizing and externalizing problems from ages 6-8 through ages 16-18. Youth in the classes vary significantly in their likelihoods of high school completion and college entry. Youth who experienced internalizing or externalizing problems in childhood or adolescence were less likely than youth with stably low levels of problems to complete high school; youth who experienced externalizing problems at either age were less likely to enter college but college entry was only significantly associated with internalizing problems that began in childhood. We evaluated the ability of three sets of mediators to explain these patterns: academic aptitude, disruptive behaviors, and educational expectations. Educational expectations were important mediators even in the presence of controls for academic aptitude and disruptive behaviors. We conclude that social responses to youth's mental health problems contribute to their disrupted educational trajectories.
Bibliography Citation
McLeod, Jane D. and Danielle L. Fettes. "Trajectories of Failure: The Educational Careers of Children with Mental Health Problems." Presented: New York, NY, Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 2007.
70. Mellott, Leanna Marie
Qian, Zhenchao
Lichter, Daniel T.
Like Mother, Like Daughter? The Intergenerational Transmission of Union Formation Patterns
Presented: Philadelphia, PA, American Sociological Association Meetings, August 2005
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Cohabitation; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Mothers and Daughters

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Research showed that young adult women whose mothers reported cohabitation were 57 percent more likely than other women to report cohabitation themselves. In addition, daughters of cohabiting mothers tended to cohabit at earlier ages than others.

Data for the study came from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a nationally representative survey of people nationwide conducted by Ohio State's Center for Human Resource Research. Men and women aged 14 to 22 in 1979 were interviewed annually from 1979 to 1994, and once every two years from 1996 forward. The NLSY also interviewed these participants' children.

This study included data on women in the NLSY who had children who were at least 18 years old by 2000. There were 2,426 of these young adults in this study.

Bibliography Citation
Mellott, Leanna Marie, Zhenchao Qian and Daniel T. Lichter. "Like Mother, Like Daughter? The Intergenerational Transmission of Union Formation Patterns." Presented: Philadelphia, PA, American Sociological Association Meetings, August 2005.
71. Menaghan, Elizabeth G.
Mott, Frank L.
Cooksey, Elizabeth C.
Work, Family Patterns, and Child Well Being: Tracing Consequences over Time
Presented: Toronto, Canada, Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 1997
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Behavioral Problems; Bias Decomposition; Bullying/Victimization; Children, Well-Being; Family Characteristics; Family Circumstances, Changes in; Family Influences; Fathers, Absence; Fathers, Presence; Health, Mental/Psychological; Maternal Employment; Mothers, Behavior; Peers/Peer influence/Peer relations

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Our overall research objective is to describe and explain the development, maintenance, and change in children's behavior problems during middle childhood, and subsequently to examine the implications of these patterns for early adolescent behavior. We focus on two major categories of problems: a) externalizing behavior that is troubling to others, especially aggressive and antisocial behavior; and b) internalizing behavior marked by withdrawal from interaction and depressed mood. In the research we report today, we focus exclusively on the former dimension, and study what we term "oppositional action"-outward acts of behavior that often have an antisocial element to them and reflect under-control of aggressive impulses, for example, bullying others, having trouble getting along with peers and teachers, and being restless, impulsive, and short-tempered. We analyze levels of oppositional action at ages ten and eleven, and changes in levels since ages six and seven, linking both level and change to maternal and child characteristics, current work and family circumstances, and changes in those circumstances over time (see conceptural model?).
Bibliography Citation
Menaghan, Elizabeth G., Frank L. Mott and Elizabeth C. Cooksey. "Work, Family Patterns, and Child Well Being: Tracing Consequences over Time." Presented: Toronto, Canada, Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 1997.
72. Menaghan, Elizabeth G.
Mott, Frank L.
Jekielek, Susan Marie
Kowaleski-Jones, Lori
Children's Behavior Problems: Effects of Current Conditions and Maternal Resources
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Children, Adjustment Problems; Children, Behavioral Development; Educational Attainment; Educational Returns; Fathers, Presence; Self-Esteem

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Explores how work & family circumstances shape young children's emotional well-being & behavior, & the extent to which parental resources buffer against adverse effects, using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth for a synthetic cohort of 2,343 children ages 6-7, who were born 1979 & 1986. Results suggest 3 aspects of current work & family circumstances are associated with lower levels of children's behavior problems: (1) the presence of the child's father in the family, (2) the mother being employed, & (3) among employed mothers, the mother working in an occupation that offers greater complexity. Maternal resources also matter: mothers with higher self-esteem, lower levels of youthful deviance, & who had avoided smoking during pregnancy had children with lower levels of behavior problems. These resources had directed effects on behavior problems when current work & family circumstances were controlled, & indirect effects through their impact s on curr ent work & family circumstances. Mothers' cognitive resources had no direct effects, but higher education helped to buffer the effects of presence/absence of the child's father. Higher cognitive resources were also associated with better current work & family circumstances. It is concluded that mothers' resources & their current work & family circumstances affect children's well-being; these effects persist despite stringent controls & are predominantly additive in form. From a policy perspective, these results suggest that improvements in current work & family circumstances can enhance children's well-being, even for children whose mothers have poorer emotional & cognitive resources. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Menaghan, Elizabeth G., Frank L. Mott, Susan Marie Jekielek and Lori Kowaleski-Jones. "Children's Behavior Problems: Effects of Current Conditions and Maternal Resources." Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996.
73. Morgan, William R.
Sun, Rongjun
Bootstrap Theory of American Social Mobility: Are Resilient Children a Fantasy?
Presented: Atlanta, Ga, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2003
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Bias Decomposition; Children, Academic Development; Children, Poverty; Comparison Group (Reference group); Modeling, Growth Curve/Latent Trajectory Analysis; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Variables, Independent - Covariate

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Social mobility for persons reared in urban neighborhoods of concentrated poverty often occurs without the social stimulation usually encompassed in conventional understandings of significant others' influence. In this longitudinal case study of 613 children living in Cleveland's high poverty neighborhoods, we examine the impact on educational achievement growth and behavior problem decline of the children's capacity for resiliency and the opportunity for temporary residence with their mothers in a uniquely constructed total social environment, a therapeutic community for women addicted to crack cocaine. After reviewing the extensive literature on children's resiliency, we develop a new instrument to measure the capacity for resiliency, a multidimensional construct comprising observable cognitive, moral, and relational strengths. We use hierarchical growth modeling to estimate the effects for children of this newly measured capacity for resiliency and the treatment setting while controlling for observable covariates of the mother and child and unobserved family heterogeneity and auto-correlated measurement error across the four annual time points of the test observations. Increases in math and reading achievement and a decline in behavior problems were significantly related to the child's capacity for resiliency. Increases in math, reading, and vocabulary achievement were significantly related to time spent living with mother in the therapeutic community. After demonstrating the likely generalizability of our findings beyond the treatment sample of children and mothers, we examine reasons for the therapeutic community's impact on these children. NOTE: The 1992 NLSY79 Child file was used as the basis for a comparison group in this study. Estimates are drawn from the Child-Mother Supplement of the 1992 round of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth (Center for Human Resource Research 1998). The weighted national sample was restricted to all sampled NLSY children aged 4-13 and their mothers (n = 4709), and the urban poverty subsample on all in this age bracket who were residing in the nonsuburban districts of metropolitan areas and had family incomes in the prior year that fell below the federal poverty line (n = 636).
Bibliography Citation
Morgan, William R. and Rongjun Sun. "Bootstrap Theory of American Social Mobility: Are Resilient Children a Fantasy?" Presented: Atlanta, Ga, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2003.
74. Mott, Frank L.
The Impact of Father's Absence from the Home on Subsequent Cognitive Development of Younger Children: Linkages Between Socio-Emotional and Cognitive Well-Being
Presented: Pittsburgh, PA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1992
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Behavioral Problems; Children, Well-Being; Fathers, Absence; General Assessment; Household Composition; Maternal Employment; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Pre/post Natal Behavior; Pre/post Natal Health Care

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper uses data from the 1979 through 1988 rounds of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and accompanying child supplements to explore linkages between a father's absenting himself from the home during a child's early years of life and subsequent socio-emotional and cognitive development (as measured by scores on a Behavior Problems index and PIAT mathematics and reading assessments. The children in the sample were all born between the 1979 and 1983 survey rounds to a national sample of women who were 14 to 21 on January 1, 1979; the children were between five and eight years of age. Systematic patterns of socio-emotional and cognitive disadvantage associated with a fathers absence per se were most pronounced for white boys. Additionally, for all except black girls, father-absent children who did not have access to a significant father figure scored lower than their counterparts on a Behavior Problems index. From a statistical perspective, significant associations between overall detrimental behavior problem scores and lesser cognitive development were found; however, in a substantive sense, these linkages were modest. To the extent that emotional-cognitive linkages are mediated by father's absence, commonalities are most likely to reflect common socio-economic origins-linked with maternal education, intelligence and economic well-being.
Bibliography Citation
Mott, Frank L. "The Impact of Father's Absence from the Home on Subsequent Cognitive Development of Younger Children: Linkages Between Socio-Emotional and Cognitive Well-Being." Presented: Pittsburgh, PA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1992.
75. Mott, Frank L.
Haurin, R. Jean
Marsiglio, William
The Impact of Longitudinal Data Files on Research on Women's Roles
Presented: Detroit, MI, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1983
Cohort(s): Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavior; Research Methodology; Sex Roles

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper considers how several major longitudinal data sets which include data appropriate for sociological analyses of issues associated with women's roles have been used for such research. In particular, the extent to which these data sets are (1) useful for examining the dynamics of female home/work behavior and (2) being used extensively within a longitudinal context. The explicit inclusion of variables for sociological analyses in these data sets and the extent to which the available data have biased the research orientation of sociologists is considered.
Bibliography Citation
Mott, Frank L., R. Jean Haurin and William Marsiglio. "The Impact of Longitudinal Data Files on Research on Women's Roles." Presented: Detroit, MI, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1983.
76. Myers, Samuel L., Jr.
Unintended Impacts of Sentencing on Family Structure
Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2000
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Divorce; Drug Use; Family Characteristics; Family Environment; Family Structure; Household Composition; Incarceration/Jail; Marriage; Parents, Single; Racial Differences; Sex Ratios; Sociability/Socialization/Social Interaction; Underclass

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This 24-month project was motivated by theoretical and empirical findings suggesting that sentencing reforms and punitive prison sanctions may have adverse impacts on families. The hypothesis that we tested using different data sets and different time periods and different measures of family structure was that imprisonment has had the unintended consequence of destabilizing families, particularly black families. To test the hypothesis, we designed three research modules that would each examine the relationship between family structure and incarceration, but using different measures and data sets. The first module merged the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth for 1965 and 1994 with the Urban Institute 1980 and 1990 Underclass Database and the 1984 and 1993 National Correctional Report Program data set for counties to measure the impact of inmate admissions and releases on female-headed families, female family headship and out-of-wedlock births. In the second module, we merged data from the Current Population Survey for 1985 and 1995 with state-level data to measure the Darity-Myers sex ratio and expected welfare income and their relationship to family structure, sentencing guidelines, and minimum sentences for drug-related crimes. Finally, Module C used data collected from inmates entering the Minnesota prison system in 1997 and 1998 and information from the Minnesota Crime Survey and the 1990 Census to assess any connections between incarceration and family structure. In summary, we found little support for the theoretically plausible hypothesis that there are strong unintended impacts of imprisonment policies on family structure.
Bibliography Citation
Myers, Samuel L., Jr. "Unintended Impacts of Sentencing on Family Structure." Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2000.
77. Nickoll, Rebecca A.
Parcel, Toby L.
The Effects of Parental Work Characteristics and Maternal Nonemployment on Children's Reading and Math Achievement
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Cognitive Ability; Cognitive Development; Divorce; Marital Status; Marriage; Maternal Employment; Parent-Child Relationship/Closeness; Parental Influences; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Tests and Testing

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using 1992 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Merged Child-Mother Data of children ages 9-12 (N = 1,067) who have valid scores on the Reading & Math Peabody Individual Achievement Tests, examines how parental work characteristics & maternal nonemployment affect children's reading & math achievement, arguing that parents who perform complex work will encourage self-direction & cognitive achievement in their children. It is found that child background characteristics, as well as maternal cognitive skills & spouse's education, are important predictors of both reading & math outcomes. Results also show that the effects of maternal nonemployment vary by maternal education, child sex, & marital status, while the effects of maternal occupational complexity vary by child sex & the extent of employment. Possible avenues for future research are suggested. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Nickoll, Rebecca A. and Toby L. Parcel. "The Effects of Parental Work Characteristics and Maternal Nonemployment on Children's Reading and Math Achievement." Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996.
78. Oates, Gary L.
Self-Esteem Enhancement Through Fertility? Addressing Issues of Socio-Economic Prospects, Gender, and Mutual Influence
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Divorce; Gender Differences; Marriage; Parenthood; Self-Esteem; Socioeconomic Factors

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, examines whether or not parenthood (as measured by number of children) enhances one's self-esteem, whether the effect of parenthood on self-esteem is stronger among the less socioeconomically privileged & among women, & whether there is evidence of mutual influence in the relationship between parenthood & self-esteem. Results indicate that parenthood does not influence the self-esteem of men, & wields a modest negative effect on the self-esteem of women. The latter effect, however, appears to be a spurious consequence of the relationship between both variables & socioeconomic prospects, a variable that displays a strong positive correlation with self-esteem, & a strong negative correlation with number of children. There is no evidence that having children enhances the self-esteem of those who are less socioeconomically privileged, or any other class of individuals. Results are also more consistent with the notion that parenthood influences self-esteem, rather than the reverse. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Oates, Gary L. "Self-Esteem Enhancement Through Fertility? Addressing Issues of Socio-Economic Prospects, Gender, and Mutual Influence." Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996.
79. Okamoto, Dina G.
Identifying the Determinants of Gender-Atypical Occupational Choice Among Men and Women
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Children; Discrimination, Sex; Gender Differences; Human Capital Theory; Marital Status; Occupational Choice; Occupational Segregation; Occupations, Non-Traditional; Part-Time Work

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

A national probability sample taken from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth is used to explore the factors that influence the gender-atypical occupational choices of men & women. Using the theoretical frameworks of human capital theory & sex role socialization, & building on past research, hypotheses about the sex composition of men's & women's occupations are derived & tested. Hypotheses derived from the theoretical frameworks received mixed support from OLS regressions. It was found that, for men, education, a high % female (F) in mother's or father's occupation, perceptions of sex discrimination, & high % F in aspired & expected occupation increase the nontraditionality of occupational outcomes. For women, liberal gender role attitudes decrease the traditionality of their occupational outcome, while having children, being married, working part-time, & high % F in aspired occupation increase the traditionality of their occupational outcome. (Co pyright 19 96, Sociolo gical Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Okamoto, Dina G. "Identifying the Determinants of Gender-Atypical Occupational Choice Among Men and Women." Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996.
80. Parcel, Toby L.
Campbell, Lori A.
Capital at Home Affecting Children's Behavior Problems in the United States and Great Britain
Presented: Montreal, QC, Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 2006
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Cross-national Analysis; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Human Capital; Maternal Employment; NCDS - National Child Development Study (British); Social Capital

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We analyze the effects of family social, human and financial capital on child behavior problems in two societies. This is possible by comparing a sample of 5-13 year old children from the 1994 NLSY with a similar sample from the 1991 NCDS British Child. In both societies, male children, those with health problems, and those with divorced mothers are at higher risk, while those with stronger home environments are at reduced risk. However, British children are at reduced risk the higher the mothers' mental abilities, and are at increased risk in they live in single parent homes or have higher numbers of siblings, effects absent in the United States. U.S. children are at reduced risk if they have nonwhite mothers, if the mother was reared in an intact family, and if the mother works low part-time hours, effects absent in Great Britain. We conclude that, while some of the specific effects differ, parents are important in both societies in promoting child social adjustment, and that evidence for the notion that the more developed welfare state in Great Britain may substitute for capital at home in promoting child social adjustment is weak.
Bibliography Citation
Parcel, Toby L. and Lori A. Campbell. "Capital at Home Affecting Children's Behavior Problems in the United States and Great Britain." Presented: Montreal, QC, Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 2006.
81. Parcel, Toby L.
Dufur, Mikaela J.
Capital at Home and at School: Effects on Child Social Adjustment
Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1999
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Behavioral Problems; Child Development; Child School Survey 1994-1995; Children, Adjustment Problems; Home Environment; Human Capital; Schooling; Sociability/Socialization/Social Interaction

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Argues for the usefulness of analyzing school & family social capital, human capital, & physical capital as parallel concepts & investigates the effects of family & school social capital on child behavioral problems, controlling for human & physical capital in both contexts. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth merged Mother-Child Data for 1992 & 1994, to which indicators of the children's schools for 1993-1995 have recently been added, are used to study 1,833 children in grades 1-8 for 1992 & 1994. Findings demonstrate that school social capital effects on child behavior are modest in size, while family social capital, school human capital, & family physical capital effects are stronger. Tests of interactive effects suggest that certain types of capital can help to compensate for negative circumstances in children's home or school lives or can work together to boost the positive effects of each type of capital. Implications for which forms of capital investment are most likely to promote child adjustment are discussed.
Bibliography Citation
Parcel, Toby L. and Mikaela J. Dufur. "Capital at Home and at School: Effects on Child Social Adjustment." Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1999.
82. Pattillo-McCoy, Mary
Heflin, Colleen M.
Poverty in the Family: Siblings of the Black and White Middle Class
Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1999
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Black Studies; Educational Attainment; Employment; Family Structure; Income; Kinship; Poverty; Racial Differences; Siblings; Socioeconomic Factors

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Tests the generalizability of qualitative findings of class diversity in the family networks of middle-class African Americans, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to assess the socioeconomic characteristics of siblings of middle-class blacks & whites. Bivariate analyses of three middle-class samples, drawn on the basis of income, occupation, & education, show race differences in the income, poverty status, public assistance receipt, employment, family composition, & educational attainment of siblings. Multivariate analysis reveals that having been poor as an adolescent reduces the effect of being African American on having a poor sibling & on having a sibling receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children, capturing the intergenerational component of poverty, as well as the recency of the black middle class. It is argued that the disparate family contexts in which middle-class blacks & whites are embedded have ramifications for their relative well-being & contribute to the fragility of the former.
Bibliography Citation
Pattillo-McCoy, Mary and Colleen M. Heflin. "Poverty in the Family: Siblings of the Black and White Middle Class." Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1999.
83. Pavalko, Eliza K.
Artis, Julie E.
Caregiving and Paid Work in Women's Lives
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Disability; Employment; Employment, History; Labor Force Participation; Life Course; Retirement/Retirement Planning; Women; Work History; Work Hours/Schedule

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Care of an ill or disabled family member or friend is disproportionately done by women, typically in late mid-life. Because this is also a time in the life course when women's labor force participation peaks, many women faced with caregiving demands have to decide how to balance them with their employment. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women are used to examined the relationship between employment & caring for an ill or disabled friend or relative over a 3-year period. It is found that the relationship between caregiving & employment is complex. Employed women are as likely as nonemployed women to start caregiving, but among the employed, work history is related to starting caregiving. Starting caregiving has a strong effecton reduction in employment hours, & these hours are not regained after women stop caregiving. Hour reductions among caregivers are not affected by the woman's attitudes toward her paid work, her proximity to retirement, or her prior employment history. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Pavalko, Eliza K. and Julie E. Artis. "Caregiving and Paid Work in Women's Lives." Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association, August 1996.
84. Plank, Stephen B.
Deluca, Stefanie
Estacion, Angela
High School Dropout and the Roles of Career and Technical Education: A Survival Analysis of Surviving High School
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2004
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Dropouts; High School Curriculum; High School Dropouts; Modeling, Hazard/Event History/Survival/Duration; Vocational Education

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) to develop hazards models of high school dropout. Our particular interest involves the place of career and technical education (CTE) within the broader landscape of the high school curriculum and individuals' experiences. We ask whether various aspects of CTE -- which are sometimes intentionally integrated with core academic experiences and sometimes not -- increase or decrease the risk of dropping out (possibly through mechanisms of detachment from or attachment to school). A significant reduction in the risk of dropping out is found to be associated with participating in a Career Major (a coherent sequence of courses based upon an occupational goal). Implications and directions for future analyses are discussed.
Bibliography Citation
Plank, Stephen B., Stefanie Deluca and Angela Estacion. "High School Dropout and the Roles of Career and Technical Education: A Survival Analysis of Surviving High School." Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2004.
85. Plotnick, Robert D.
Klawitter, Marieka Marjorie
Edwards, Mark Evan
Do Attitudes and Personal Characteristics Affect Socioeconomic Outcomes? The Case of Welfare Use by Young Women
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1998
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Attitudes; Family Background and Culture; Family Influences; Locus of Control (see Rotter Scale); Modeling, Hazard/Event History/Survival/Duration; Modeling, Logit; Self-Esteem; Welfare

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Develops & estimates a structural model of social-psychological determinants of entry to the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, which holds that attitudes & personality characteristics influence a woman's likelihood of becoming demographically & financially eligible for welfare & her willingness to bear the stigma of receiving benefits. These factors, in turn, affect the likelihood of going on welfare. Data from the youngest cohorts of women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are drawn on to estimate logit models of the probability of ever participating in AFDC up to age 25 & hazard models of the timing until first use of AFDC. The attitudes & personality characteristics investigated are self-esteem, locus of control, attitudes toward school, attitudes toward women's work & family roles, commitment to work, & aversion to accepting public assistance. Strong associations are found between welfare use & several attitudes & personality characteristics, but most of the associations are not robust to the inclusion of exogenous personal & family background characteristics. There is consistent, strong evidence that more positive attitudes toward school lower the likelihood of using welfare & increasing duration until first receipt.
Bibliography Citation
Plotnick, Robert D., Marieka Marjorie Klawitter and Mark Evan Edwards. "Do Attitudes and Personal Characteristics Affect Socioeconomic Outcomes? The Case of Welfare Use by Young Women." Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1998.
86. Rogers, Stacy J.
Bringing the Outside In: Remarriage, Family Interaction and Child Outcomes in the Context of Parental Work Experiences
Presented: Los Angeles, CA, Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 1994
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Family Environment; Family Influences; Family Structure; Maternal Employment; Parental Influences; Remarriage; Self-Esteem; Work Experience

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Bibliography Citation
Rogers, Stacy J. "Bringing the Outside In: Remarriage, Family Interaction and Child Outcomes in the Context of Parental Work Experiences." Presented: Los Angeles, CA, Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 1994.
87. Rogers, Stacy J.
Family Structure and Children's Social and Emotional Outcomes: The Impact of Marital Quality and Mother-Child Interaction Patterns in Stepfather and Intact Families
Presented: Pittsburgh, PA, Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 1992
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Children, Behavioral Development; Education; Family Structure; Fathers, Absence; Income; Marital Conflict; Marital Dissolution; Marital Instability; Marital Stability; Maternal Employment; Self-Esteem; Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

It is postulated that persistent marital conflict, as well as marital support, may affect the quality of interactions between mothers & their children, which in turn are expected to influence children's behavioral & emotional development, & that children's sense of self-esteem may mediate the effects of marital conflict & mother-child interaction on children's behavior problems. The model is tested for a subsample of both mother-father & mother-stepfather families (N = 688 children ages 8-11) who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey's Youth Cohort in 1988. The findings indicate that the proposed model operates similarly for mother-father & mother-stepfather families. Supportive marital relationships are associated with more positive interactions between mother & child. In turn, more positive mother-child interactions are directly related to higher levels of children's self-esteem & lower levels of behavior problems. While marital conflict does not have a direct effect on the quality of mother-child interactions, it is negatively related to children's sense of self-esteem & positively associated with behavior problems. Compared to mother-stepfather families, mother-father families are associated with more supportive, positive interactions between mothers & children, & higher levels of self-esteem in children. (Copyright 1992, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Rogers, Stacy J. "Family Structure and Children's Social and Emotional Outcomes: The Impact of Marital Quality and Mother-Child Interaction Patterns in Stepfather and Intact Families." Presented: Pittsburgh, PA, Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 1992.
88. Shu, Xiaoling
Marini, Margaret Mooney
Change in the Occupational Aspirations of Youth
Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1996
Cohort(s): Young Men, Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Data Quality/Consistency; Gender Differences; Job Aspirations; Occupational Aspirations; Occupational Prestige; Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Background; Women's Roles

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience on 2 cohorts of adolescents & young adults are used to examine cohort change on 3 dimensions of occupational aspirations: prestige, earning potential, & sex type. Both the extent of change & the determinants of change on each of these 3 occupational dimensions are explored by gender & race. Results indicate a substantial change in young women's occupational ambitions, which is reflected in the sex-type & earning potential of the occupations to which they aspired. Women in more recent birth cohorts were less likely to aspire to female-dominated occupations, & more so to occupations with higher earning potential, than women in earlier cohorts. Despite the major change in women's occupational aspirations, there was no significant change in men's aspirations. Socioeconomic background became a more important determinant of both the prestige & earning levels & the sex type of occupational aspirationsamong women, suggesting that change in aspirations occurred disproportionately among those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Shu, Xiaoling and Margaret Mooney Marini. "Change in the Occupational Aspirations of Youth." Presented: New York, NY, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1996.
89. Strohschein, Lisa
Household Income Histories and Child Mental Health Trajectories
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46, 4 (Dec 2005): 359-375
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Behavior, Antisocial; Child Health; Children, Mental Health; Children, Well-Being; Depression (see also CESD); Family Income; Family Structure; Household Composition; Household Income

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Although it is widely accepted that low household income is associated with worse child mental health, less is known bout whether income histories, often differentiated into stable and dynamic components, also matter. Using longitudinal data from the Child Supplement of the NLSY, comprising the repeated measures of children ages 4-14 from 1986-1998 inclusive, I estimate generalized linear mixed models to evaluate the influence of household income histories on child depression and antisocial behavior over time. Results indicate that, at initial interview, low household income is associated with higher levels of depression and antisocial behavior; subsequent improvements in household income reduce child mental health problems. Further, the effect of initial household income on the rate of change in child depression attenuates as children grow older, whereas for antisocial behavior the effect of initial household income becomes stronger over time. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the ways in which children are influenced by their families' income histories.
Bibliography Citation
Strohschein, Lisa. "Household Income Histories and Child Mental Health Trajectories." Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46, 4 (Dec 2005): 359-375.
90. Suter, Larry E.
Waite, Linda J.
Changes in Fertility Expectations of Young Women: Evidence from Longitudinal Data
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1975
Cohort(s): Young Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Children; Fertility; Sex Roles; Work Experience; Work History

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper uses tabulations of two questions included in the l97l and l973 interviews of the NLS of Young Women. Several factors believed to account for a decline in the level of birth expectations were examined: changes in work experience and work plans, concern for population growth, and increasing attitudes toward a non-family role for women.
Bibliography Citation
Suter, Larry E. and Linda J. Waite. "Changes in Fertility Expectations of Young Women: Evidence from Longitudinal Data." Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1975.
91. Taniguchi, Hiromi
Rosenfeld, Rachel A.
Family, Labor Market, and Race/Ethnic Differences in Women's Employment Histories
Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2000
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Education; Employment; Ethnic Differences; Exits; Family Characteristics; Hispanic Studies; Hispanics; Job Turnover; Racial Differences; Unions

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We investigate the determinants of employment transitions with samples from White, Black, and Hispanic women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Both family- and job-related characteristics significantly affect the patterns of employment exit and return, though with some notable race/ethnic differences. Pregnancy status increases the rate of employment exits for White and Hispanic women to a greater extent than for Black women. While wage level significantly reduces the rate of employment exits, regardless of race/ethnicity, the magnitude of this effect is significantly larger among non-White women, suggesting their vulnerability to the fluctuation of wages in times of economic recession. In terms of women's power in the labor market, we see the positive effects of high-level occupations and union affiliation on employment duration, effects that tend to favor Whites over minority women. Both pregnancy status and young children reduce the rate of employment returns for all race/ethnic groups, but this tendency is weaker among Blacks. Hispanic women are also faced with a labor market disadvantage through education, both in employment exit and reentrance, compared not only with Whites but with Blacks as well.
Bibliography Citation
Taniguchi, Hiromi and Rachel A. Rosenfeld. "Family, Labor Market, and Race/Ethnic Differences in Women's Employment Histories." Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2000.
92. Thomeer, Mieke Beth
Brantley, Mia
Reczek, Rin
Cumulative Disadvantage or Strained Advantage? Remote Schooling, Paid Work Status, and Parental Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic
American Sociological Association published online (26 February 2024).
Also: https://doi.org/10.1177/00221465241230505
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): COVID-19/Coronavirus Pandemic; Depression (see also CESD); Health Disparities; Health Outcomes; Health, Mental/Psychological; Job Separation/Loss; Parenthood; Parents, Single; Race/Ethnicity; Schooling/Education, Remote; Unemployment; Work Disruption

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, parents experienced difficulties around employment and children’s schooling, likely with detrimental mental health implications. We analyze National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 data (N = 2,829) to estimate depressive symptom changes from 2019 to 2021 by paid work status and children’s schooling modality, considering partnership status, gender, and race-ethnicity differences. We draw on cumulative disadvantage theory alongside strained advantage theory to test whether mental health declines were steeper for parents with more disadvantaged statuses or for parents with more advantaged statuses. Parents with work disruptions, without paid work, or with children in remote school experienced the greatest increases in depressive symptoms, with steepest increases among single parents without paid work and single parents with children in remote school (cumulative disadvantage), fathers without paid work (strained advantage), and White parents with remote school (strained advantage). We discuss the uneven impacts of the pandemic on mental health and implications for long-term health disparities.
Bibliography Citation
Thomeer, Mieke Beth, Mia Brantley and Rin Reczek. "Cumulative Disadvantage or Strained Advantage? Remote Schooling, Paid Work Status, and Parental Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic." American Sociological Association published online (26 February 2024).
93. Thrall, Charles A.
Furstenberg, Frank F. Jr.
Rationing of Jobs: Consequences for Women Who Want to Work
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1975
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Children; Employment; Job Search; Marital Status; Unemployment

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

As a consequence of a chronic shortage of jobs in the United States, a set of norms and beliefs has developed for allocating the limited supply of jobs that do exist. This normative system serves as both a justification and a set of rules for rationing employment and has thus been labelled "job rationing ideology. " It operates as a queueing mechanism, placing individuals in line for employment with prime age white males at the head of the queue and everyone else one or more steps behind. For individuals such as women and minorities who stand back from the head of the job rationing queue, active job seeking is not a direct function of interest in working but also reflects the individual's sense of obligation to work and right to a job. To the extent that this is true, the present unemployment statistics are of little value in measuring the ability of the economy to provide work to all who are interested in working. Instead, the present measure serves to help obscure both the extent of the chronic shortage of jobs and the impact of the job rationing system on women and minorities who stand back from the head of the line.
Bibliography Citation
Thrall, Charles A. and Frank F. Jr. Furstenberg. "Rationing of Jobs: Consequences for Women Who Want to Work." Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1975.
94. Tyler, Kimberly A.
Longitudinal Study of Precursors to Running Away Among Adolescents in the General Population, A
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2004
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Adolescent Behavior; Alcohol Use; Behavior, Antisocial; Ethnic Differences; Gender Differences; Racial Differences; Runaways; Teenagers; Youth Problems

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Leaving home is an expected practice for American young adults and is viewed as one of the steps in the transition to adulthood. Leaving home between ages 18 to 24 years is considered "on time" whereas leaving home at ages 13 or 14 is considered "off time". Each year, thousands of adolescents fall into the latter category and may be at risk for long-term negative outcomes including adult homelessness. The current study uses the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97) to look at precursors to running away among a sample of 12 to 16 year olds in the general population. The proposed study is unique because it focuses on adolescents who are currently housed but some of who have previously run away. Because the study is longitudinal, we are able to control for previous runs among the adolescents. Results revealed that numerous factors play a role in an adolescent's decision to run away from home. Gender, race/ethnicity, family structure, parenting practices, being suspended from school, high rates of school absenteeism, alcohol use, and engaging in high rates of deviant behavior were all predictive of adolescents running away within the past year. Numerous race/ethnic interactions were found to be significant.
Bibliography Citation
Tyler, Kimberly A. "Longitudinal Study of Precursors to Running Away Among Adolescents in the General Population, A." Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2004.
95. Waite, Linda J.
Berryman, Sue E.
Women in Nontraditional Occupations: Comparisons of the Military and Civilian Sectors
Presented: Detroit, MI, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1983
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Job Tenure; Military Training; Mobility, Job; Occupations, Female; Occupations, Male; Occupations, Non-Traditional; Variables, Independent - Covariate

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Since the early 1970s, the United States military has dramatically increased its recruitment of women and, to ensure that their promotion possibilities would equal those of men, has adopted a policy of distributing women among all eligible occupations, including some formerly filled only by men. The military has had mixed success in integrating women into these nontraditional jobs. Many women prefer traditional work, in medical, clerical, or administrative specialties. Anecdotal evidence suggests that recruiters sometimes pressure them into nontraditional training slots. Among those women who accept traditionally male jobs, tensions often arise with male coworkers and supervisors, which may explain, in part, the higher attrition rate of women. Attrition studies, though few in number, show high attrition of women from blue-collar, nontraditional jobs in both the military and civilian sectors; nontraditional professional, managerial, and administrative jobs show lower attrition. Hypotheses relating to female attrition rates in nontraditional jobs are developed and tested separately in the civilian and military sectors, using data from the NLSY (1979-1981), which included a special supplement on youth in the military, among them 300 women. A polytomous logit specification is used, allowing women who began the period in nontraditional jobs to: (1) remain in the job or change to another nontraditional job; (2) change to a traditional job; or (3) leave the labor force. Polytomous logit permits assessment of the impact of the independent variables on the probability of making each of these transitions relative to making a reference transition.
Bibliography Citation
Waite, Linda J. and Sue E. Berryman. "Women in Nontraditional Occupations: Comparisons of the Military and Civilian Sectors." Presented: Detroit, MI, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1983.
96. Wenk, Deeann L.
St. John, Craig
Racial Differences in Locational Return to Socioeconomic Resources: The Impact of Rural Versus Urban Residence
Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1995
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Black Studies; Mobility, Social; Racial Differences; Residence; Rural Areas; Rural/Urban Differences; Social Environment

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Examines the extent to which blacks receive less locational return for their socioeconomic resources than whites in rural areas. Regression analysis with data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth in 1991 (N = 5,777) shows that whites have significantly greater locational quality than blacks in both rural and urban areas, and that blacks and whites have significantly lower locational quality in rural areas than in urban areas. However, the hypothesis that rural blacks receive a lower return in locational quality for their socioeconomic resources than rural whites is not supported. Rather, rural blacks experience a penalty in locational quality relative to rural whites that is independent of socioeconomic resource; part of this penalty is a function of overrepresentation in the nonwhite rural South. (Copyright 1995, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Wenk, Deeann L. and Craig St. John. "Racial Differences in Locational Return to Socioeconomic Resources: The Impact of Rural Versus Urban Residence." Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1995.
97. Willis, Amy L. Karnehm
Adolescent Early Sexual Debut: What Can Parents Do to Postpone It?
Presented: Anaheim, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2001
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Sexual Activity

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In this paper I examine the transmission of family social capital from parent to child, as it impacts adolescent sexual initiation prior to age 16. I extend the application of James Coleman's ideas and borrow from the conclusions of Alejandro Portes to integrate social capital theory with parenting practices and theories of adolescent sexual behavior. Using the 1979-1996 mother, child, and young adult data files from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), I examine parenting factors (i.e., shared activities as indicators of the parent-child bond, parental support, and parental control) and child and family characteristics (e.g., maternal education, race/ethnicity father presence, maternal aspirations for child's education) that distinguish teens born to young mothers who have "early sex" (initiate prior to age 16), from those who delay their initiation until or past age 16. As hypothesized, children who reported at least monthly church attendance with their parents at age 10 or 11 are more likely to delay their first sex until at least age 16. However, contrary to expectations, children whose mothers took them to cultural performances were more likely to have had sex before age 16. This level of analysis suggests that early background characteristics may be more important than parental practices in predicting early sexual initiation. This study concludes by suggesting a need for a more intensive examination of the relationship between family interaction processes and early sexual initiation than is possible with a large-scale data set such as the NLSY.
Bibliography Citation
Willis, Amy L. Karnehm. "Adolescent Early Sexual Debut: What Can Parents Do to Postpone It?" Presented: Anaheim, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2001.
98. Wu, Lawrence L.
Thomson, Elizabeth
Family Change and Early Sexual Initiation
Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 1995
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Family Circumstances, Changes in; Family Structure; Fathers, Biological; Sexual Activity; Sexual Experiences/Virginity; Teenagers

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In this paper, we examine effects of family structure on age at entry into first sexual intercourse prior to marriage for recent cohorts of women. Previous research on the link age between family structure and sexual initiation has employed relatively crude measures of family structure, typically a snapshot of the respondent's family structure at age 14. We use retrospective parent histories from the 1979-87 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to construct dynamic measures of family structure using information on the numbers and types of parents in the respondent's household between birth and age 18. These measures allow us to adjudicate between hypotheses on the effects of prolonged exposure to a single-mother family, prolonged absence of a biological father, parental control during adolescence, and instability in family structure. We find no effect, net of other family effects, of being born out-of-wedlock, prolonged exposure to a single-mother family, or prolonged absence of a biological father on age at first sexual intercourse. Our results are, however, consistent with effects predicted by an instability hypothesis and a variant of the parental control hypothesis that stresses the role of fathers.
Bibliography Citation
Wu, Lawrence L. and Elizabeth Thomson. "Family Change and Early Sexual Initiation." Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 1995.
99. Zill, Nicholas
Trends in Family Life and Children's School Performance
Presented: Pittsburgh, PA, American Sociological Association Symposium "Impact of Changes in the Family on Education: Linkages of Sociologies of Family and Education", August 1992
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Elementary School Students; Ethnic Groups; Family Background and Culture; Family Characteristics; Family Circumstances, Changes in; Family Income; Family Influences; Family Resources; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Minority Groups; Parental Influences

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Education professionals have long known that family background is a stronger predictor of academic success than are school or teacher characteristics. The past 30 years have seen a series of drastic alterations in patterns of family living in the United States, and these changes mean that a substantial number of youngsters are being born or are growing up in circumstances that put them at risk of low achievement and school failure. Family characteristics associated with school difficulties are more common in some racial and ethnic groups than others, but when grade-repetition rates are adjusted for parent education, family income, and family composition, these ethnic disparities are substantially reduced. Research indicates that the disadvantaged minority students of today are doing better than those of yesterday. There is a scale that assesses what parents do to stimulate achievement in preschool and elementary-age children. This is the Home Observation for the Measurement of Environment (HOME) scale. An abbreviated version of the HOME scale was used in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to begin to study family influence on student achievement. Considerable further research is required to explore the complex relationships between family life and academic achievement. Includes one figure and two tables. (Contains 49 references.) (SLD)
Bibliography Citation
Zill, Nicholas. "Trends in Family Life and Children's School Performance." Presented: Pittsburgh, PA, American Sociological Association Symposium "Impact of Changes in the Family on Education: Linkages of Sociologies of Family and Education", August 1992.