Showing papers in "California Center for Population Research in 2001"

Bargaining Power Within Couples and Use of Prenatal and Delivery Care in Indonesia

Abstract: This paper examines whether a woman's power relative to her husband's affects decisions about use of prenatal and delivery care in Indonesia. Measures of power that span economic and social domains are considered. Holding household resources constant, control over economic resources by a woman affects the couple’s decision-making. Relative to a woman with no assets that she perceives as being her own, a woman with some share of household assets influences reproductive health decisions. Evidence suggests these decisions also vary if a woman is better educated than her husband, comes from a higher social status background than her husband, or if her father is better educated than her father-in-law. We conclude that both economic and social dimensions of the distribution of power between spouses influence decision-making and that it is useful to conceptualize power as multi-dimensional in understanding the behavior of couples.

Sex Preference for Children in a Meifu Li Community in Hainan, China

Abstract: Sex preferences for children, and their behavioral manifestations, take form within a complex lattice of social and environmental contexts. Perhaps the most sweeping generalization of social context is the family system, describing a cluster of interrelated family processes. It has been argued, for example, that son preference of the Han Chinese is inherent in the patrilineal joint family system common across much of Asia (Skinner 1997). It would follow then, that the family systems of many southern Chinese minority nationalities, which share characteristics that accord a higher value to females, would produce a pattern of sex preference divergent from the Han pattern. Evidence from an isolated Li community in Hainan Island is generally consistent with this proposition: juvenile sex ratios are roughly even and sex ratios at higher parities appear biased in favor of females. However, even within this small community, sex preferences are not homogeneous. The observed disparities suggest that sex preferences are sensitive to local variations in economic context.

Multilivel Methods of Statistical Analysis

Abstract: In hierarchical data structures, observational units at one level are nested within units at other levels. For longitudinal data on individuals, within-person observations are nested within individuals. Within-person (micro) observations are generally more like each other than observations sampled randomly across individuals (contexts). In generalized regression models, several approaches can accommodate this lack of independence: (i) random effects; (ii) fixed effects; (iii) marginal models in the non-Gaussian case, and (iv) regression coefficient covariance matrix adjustment. Each approach has specific advantages and drawbacks. Fixed effects are often used in situations in which a key assumption of the random effects approach is thought to be implausible. In those instances, the use of marginal models or regression coefficient covariance matrix adjustment would also merit reconsideration. Where more than one approach can justifiably be applied—and there are many such cases—estimation results can be method-dependent, leading to different conclusions about the effects of specific covariates. In addition, particularly for the random effects approach, alternative methods of estimation can yield somewhat different results, as can different algorithmic implementations of the same method across software packages. The impact of small within-context sample sizes in unbalanced designs merits further exploration. Where possible, researchers should consider whether their conclusions are method- or algorithm-dependent.

Joint Legal Custody and Child Support Payments: Are There Lasting Custody Effects?

Abstract: This paper addresses the question: Does joint legal custody increase child support payments? It describes differences in formal child support payments for those with and without joint legal custody among divorce cases. It examines legal custody differences in the short-term after divorce as well as in the intermediate term, through the sixth year after divorce, to assess whether any economic benefits of joint legal custody endure through a significant part of childhood. To the extent that legal custody differences in payments exist, we ask whether family and case characteristics, such as parents' incomes, number of children, and amount of child support orders account for these differences. Finally, the paper uses statistical methods that adjust for the fact that unmeasured characteristics may affect both the adoption of joint legal custody as well as higher child support payments. Ignoring these unmeasured differences may overstate the benefits of joint legal custody for child support payments. The paper aims to provide a less biased estimate of the effects of joint legal custody on child support payments than is available from most previous studies.

The Changing Importance of Economic Prospects for Assortative Mating

Abstract: In light of recent changes in the labor force participation and socioeconomic standing of women, we ask whether a woman's position in the labor market has become more important over time as a determinant of her position in the marriage market. To test this hypothesis, we examine change over time in the association of wives' wages and husbands' socioeconomic standing, using data on first marriages among members of two cohorts from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience. Unlike much prior research on assortative mating, we take an individual-level approach to the analysis and rely on improved measures of labor market position, such as measuring wives' wages before marriage and considering various indicators of husbands' socioeconomic standing. Our findings do suggest some increase over time in the importance of economic prospects for assortative mating, with stronger evidence of change observed when husband's longer-term position in the labor market is considered.

Accidents Will Happen? Unintentional Injury, Maternal Employment, and Child Care Policy

Abstract: In western countries, accidents are the leading cause of death and injury among children, far surpassing diseases as a health threat. We examine the effect of maternal employment and child care policy on rates of accidental injury using both micro data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and Vital Statistics records. We find that the effects of maternal employment on unintentional injuries to children vary by demographic group, with the effects being positive for blacks and negative for whites in models that control for child-specific fixed effects. Estimates from both individual-level NLSY and Vital Statistics data suggest that the effects of maternal employment may be mediated by child care regulations. Most notably, requiring training beyond high school for caregivers reduces the incidence of both fatal and nonfatal accidents. Other types of regulation have mixed effects on unintentional injuries, suggesting that child care regulations create winners and losers. In particular, while some children may benefit from safer environments, others that appear to be squeezed out of the more expensive regulated sector and are placed at higher risks of injury.