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Showing papers in "Social Forces in 2011"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Multivariate analysis suggests that grandparents’ childcare load is adaptive to familial needs, as reflected by the characteristics of the household, household members and work activities of the mothers.
Abstract: Guided by theories and empirical research on intergenerational relationships, we examine the phenomenon of grandparents caring for grandchildren in contemporary China. Using a longitudinal dataset (China Health and Nutrition Survey), we document a high level of structural and functional solidarity in grandparent-grandchildren relationships. Intergenerational solidarity is indicated by a high rate of coresidence between grandchildren and grandparents, a sizable number of skipped-generation households (no parent present), extensive childcare involvement by non-coresidential grandparents, and a large amount of care provided by coresidential grandparents. Multivariate analysis further suggests that grandparents' childcare load is adaptive to familial needs, as reflected by the characteristics of the household, household members, and work activities of the mothers.

403 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Prior theories on the adaptation process of the contemporary immigrant second generation are summarized as a prelude to presenting additive and interactive models showing the impact of family variables, school contexts and academic outcomes on the process.
Abstract: We summarize prior theories on the adaptation process of the contemporary immigrant second generation as a prelude to presenting additive and interactive models showing the impact of family variables, school contexts and academic outcomes on the process. For this purpose, we regress indicators of educational and occupational achievement in early adulthood on predictors measured three and six years earlier. The Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, used for the analysis, allows us to establish a clear temporal order among exogenous predictors and the two dependent variables. We also construct a Downward Assimilation Index, based on six indicators and regress it on the same set of predictors. Results confirm a pattern of segmented assimilation in the second generation, with a significant proportion of the sample experiencing downward assimilation. Predictors of the latter are the obverse of those of educational and occupational achievement. Significant interaction effects emerge between these predictors and early school contexts, defined by different class and racial compositions. Implications of these results for theory and policy are examined.

254 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper found that exposure to incarceration has no effect on marital dissolution after duration of incarceration is taken into account, and that individuals who spend substantial time away from spouses are at higher risk of divorce.
Abstract: Prior research suggests a correlation between incarceration and marital dissolution, although questions remain as to why this association exists. Is it the stigma associated with "doing time" that drives couples apart? Or is it simply the duration of physical separation that leads to divorce? This research utilizes data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) and the Survey of Officer and Enlisted Personnel to shed light on these questions. The findings generally support a separation explanation of the incarceration-divorce relationship. Specifically, the data show that exposure to incarceration has no effect on marital dissolution after duration of incarceration is taken into account. In addition, across both datasets we find that individuals who spend substantial time away from spouses are at higher risk of divorce. The findings point to the importance of spousal separation for understanding the incarceration-marital dissolution relationship. Moreover, and in contrast to settings in which stigma appears quite salient (e.g., labor markets), our results suggest that the shared history and degree of intimacy among married partners may weaken the salience of the stigma of incarceration. Findings are discussed in the context of a burgeoning body of work on the collateral consequences of incarceration and have implications for the growing pool of men in American society returning from prison.

182 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors reviewed the state of knowledge regarding the use of standardized coefficients in general and standardized logistic regression regression coefficients in particular, and made specific recommendations on how to best use (and avoid abusing) standardized Logistic regression coefficients.
Abstract: Standardized coefficients in logistic regression analysis have the same utility as standardized coefficients in linear regression analysis. Although there has been no consensus on the best way to construct standardized logistic regression coefficients, there is now sufficient evidence to suggest a single best approach to the construction of a standardized logistic regression coefficient that can be used in the same way across a broad range of problems as the standardized linear regression coefficient and also to suggest the adequacy of other approaches for limited purposes. This article reviews the state of knowledge regarding the use of standardized coefficients in general and standardized logistic regression coefficients in particular, and makes specific recommendations on how to best use (and avoid abusing) standardized logistic regression coefficients.

158 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined the effects of anti-sweatshop campaigns on sales, stock performance, reputation and specialized ratings of U.S. firms, using fixed-effects regression models and event study methods.
Abstract: How do social movements influence corporations? Recent work suggests that movements can inflict material damage on their targets and shape categories of evaluation in organizational fields. Extending these ideas, we examine the effects of anti-sweatshop campaigns on sales, stock performance, reputation and specialized ratings of U.S. firms, using fixed-effects regression models and event study methods. The analysis demonstrates that social movements can in some circumstances shape both the markets and fields that firms inhabit. Specifically, anti-sweatshop campaigns (1. had negative effects on sales (though only among certain types of firms), (2. influenced stock prices, and (3. shaped specialized ratings of corporate responsibility. They also diminished previously positive corporate reputations (to a modest degree) but did not radically alter reputational hierarchies in the business community.

145 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined how racial and gender exclusions are revealed in the preferences of black, Latino, Asian and white online daters, finding that whites are least open to out-dating and that, unlike blacks, Asians and Latinos have patterns of racial exclusion similar to those of whites.
Abstract: Using data from 6070 U.S. heterosexual internet dating profiles, this study examines how racial and gender exclusions are revealed in the preferences of black, Latino, Asian and white online daters. Consistent with social exchange and group positions theories, the study finds that whites are least open to out-dating and that, unlike blacks, Asians and Latinos have patterns of racial exclusion similar to those of whites. Like blacks, higher earning groups including Asian Indians, Middle Easterners and Asian men are highly excluded, suggesting that economic incorporation may not mirror acceptance in intimate settings. Finally, racial exclusion in dating is gendered; Asian males and black females are more highly excluded than their opposite-sex counterparts, suggesting that existing theories of race relations need to be expanded to account for gendered racial acceptance.

130 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors found that for black students, differences in SES explain higher likelihoods of being either pushed or pulled out as compared to white students, but Latino students remain more likely to be pulled out even after controlling for SES.
Abstract: Using a model of student dropout with only two possible outcomes – “still in school” or “dropout” – hides the complex reasons that students leave high school. We offer a model with three outcomes: in school, pushed out or pulled out. Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Survey, we find that for black students, differences in SES explain higher likelihoods of being either pushed or pulled out as compared to white students, but Latino students remain more likely to be pulled out even after we control for SES. We also find that SES moderates the relationship between race/gender and being pushed out, and that higher levels of SES may be detrimental to students of color in the context of high poverty schools.

123 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article found that adolescents adapt their educational expectations only modestly and only in response to very large changes in grade point averages, thus, adolescent educational expectations stabilize early and are rather persistent over time.
Abstract: Sociologists have long used educational expectations to understand the complex mental processes underlying individuals’ educational decision making. Yet, little research evaluates how students actually formulate their educational expectations. Status attainment theory asserts that students adopt their educational expectations early based on family background and social influences, and that their educational expectations are driven by a static mental construct as a result. In contrast, recent research based on Bayesian learning theory hypothesizes that students mostly adapt their educational expectations in light of new information about their academic potential. Comparing models of expectations formation in adolescence, we find that students’ expectations do not derive from a static mental construct. However, students adapt their educational expectations only modestly and only in response to very large changes in grade point averages. Thus, adolescent educational expectations stabilize early and are rather persistent over time.

112 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper conducted a factorial experiment to assess the effect of racial composition on neighborhood desirability independent of crime, school quality and property values, finding no evidence of in-group preferences; rather, results suggest that whites express negative outgroup preferences toward black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
Abstract: The debate about racial residential preferences has two open questions. First, are neighborhood racial preferences truly racial, or is race a proxy for socio-economic factors? Second, are in-group or out-group preferences more salient? Using the Houston Area Survey, we employ a factorial experiment to assess the effect of racial composition on neighborhood desirability independent of crime, school quality and property values. We survey whites, blacks and Hispanics to examine in-group vs. out-group preferences. Results show that independent of proxies, whites find neighborhoods less attractive as the proportion black or Hispanic increases; the proportion Asian has no impact. Racial composition has little effect on Hispanics' and blacks' neighborhood preferences. We find no evidence of in-group preferences; rather, results suggest that whites express negative out-group preferences toward black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

112 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used comparative micro data for 15 European countries covering the period 1992-2007 to study the impact of labor market reforms on the skill-related individual risk of holding a temporary contract and the risk of being unemployed.
Abstract: In this article we use comparative micro data for 15 European countries covering the period 1992-2007 to study the impact of labor market reforms on the skill-related individual risk of holding a temporary contract and the risk of being unemployed. Our results indicate no general increase in either of these skill gaps. Using two-step multilevel analyses, we show that in the case of high protection of regular contracts, lowering restrictions on the use of temporary contracts increases the relative temporary employment rates of low-skilled workers. However, this kind of partial deregulation, which has been implemented in the majority of Western European countries, has not translated into decreasing unemployment risks of the low-skilled vis-a-vis medium- and highly-skilled persons.

110 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined the extent to which organizational context is meaningful for the subjective experience of sex discrimination and found that the experience of discrimination is reduced for both women and men when they are part of the numerical majority of their work group.
Abstract: Building on prior work surrounding negative workplace experiences, such as bullying and sexual harassment, we examine the extent to which organizational context is meaningful for the subjective experience of sex discrimination. Data draw on the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce, which provides a key indicator of individuals' sex discrimination experiences as well as arguably influential dimensions of organizational context—i.e., sex composition, workplace culture and relative power—suggested by prior research. Results indicate that the experience of sex discrimination is reduced for both women and men when they are part of the numerical majority of their work group. Although supportive workplace cultures mitigate the likelihood of sex discrimination, relative power in the workplace seems to matter little. We conclude by revisiting these results relative to perspectives surrounding hierarchy maintenance, group competition and internal cultural dynamics.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined the association between education and work-family conflict, a form of inter-role conflict in which role pressures from each domain are incompatible in some way, and found that the well-educated tend to occupy professional jobs with more income and pressures, and experience more work family role blurring activities.
Abstract: Using data from a representative sample of American workers, we examine the association between education and work-family conflict—a form of inter-role conflict in which role pressures from each domain are incompatible in some way. The well-educated tend to occupy professional jobs with more income and pressures, and experience more work-family role blurring activities. These conditions contribute to greater conflict among the well-educated. In addition, people with less than a high school degree report more conflict because of their experience in precarious work with variable shifts. Finally, work-family conflict is associated with distress—but less so among those with the highest and lowest education. We discuss the theoretical relevance of these findings for views about social status, stress exposure, and their implications for mental health.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Using the General Social Survey from 1977 to 2006 and comparing the determinants of gender egalitarianism across 86 cohorts born from roughly 1900 through 1985, multilevel models support the diffusion arguments.
Abstract: Arguments about the spread of gender egalitarian values through the population highlight several sources of change. First, structural arguments point to increases in the proportion of women with high education, jobs with good pay, commitment to careers outside the family, and direct interests in gender equality. Second, value shift arguments contend that gender norms change with social and economic development among women and men in diverse positions—traditional and non-traditional alike. Third, diffusion arguments suggest that structural change leads to adoption of new ideas and values supportive of gender equality by non-traditional and innovative groups in society, but that the new ideas later diffuse to other groups through cultural processes. Using the General Social Survey from 1977 to 2006 and comparing the determinants of gender egalitarianism across 86 cohorts born from roughly 1900 through 1985, multilevel models support the diffusion arguments.

Journal ArticleDOI
James Hawdon1, John Ryan1
TL;DR: This article studied the social relationships that generate and sustain solidarity by building on Hunter's descriptions of the private, parochial and public spheres of community, and found that event-specific parochials and event specific public activities generate solidarity after heinous crimes.
Abstract: Numerous researchers discuss the solidarity-producing effects of crime, natural disasters and mass tragedies; however, there is much we do not understand about the processes involved in the phenomena. We specify the social relationships that generate and sustain solidarity by building on Hunter's descriptions of the private, parochial and public spheres of community. We argue that event-specific parochial and event-specific public activities generate solidarity after heinous crimes. However, general parochial activities, such as attending local organizational meetings and frequenting local businesses, sustain solidarity. Using longitudinal data collected after the mass murder of 27 students and 5 faculty members on Virginia Tech's campus in 2007, a repeated measures analysis predicting levels of solidarity 5, 9 and 13 months after the tragedy supports our hypotheses.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined the extent to which broad global changes promoting human empowerment are associated with expanded ideas of the status and capacities of students and found that student-centered texts are more common in countries with greater individualism embodied in political and socioeconomic institutions and ideologies, and with more links to world society.
Abstract: A striking feature of modern societies is the extent to which individual persons are culturally validated as equal and empowered actors. The expansion of a wide range of rights in recent decades, given prominence in current discussions of world society, supports an expanded conception of the individual. We examine the extent to which broad global changes promoting human empowerment are associated with expanded ideas of the status and capacities of students. We hypothesize that there are substantial increases in student-centered educational foci in countries around the world. First, the rights of students as children are directly asserted. Second, an emphasis on empowered human agency supports forms of socialization that promote active participation as well as the capacities and interests of the student. Examining a unique dataset of 533 secondary school social science textbooks from 74 countries published over the past 40 y ears, we find that textbooks have indeed become more student-centered, and that this shift is associated with the rising status of individuals and children in global human rights treaties and organizations. Student-centered texts are more common in countries with greater individualism embodied in political and socio-economic institutions and ideologies, and with more links to world society. The study contributes to both political and educational sociology, examining how global changes lead to increased emphasis on empowered individual agency in intended curricula.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluate black exceptionalism by using the universe of US blocks from the 1990 and 2000 decennial censuses to provide a single geographically inclusive national estimate (Theil's H ) of black residential segregation from whites and other groups, which can be additively decomposed into its within and between components.
Abstract: America's changing color line is perhaps best expressed in shifting patterns of neighborhood residential segregation-the geographic separation of races This research evaluates black exceptionalism by using the universe of US blocks from the 1990 and 2000 decennial censuses to provide a single geographically inclusive national estimate (Theil's H ) of black residential segregation from whites and other groups, which can be additively decomposed into its within (eg, neighborhood segregation within places) and between components (eg, racial differences between places) The results show that America's blacks are living in blocks that are roughly two-thirds less racially diverse than the US population overall Nationally, neighborhood segregation processes account for half, or even less, of blacks' segregation from whites, Hispanics and Asians Declining big-city micro-segregation has been muted by increasing or persistent macro-segregation Moreover, with growing neighborhood segregation in the suburbs and fringe, America's central cities-the focus of most previous studies-now account for only a minority share of all neighborhood or micro-level segregation between blacks and whites Evidence of black incorporation or spatial assimilation must account for other levels of geography that extend beyond the traditional focus on neighborhood segregation in big cities

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is found that labor migration and remittances help reconfigure structural opportunities in the educational stratification process in South Africa and help ameliorate inter-familial socioeconomic inequality in schooling.
Abstract: This paper extends previous work on family structure and children's education by conceptualizing migration as a distinct form of family disruption that reduces parental input but brings substantial economic benefits through remittances. It examines the multiple and countervailing effects of migration on schooling in the context of substantial migration and limited educational opportunities for Blacks in South Africa. The receipt of remittances substantially increases Black children's school attendance, but has no such effect for Whites. The effect for Blacks is in part attributable to improved household economic conditions that increase household educational spending and reduce the demand for child labor. We also find a negative effect of parental absence due to migration, but it is largely cushioned by inflows of remittances. Sensitivity analyses using propensity score methods and contextual fixed-effect modeling suggest that the beneficial effect of remittances is relatively robust. We find further that remittances help ameliorate inter-familial socioeconomic inequality in schooling. Finally, we evaluate possible temporal changes and show that the positive and equalizing effects of remittances persisted during and after the apartheid regime. We conclude that labor migration and remittances, as institutionalized family strategies adopted by many Blacks, help reconfigure structural opportunities in the educational stratification process in South Africa.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is shown that education, employment and marital status, as well as their consequences for income and health, effectively explain the increase in depressive symptoms after age 65 and it is demonstrated that a purely structural theory can take us far in explaining later life mental health.
Abstract: The sociology of aging draws on a broad array of theoretical perspectives from several disciplines, but rarely has it developed its own. We build on past work to advance and empirically test a model of mental health framed in terms of structural theorizing and situated within the life course perspective. Whereas most prior research has been based on cross-sectional data, we utilize four waves of data from a nationally representative sample of American adults (Americans' Changing Lives Study) collected prospectively over a 15-year period and find that education, employment and marital status, as well as their consequences for income and health, effectively explain the increase in depressive symptoms after age 65. We also found significant cohort differences in age trajectories of mental health that were partly explained by historical increases in education. We demonstrate that a purely structural theory can take us far in explaining later life mental health.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper found that homemakers are slightly happier than wives who work full-time, but they have no advantage over part-time workers, and the work status gap in happiness persists even controlling for family life mediators.
Abstract: A long-standing debate questions whether homemakers or working wives are happier. Drawing on cross-national data for 28 countries, this research uses multi-level models to provide fresh evidence on this controversy. All things considered, homemakers are slightly happier than wives who work fulltime, but they have no advantage over part-time workers. The work status gap in happiness persists even controlling for family life mediators. Cross-level interactions between work status and macro-level variables suggest that country characteristics - GDP, social spending, women's labor force participation, liberal gender ideology and public child care - ameliorate the disadvantage in happiness for full-time working wives compared to homemakers and part-time workers.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Social disparities in body mass index trajectories during a time of rapid weight gain in the United States are examined, revealing complex interactive effects of gender, race, socioeconomic position and age and providing evidence for increasing social disparities, particularly among younger adults.
Abstract: The implications of recent weight gain trends for widening social disparities in body weight in the United States are unclear. Using an intersectional approach to studying inequality, and the longitudinal and nationally representative American's Changing Lives study (19862001/2002), we examine social disparities in body mass index trajectories during a time of rapid weight gain in the United States. Results reveal complex interactive effects of gender, race, socioeconomic position and age, and provide evidence for increasing social disparities, particularly among younger adults. Most notably, among individuals who aged from 25-39 to 45-54 during the study interval, low-educated and low-income black women experienced the greatest increase in BMI, while high-educated and high-income white men experienced the least BMI growth. These new findings highlight the importance of investigating changing disparities in weight intersectionally, using multiple dimensions of inequality as well as age, and also presage increasing BMI disparities in the U.S. adult population.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Findings show continuing links between social origins and work Orientations at age 21/22, as well as significant effects of work orientations on occupational outcomes at age 31/32, and judgments about work remain important precursors of occupational attainments, despite economic turbulence and change in the transition to adulthood.
Abstract: We evaluate the importance of judgments about work for the attainment process in the "new economy." Findings show continuing links between social origins and work orientations at age 21/22, as well as significant effects of work orientations on occupational outcomes at age 31/32. Higher socio-economic status background, and stronger self-perceived ability, are tied to weaker extrinsic orientations. Young women are more intrinsically oriented than young men. Stronger intrinsic orientations predict holding jobs that offer more intrinsic rewards, self-direction and security. Stronger extrinsic orientations predict higher biweekly earnings (largely via work hours), but not more prestigious, better paying or more secure jobs. Judgments about work, and especially intrinsic orientations, thus remain important precursors of occupational attainments, despite economic turbulence and change in the transition to adulthood.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the continuity in music taste from parents to their children is discussed via a multi-actor design, with parents' preferences for different types of music that had been popular when they were young subsumed under the general labels of Pop, Rock and Highbrow.
Abstract: In this article, the continuity in music taste from parents to their children is discussed via a multi-actor design. In our models music preferences of 325 adolescents and both their parents were linked, with parental and adolescent educational level as covariates. Parents' preferences for different types of music that had been popular when they were young were subsumed under the general labels of Pop, Rock and Highbrow. Current adolescent music preferences resolved into Pop, Rock, Highbrow and Dance. Among partners in a couple, tastes were similar; for both generations, education was linked to taste; and parental preferences predicted adolescent music choices. More specifically, the preference of fathers and mothers for Pop was associated with adolescent preferences for Pop and Dance. Parents' preferences for Rock seemed to indicate their daughters would also like Rock music, but not their sons. Parental passion for Highbrow music was associated with Highbrow preferences among their children. It is concluded that preferences for cultural artifacts such as (popular) music show continuity from generation to generation.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the economic cost of homosexuality by using data from the 2000 U.S. Census and by employing multilevel analyses and found that partnered gay men experience a 12.5 percent earnings penalty compared to married heterosexual men, and a statistically insignificant earnings penalty when both individual-and state-level characteristics are taken into account.
Abstract: This article builds on earlier studies that have examined "the economic cost of homosexuality," by using data from the 2000 U.S. Census and by employing multilevel analyses. Our findings indicate that partnered gay men experience a 12.5 percent earnings penalty compared to married heterosexual men, and a statistically insignificant earnings penalty compared to partnered heterosexual men, when both individual- and state-level characteristics are taken into account. Partnered lesbians experience about a 3.5 percent earnings advantage compared to married heterosexual women, and a 9 percent earnings advantage compared to partnered heterosexual women. Although individual-level characteristics are the primary determinants of their earnings, we find that some contextual characteristics affect the earnings of partnered gay men and lesbians, relative to partnered heterosexuals, and that these effects vary by sex.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a reserach examines wealth distribution across ethnic groups in Israel and evaluates the role of labor market rewards and intergenerational transfers in producing ethnic disparities, finding that wealth disparities are most pronounced when Israeli-born Jews are compared with Arabs and with immigrants from the Former Soviet Union.
Abstract: This reserach examines wealth distribution across ethnic groups in Israel and evaluates the role of labor market rewards and intergenerational transfers in producing ethnic disparities. Israel SHARE data from 2005-2006 are used in the analyses. The findings reveal considerable ethnic disparities in wealth. Wealth disparities are most pronounced when Israeli-born Jews are compared with Arabs and with immigrants from the Former Soviet Union. Further analysis suggests that wealth buildup in Israel is influenced by two major sources: income flows and inheritance. The differential impact of the two sources on wealth disparities can be best understood when considering the unique position of each ethnic group in Israeli society.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper found that the odds of achieving expectations for a bachelor's degree increased across 15 cohorts of young adults, and to a lesser extent, for expectations to attend graduate/professional school.
Abstract: What do recent trends toward increasingly ambitious educational expectations and rising college completion rates mean for the stratification of higher education? This article shows that the odds of achieving expectations for a bachelor's degree increased across 15 cohorts of young adults, and to a lesser extent, for expectations to attend graduate/professional school. Gender-related constraints on realizing expectations for a bachelor's degree weakened, while constraints associated with minority racial/ethnic and lower socioeconomic statuses did not. Recent trends in educational stratification were thus a mixture of fulfilled expectations for growing proportions of some young adults, but continued social constraints for many others. Note, these results are derived from the experiences of high school seniors successfully reinterviewed over time, who are advantaged relative to school dropouts and nonrespondents.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors compare educational and income mobility for two cohorts of black and white men, the older born in the late 1940s and the younger born in early 1960s, and find that educational mobility increased for black men, but income mobility declined for both races.
Abstract: Policy reforms and rising income inequality transformed educational and economic opportunities for Americans approaching midlife in the 1990s. Rising income inequality may have reduced mobility, as income gaps increased between rich and poor children. Against the effects of rising inequality, Civil Rights reforms may have increased mobility, as opportunities expanded across cohorts of black students and workers. We compare educational and income mobility for two cohorts of black and white men, the older born in the late 1940s and the younger born in the early 1960s. We find that educational mobility increased for black men, but income mobility declined for both races. Economic mobility declined despite unchanged or improved educational mobility because of increased returns to schooling and increased intergenerational income correlations, independent of schooling.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper used the National Education Longitudinal Study to examine the causes and consequences of reverse transfer for students who were expected to complete high school in 1992, using propensity scores to control for selection into a community college.
Abstract: In the context of rapidly expanding postsecondary enrollments, community colleges have the potential to play a critical and often overlooked role as a postsecondary safety net for initial four-year students who are ill prepared to successfully complete or finance their college educations. A growing proportion of the population served by community colleges engages in reverse transfer: they begin their college careers in a four-year institution but transfer to a community college prior to earning a degree. We use the National Education Longitudinal Study to examine the causes and consequences of reverse transfer for students who were expected to complete high school in 1992. Using propensity scores to control for selection into a community college, we find that the safety net function of community colleges is especially important for disadvantaged students who are significantly more likely to transfer down or drop out of higher education entirely without completing a bachelor's degree. Although reverse transfers do not fare as well as students with exclusive four-year college enrollment, they have more favorable academic and labor market outcomes than otherwise similar students who drop out of postsecondary school altogether. Community colleges may therefore lower the cost of dropping out of a four-year college.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is found that college students are no more likely to develop liberal religious beliefs than non-students, and the multiplicity of social worlds on college campuses may help to sustain religious beliefs as well as religious practice and commitment.
Abstract: Going to college has long been assumed to liberalize students' religious beliefs. Using longitudinal data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, we compare change in the content of religious beliefs of those who do and do not attend college. We find that, in general, college students are no more likely to develop liberal religious beliefs than non-students. In some cases, collegians actually appear more likely to retain their initial beliefs. Change in religious beliefs appears instead to be more strongly associated with network effects. These findings indicate that college's effect on students' religious beliefs is both weak and fragmented, and suggest that the multiplicity of social worlds on college campuses may help to sustain religious beliefs as well as religious practice and commitment.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined whether the sex of a child affects parents' beliefs about traditional gender roles and found that having a daughter (vs. having a son) causes men to reduce their support for traditional gender role, but a female child has no such effect among women, representing less than 4 percent of the size of the standard deviation of the attitude scale.
Abstract: We examine whether sex of child affects parents' beliefs about traditional gender roles. Using an improved methodological approach that explicitly analyzes the natural experiment via differences in differences, we find that having a daughter (vs. having a son) causes men to reduce their support for traditional gender roles, but a female child has no such effect among women, representing less than 4 percent of the size of the standard deviation of the attitude scale.