September 2009, Volume 88, Number 1

Maternal Education, Early Child Care and the Reproduction of Advantage

Jennifer March Augustine, University of Texas at Austin
Shannon E. Cavanagh, University of Texas at Austin
Robert Crosnoe, University of Texas at Austin

The social and human capital that educational attainment provides women enables them to better navigate their children’s passages through school. In this study, we examine a key mechanism in this intergenerational process: mothers’ selection of early child care. Analyses of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development revealed that maternal education was positively associated with configurations of child-care characteristics (i.e., type, quality, quantity) most closely linked to children’s school readiness. This association was not solely a function of mother’s income or employment status, persisted despite controls for many observable confounds (e.g., maternal cognitive and psychological skills, paternal characteristics), and, according to post-hoc indices, was fairly robust in terms of unobservable confounds.

Structure and Stress: Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms across Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Daniel E. Adkins, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Victor Wang, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Matthew E. Dupre, Duke University
Edwin J.C.G. van den Oord, Virginia Commonwealth University
Glen H. Elder, Jr., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Previous research into the social distribution of early life depression has yielded inconsistent results regarding the causes and course of subgroup depression disparities. This study examines the topic by analyzing National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data, modeling gender and racial/ethnic differences in early life depression trajectories and investigating the influences of stress and socioeconomic status. Results indicate females and minorities experience elevated depressive symptoms across early life compared to males and whites. SES and stressful life events explain much of the racial/ethnic disparities. Blacks, Hispanics and females show greater sensitivity to the effects of low SES, and in the case of females, SLEs. Overall, this study develops a nuanced, dynamic model of the multiplicative effects of social disadvantage on early life depression disparities.

Multiracial Self-Identification and Adolescent Outcomes: A Social Psychological Approach to the Marginal Man Theory

Simon Cheng, University of Connecticut
Kathryn J. Lively, Dartmouth College

Recent public health research has consistently reported that self-identified multi-racial adolescents tend to display more problem behaviors and psychological difficulties than monoracial adolescents. Relying on insights from qualitative analyses using small or clinical samples to interpret these empirical patterns, these studies implicitly assume a pejorative stance toward adolescents’ multi-racial self-identification. Building on the social psychological arguments underlying Park’s and Stonequist’s seminal discussions of the “marginal man,” we derive hypotheses indicating that self-identified multi-racial adolescents may show more psychological difficulties, but are also likely to have more active social interaction and participation than monoracial groups. We also incorporate later elaborations of the marginal man theory to develop alternative hypotheses regarding multi-racial youth’s school and behavioral outcomes. Based on a nationally representative sample of racially self-identified youth, the results suggest that patterns of multiracial-monoracial differences are generally consistent with the hypotheses derived closely from the Marginal Man Theory or its subsequent elaborations. We examine the heterogeneities within these general patterns across different multi-racial categories and discuss the implications of these findings.

Disability and the Transition to Adulthood

Alexander L. Janus, University of California, Berkeley

Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 are used to estimate the effect of type of disability (in order of frequency, learning, other, emotional, hearing, visual, physical and speech impairment) on young people's progress toward four adult transitions: finding full-time employment, establishing an independent residence, marrying and having children. I find that young people who have a visual, hearing, speech or "other" impairment are more likely than their nondisabled peers to find themselves among the respondents who did not complete any of the adult transitions examined in the analysis. Young people who have a learning disability are also more likely to be in a "just workers" group (i.e., respondents who are still living at home, for the most part, but working fulltime).

The Transformative Role of Religious Experience:
The Case of Short Term Missions

Jenny Trinitapoli, Penn State University
Stephen Vaisey, University of California, Berkeley

Sociologists have long sought to understand the relationship between collective experiences and individual commitments. This article examines the short-term mission as an institutionalized religious experience, assessing its prevalence, predictors and impact on the religious trajectories of the youth who participate in them. Religiously devout adolescents are more likely than others to go on a short-term mission as are younger adolescents and those with very religious parents. Applying propensity score matching to a nationally representative longitudinal sample of American adolescents, we find that adolescents who go on a short-term mission between interview waves report increased religious participation and solidified religious beliefs. We use the example of this experience to emphasize the importance of considering religious experiences to develop more nuanced understandings of the way religion shapes the beliefs and behaviors of individuals.

Cross-Talk: The Role of Homophily and Elite Bias in Civic Associations

Christopher Weare, University of Southern California
Juliet Musso, University of Southern California
Kyu-Nahm Jun, Wayne State University

We examine the manner in which voluntary associations expose individuals to differing perspectives, or “cross-talk.” Specifically we develop hypotheses based on the interactive roles of elite bias and homophily in structuring networks of democratic participation and test them on social network data of Los Angeles neighborhood councils. We find that homophily leads to boards less diverse than their communities, but does not lead to homogeneous cliques within boards. Moreover, we find that elite bias and homophily counteract each other in lower-status communities, leading to more diverse boards than would be predicted by homophily alone. We then examine the effects of assortative mixing on political attitudes and collective action, and find weak support for the proposition that associational diversity promotes tolerance and access to information.

Civic Opportunities in Associations: Interpersonal Interaction, Governance Experience and Institutional Relationships

Matthew Baggetta, Harvard University

Following Tocqueville, many scholars consider associations “schools of democracy” because members can develop civic capacities within them. This article identifies the distribution of civic development opportunities across civic sectors (e.g., politics, service, recreation), focusing on understudied apolitical groups. New data is introduced on a set of often referenced, but rarely studied, associations: choral societies. Choruses are shown to offer numerous opportunities for interpersonal interaction, governance experience and institutional relationships. Data are compared to opportunities offered by associations in other civic sectors. Apolitical arts associations are found to provide as many or more opportunities for individual civic development than their politically- and service-oriented counterparts suggesting their potential for shrinking the political communication gap between naturally politically interested and disinterested citizens.

Cross-Cutting Influences of Environmental Protest and Legislation

Susan Olzak, Stanford University
Sarah A. Soule, Stanford University

This research examines the influence of types of protest activities, Congressional hearings and political characteristics on environmental legislation enacted from 1961-1990. We find that rates of environmental protest rise with increases in the amount of previous institutional activities, but extra-institutional activities do not raise the overall rate of protest. Protest has no direct effect on the passage of legislation, but institutional protest activities significantly raise the rate of Congressional hearings on the environment. When comparing all environmental laws to those designated as having a major impact, we find both similarities and differences. For example, prior legislative activity decreases both rates, but increases in criteria air pollutants and partisan characteristics of Congress significantly affect only the rates of major environmental legislation.

Five Decades of Educational Assortative Mating in 10 East Asian Societies

Jeroen Smits, Radboud University
Hyunjoon Park, University of Pennsylvania

We study trends in educational homogamy at six boundaries in the educational structure of 10 East-Asian societies and explain its variation using explanatory variables at the country, cohort and boundary level. Educational homogamy was higher at the higher boundaries in the educational structure. Since the 1950s it decreased at all but the lowest boundaries, indicating convergence to a relatively low level of homogamy. Educational homogamy is lower in societies that are more modern, have higher female employment and experienced less Confucian influence. Results support the general openness and the exclusivity hypothesis, which predict educational homogamy to decrease in modernizing societies and to be higher when the group of more highly educated is smaller. Findings suggest that the trend towards less educational homogamy is related to educational expansion.

The Effect of the Cultural Revolution on Educational Homogamy in Urban China

Lijun Song, Vanderbilt University

This article demonstrates that the Cultural Revolution led to a temporary decline in educational homogamy in urban China, which was reversed when the Cultural Revolution ended. Previous studies on educational homogamy in China have paid incomplete attention to China’s shifting institutional structures. This research applies institutional theory to the trend of educational homogamy in urban China. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) state policies lowered educational legitimacy, educational homogeneity and mating opportunities in school in the urban marriage market while enhancing them before and after. From the institutional perspective I hypothesize that the strength of educational homogamy in urban China during the Cultural Revolution was weaker than before and after. I use log-multiplicative layer effect models to analyze data representative of urban residents in 20 cities. I find moderate but significant evidence for the institutional hypotheses. Educational assortative mating is subject to political intervention in urban China.

Putting Poverty in Political Context: A Multi-Level Analysis of Adult Poverty across 18 Affluent Democracies

David Brady, Duke University
Andrew S. Fullerton, Oklahoma State University
Jennifer Moren Cross, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Our study analyzes how political context, embodied by the welfare state and Leftist political actors, shapes individual poverty. Using the Luxembourg Income Study, we conduct a multi-level analysis of working-aged adult poverty across 18 affluent Western democracies. Our index of welfare generosity has a negative effect on poverty net of individual characteristics and structural context. For each standard deviation increase in welfare generosity, the odds of poverty decline by a factor of 2.3. The odds of poverty in the United States (the least generous welfare state) are greater by a factor of 16.6 than a person with identical characteristics in Denmark (the most generous welfare state). Significant interaction effects suggest that welfare generosity reduces the extent to which low education and the number of children increase poverty. Also, welfare generosity reduces poverty among those with low education, single-mother households and young households. We show that Leftist parties and union density reduce the odds of poverty, however their effects channel through the welfare state. Ultimately, poverty is shaped both by individual characteristics and the political context in which the individual resides.

Globalization, Development and International Migration: A Cross-National Analysis of Less-Developed Countries, 1970-2000

Matthew R. Sanderson, Lehigh University
Jeffrey D. Kentor, University of Utah

It is widely argued that globalization and economic development are associated with international migration. However, these relationships have not been tested empirically. We use a cross-national empirical analysis to assess the impact of global and national factors on international migration from less-developed countries. An interdisciplinary analytical framework is developed. We then use several modeling techniques to analyze panel data on a set of less-developed countries from 1970 to 2000. Three central findings emerge from these analyses. First, foreign direct investment has a significant, differential effect across sectors of the economy: FDI in the primary sector increases the level of net emigration, while FDI in the secondary sector has a deterrent effect. Second, economic development has a significant, nonlinear effect on net emigration levels, the so-called “migration hump.” Finally, we find a strong cumulative causation effect of migration, meaning that migration has a strong internal momentum after it has been initiated. The implications of the findings are discussed in the context of contemporary migration theory.

Immigration and Youthful Illegalities in a Global Edge City

Ronit Dinovitzer, University of Toronto and American Bar Foundation
John Hagan, Northwestern University and American Bar Foundation
Ron Levi, University of Toronto

This research focuses on immigration and youthful illegalities in the Toronto area, one of the world’s most ethnically diverse global cities. While current research documents a negative relationship between crime and immigration, there is little attention to individual level mechanisms that explain the paths through which immigrant youth refrain from illegalities. Through a study of two cohorts of adolescents across two generations (1976, 1999), we elaborate a process model that is generic over both generations, and in which measures of bonds to parents and schools, commitments to education, and dispositions of risk aversity mediate youth involvement in illegalities. By focusing on a period when non European immigration to Toronto increased dramatically, we then identify a compositional effect through which the more recent cohort is engaged in fewer illegalities.

Diversity, Racial Threat and Metropolitan Housing Segregation

Robert DeFina, Villanova University
Lance Hannon, Villanova University

Previous studies have shown that as the percent black or percent Hispanic grows, that group’s residential segregation from whites tends to increase as well. Typically, these findings are explained in terms of white discriminatory reaction to the perceived threat associated with minority population growth. The present analysis examines whether these racial threat effects depend on the extent of racial and ethnic diversity in an area. This possibility is tested by estimating otherwise standard models of black-white and Hispanic-white segregation using metropolitan area data from the 1990 and 2000 U.S. censuses. Results from robust regression analyses strongly support the prediction for each of the white-minority pairs: the racial threat effect is significantly diminished in areas with greater multi-ethnic diversity.

Specifying the Determinants of Neighborhood Satisfaction:
A Robust Assessment in 24 Metropolitan Areas

John R. Hipp, University of California, Irvine

Using a sample of households nested in census tracts in 24 metropolitan areas over four time points, this study provides a robust test of the determinants of neighborhood satisfaction, taking into account the census tract context. Consistent with social disorganization theory, the presence of racial/ethnic heterogeneity and single-parent households consistently reduced neighborhood satisfaction. Those perceiving more social or physical disorder were considerably less satisfied with the neighborhood, and perceiving more crime showed an accelerating negative effect on satisfaction. Furthermore, the effect of perceiving crime was exacerbated in tracts with a distressed labor market or the presence of disengaged youth. There was consistent evidence that those with more economic investment (homeowners) or social investment (married residents and parents) in the neighborhood are more satisfied. On the other hand, longer-term residents did not report more satisfaction, nor did general residential stability in the tract increase satisfaction.

Ethnic Neighborhoods in Multi-Ethnic America, 1990-2000:
Ethnoburbs and a Resurgence of Ethnicity?

Ming Wen, University of Utah
Diane S. Lauderdale, University of Chicago
Namratha R. Kandula, Northwestern University

Using tract-level data from the 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census, this study addresses four questions: (1. Has the proportion of neighborhoods with high ethnic concentration changed in from 1990 to 2000? (2. What are the socio-demographic profiles of ethnic neighborhoods? (3. Are new ethnic neighborhoods forming in America’s suburbs? (4. How common are ethnoburbs – that is, affluent, suburban, ethnic neighborhoods? For most racial/ethnic groups, the number and share of ethnic neighborhoods grew from 1990 to 2000 and the suburbanization trend was remarkable. Asian neighborhoods as a whole experienced the fastest growth. Ethnoburbs have formed across the country. Although ethnoburbs are more an Asian phenomenon, Hispanic and black ethnoburbs have also developed. These patterns support the segmented assimilation model and the resurgence of ethnicity perspectives.