Skin color,sex, and educational attainment in the post-civil rights era

We assess the relationship between skin color and educational attainment for native-born non-Hispanic Black and White men and women, using data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study. CARDIA is a medical cohort study with twenty years of social background data and a continuous measure of skin color, recorded as the percent of light reflected off skin. For Black men and women, we find a one-standard-deviation increase in skin lightness to be associated with a quarter-year increase in educational attainment. For White women, we find an association approximately equal in magnitude to that found for Black respondents, and the pattern of significance across educational transitions suggests that skin color for White women is not simply a proxy for family background. For White men, any relationship between skin color and attainment is not robust and, analyses suggest, might primarily reflect differences in family background. Findings suggest that discrimination on the basis of skin color may be less specific to race than previously thought.     

A lifecourse study on education and health: The relationship between childhood psychosocial resources and outcomes in adolescence and young adulthood

Lifecourse models have been popular in several disciplines as a way to study health. Such models view health as the product of long-term influences that begin in early-life and continue their direct and indirect effects over time, beginning in gestation and following through childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and late-life. This paper uses a lifecourse framework to examine the effects of childhood psychosocial development on young adult health and education outcomes, with special interest paid to potential pathway effects of health and education outcomes in adolescence. Child psychosocial development is measured by constructs of locus of control and self-esteem. Both locus of control and self-esteem exhibit significant yet modest associations with young adult health, net of adolescent outcomes. Only locus of control is significantly associated with education outcomes. These results are discussed in the context of previous lifecourse research and implications for policy.     

Disparate vantage points: Race,gender, county context,and attitudes about harsh punishments in the US

In this paper, I use data from the General Social Survey, FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics, and other sources to consider differences in attitudes about punishment among four groups—Black men, Black women, White men, and White women—as well as how these differences vary according to county crime rates. Centering my expectations about group-specific attitudes within conflict theory and prior empirical findings, I am guided by the presumption that race and gender are cultural categories that shape attitudes about punishment by influencing our interactions with the criminal justice system, and that the meaning of these cultural categories varies by context. Analyses provide some evidence that race, gender, and context interact to shape attitudes about punishment. Overall, this research improves our understanding of group differences in punitive attitudes and of the cultural context in which the US system of incarceration operates.     

The specter of discrimination: Fear of interpersonal racial discrimination among adolescents in Chicago

This analysis examines fear of interpersonal racial discrimination among Black, Hispanic, and White adolescents. The extent and correlates of these concerns are examined using survey data from the Project for Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. Borrowing from the fear-of-crime literature, the contact hypothesis, and group threat theory, several hypotheses are developed linking discrimination fear to direct personal experience with discrimination, indirect or vicarious experience, and environmental signals of discrimination. Results show that about half of Blacks and Hispanics have feared discrimination in the past year. Multivariate results indicate that fear is most likely if one has experienced victimization first-hand and when one's parent is affected by discrimination. Further, a larger presence neighborhood outgroups produces greater fear. Overall, discrimination fear constitutes an additional obstacle for minority adolescents as they transition to adulthood. The phenomenon warrants increased scholarly attention and represents a fruitful avenue for future research.     

Same-sex cohabiting elders versus different-sex cohabiting and married elders: Effects of relationship status and sex of partner on economic and health outcomes

In this article, I use pooled data from the 2008–2010 American Community Surveys to examine outcomes for different-sex married, different-sex cohabiting, and same-sex cohabiting elders across several key economic and health indicators, as well as other demographic characteristics. The findings suggest that elders in same-sex cohabiting partnerships differ from those in different-sex marriages and different-sex cohabiting relationships in terms of both financial and health outcomes, and that women in same-sex cohabiting partnerships fare worse than men or women in other couple types. The results indicate that financial implications related to the sex of one’s partner might be more predictive of economic and health outcomes in old age, rather than solely access to legal marriage. Nonetheless, findings suggest that individuals in same-sex cohabiting partnerships might experience worse outcomes in old age as a result of cumulative effects across the life course from both the sex of their partner (in the case of female couples) as well as their lack of access to benefits associated with marriage. Accordingly, these findings demonstrate that persons in same-sex cohabiting partnerships require unique policy considerations to address health and economic concerns in old age.     

Workplace bullying,perceived job stressors,and psychological distress: Gender and race differences in the stress process

A large body of empirical research documents the adverse mental health consequences of workplace bullying. However, less is known about gender and race differences in the processes that link workplace bullying and poor mental health. In the current study, we use structural equation modeling of survey data from the 2010 Health and Retirement Study (N = 2292) and draw on stress process theory to examine coworker support as a buffering mechanism against workplace bullying, and gender and race differences in the relationships between bullying and psychological distress. The results of the analysis indicate that coworker support serves as a protective buffer against workplace bullying, although the buffering effect is relatively small. We also find that the effects of workplace bullying more heavily impact women and persons of color. Specifically, women and African American individuals in our sample were less protected from the buffering mechanism of co-worker social support.     

Incarceration and Black–White inequality in Homeownership: A state-level analysis

Rising incarceration rates in the United States, as well as the concentration of incarceration among already marginalized individuals, has led some scholars to suggest that incarceration increases economic inequality among American men. But little is known about the consequences of incarceration for wealth, about incarceration’s contribution to Black–White disparities in wealth, or about the broader effects of incarceration on communities. In this article, we use state-level panel data (from 1985 to 2005) to examine the relationship between incarceration rates and the Black–White gap in homeownership, a distinct and important measure of wealth. Results, which are robust to an array of model specifications and robustness checks, show that incarceration rates diminish homeownership rates among Blacks and, in doing so, widen Black–White inequalities in homeownership. Therefore, the findings suggest that the consequences of incarceration extend beyond the offender and may increase inequality in household wealth.     

Sexual inequality in the workplace: An employer-specific analysis of pay differences

This paper reports an analysis of employer-specific sex differences in the processes governing the salary attainment of personnel of a large company. The two dominant theories of inequality both view discrimination as the operative cause of pay differences, but locate the structural source of discrimination at different points in the employer-employee exchange space. The wage discrimination hypothesis asserts that the economic disadvantage of women issues directly from the pay practices of employers, with women receiving “unequal pay for equal work.” The crowding, or employment segregation, hypothesis asserts that inequality issues from the employment practices of employers; disparities in the allocation of jobs and promotions results in segregation along sexual lines, with women relegated to lower-paying positions. The findings show that both wage discrimination and sexual segregation of the company's job and rank structures contribute to inequality, but that the latter is more important. The implications for the issue of discrimination are briefly discussed.     

Revisiting the relationship between perceived discrimination and health: Evidence from sibling models with multiple health measures

Perceived discrimination (PD) is known to be significantly related to health outcomes. This link, however, warrants further scrutiny due to the possibility of unobserved family-level confounding. Using the Add Health and sibling fixed-effect approach, we examine whether the relationship between PD and health is confounded by family background characteristics such as genetics, family environment, and childhood social context (school and neighborhood effects). While the naive OLS models exhibit significant associations between PD and both physical and psychological health outcomes, our preferred sibling fixed-effect estimates reveal that the observed associations between PD and physical health outcomes are confounded by shared family background. In contrast, the observed associations for psychological health, self-reported health, and some of health behavior outcomes are robust to adjustment for sibling fixed-effects. Furthermore, we find similar overall patterns in the link between PD and health across races/ethnicities.     

Why does college education matter? Unveiling the contributions of selection factors

This study investigates the contributions of pre-college selection factors that may partially lead to the college degree – health link by using longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979) cohort. Propensity score matching method finds that the effects of college degree on various health outcomes (self-rated health, physical component summary index, health limitations, CESD scale) are reduced by 51% on average (range: 37%–70%) in the matched sample. Among these observed factors, cognitive skill is the biggest confounder, followed by pre-college health and socioeconomic characteristics (marital aspiration, years of schooling, marriage, fertility, poverty status) and non-cognitive skills (e.g., self-esteem). Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control scale is not significantly associated with all four health measures. The effects of most indicators of family background (parental education, family stability, family size, religious background) on the health of adult children are not direct but through offspring's early adulthood health and socioeconomic status.     

Neighborhood resources, racial segregation, and economic mobility: Results from the Gautreaux program

This study uses the unique design of the Gautreaux residential mobility program to estimate the long-run impacts of placement neighborhood conditions on the AFDC receipt (N = 793) and employment levels (N = 1258) of low-income Black women. We find that women initially placed in neighborhoods with few Black residents and moderate to high neighborhood resources experienced significantly more time employed when compared with women placed in neighborhoods with higher concentrations of Blacks and a low level of resources. Women placed in neighborhoods with high levels of resources and low Black populations also spent significantly less time on welfare than women placed in highly Black segregated areas with low levels of resources.     

The Variable Effects of Family Background on the Timing of First Marriage: United States, 1969–1993

Longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics for a sample of 6570 women and men observed between 1969 and 1993 are used to examine historical changes and life-course variation in the effects of family background characteristics on the timing of first marriage. Discrete-time event history analyses reveal that the inverse effect of parental resources (family income and mother's education) on the timing of first marriage has both declined over time and weakens as children age. Historical declines in the effect of parental resources on first marriage timing appear to explain the divergence between Black and White marriage patterns over this period. In contrast, the inverse effect of experiencing a nonintact family structure during childhood on the timing of first marriage remains constant over both historical time and the life course. The implications of these findings for theories of demographic individuation and life-course perspectives are discussed.     

Effects of instructions and verbal modeling in a survey interview setting

The effects of two interviewing procedures, Instructions and Verbal Modeling, on the reporting of health information in a survey interview setting were evaluated. The theoretical basis for selecting these procedures was derived from a conceptualization of the cognitive requirements for effective reporting. Two main dependent variables were used: number of health conditions reported, and number of ideas reported. An experimental sample design was employed, with the sample restricted to white females aged 18–64 yr, living in several towns and cities of a large metropolitan area.Results indicate various mediating effects of educational level and subjective health rating; and implications of the study for research on interviewing methodology, as well as on the cognitive and motivational aspects of reporting performance, are discussed.     

Rasch measurement and differences between women and men in self-esteem

Most researchers who investigate sociological influences on emotional well-being or distress employ correlational methods as justification for the scales used as measures of distress (factor analysis) and to describe the effects of various factors on distress (regression). This paper suggests that log-linear and related models offer certain advantages over the linear model which have largely been ignored. An analysis of the cross-classification of items included in a widely used measure of self-esteem suggests that one of the items must be eliminated to approximately achieve measurement as defined by Rasch. The resultant latent variable shows no difference in self-esteem between women and men. An analysis of the additive index which includes all of the items, however, reveals that women have lower self-esteem than do men. This apparent difference results solely from a difference on the discrepant item: women are less likely than men to report that they often, rather than sometimes or rarely, can do things as well as most other people.     

Misconceived equity? Health care resources,contextual poverty,and child health disparities in Peru

Although many studies have examined determinants of child health, fewer have explored factors explaining regional disparities in child health outcomes. In the Peruvian context, we examined the relationship between regional disparities in child malnutrition and local variation in health resources (health care resources and the socioeconomic environment). Using the Peruvian 2007–2008 Continuous Demographic and Health Survey (N = 8020) and governmental administrative data, our analyses show that 1) only selected types of health care resources (medical professionals and outpatient visits) are related to child nutritional status, 2) local poverty predicts nutritional status net of household characteristics, and, most importantly, 3) a significant portion of regional differences in child malnutrition are explained by local poverty, whereas health care resources are not associated with regional disparities. These findings suggest that the local socioeconomic environment is a key determinant of both child health outcomes and regional disparities in these outcomes.     

偏见抑或洞见:海登·怀特论英国史家及其思想

海登•怀特早年受柯林武德、汤因比、克里斯托弗•道森等史家影响,但19世纪英国史家为何未成为《元史学:19世纪欧洲的历史想象》研讨对象?这一疑问既涉及英国史学及史家,又关乎怀特理论中的基本假设。英国辉格派史学的变迁向历史学家提出反思历史学的性质、对象、方法和价值等知识论问题,也激发了怀特探讨英国史家批判实证主义的理论兴趣。怀特一方面以反讽为路径阐述了19世纪欧洲历史意识由科学的客观性向认识论的怀疑主义蜕变;另一方面,以历史主义为线索构建了19世纪欧洲历史意识三个不同阶段,而英国却付之阙如。究其根源,19世纪的英国史家仍未产生系统探讨历史知识的兴趣。     

The role of family relationships in the psychological wellbeing of interracially dating adolescents

We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to examine the role of family relationships in explaining why interracially dating youth have poorer psychological wellbeing than youth with same-race partners. Results indicate that interracial daters experience more symptoms of depression and anxiety and poorer family relationships than do same-race daters. The additive effects of their lower levels of family support and poorer quality parent-child relationships, however, do little to explain interracial daters' more negative wellbeing outcomes. The negative effects of interracial dating hold similarly for boys and girls and among White and Black youth. Interracial dating less negatively effects the depressive symptomatology of Hispanics, though, and actually appears to “protect” Asian youth from depressive symptoms. Our findings highlight the psychological wellbeing risks faced by many interracially dating youth and the protective benefits of close and supportive family relationships for romantically-involved adolescents in general.     

Business structure,ethnic shifts in labor markets,and violence: The link between company size,local labor markets,and non-Latino homicide

Combining several schools of thought, including the civic engagement thesis, we extend current research by linking three things at the county level; firm size, the ethnic composition of labor markets, and violent crime. Our results suggest that larger businesses (based on the average number of persons employed) are more likely to have an external orientation and long recruitment reach, and this is linked to ethnic shifts in labor markets toward Latino workers. Such shifts are in turn associated with high rates of homicide among non-Latinos. Through indirect effects modeling, we find that increases in Black homicide are linked to rises in concentrated poverty, while increases in White homicide are linked to changes in unemployment. We discuss the implications of our findings.     

Self-rated health at the intersection of sexual identity and union status

There is a well-established relationship between union status and health within the general population, and growing evidence of an association between sexual identity and well-being. Yet, what is unknown is whether union status stratifies health outcomes across sexual identity categories. In order to elucidate this question, we analyzed nationally representative population-based data from the National Health Interview Surveys 2013–2014 (N = 53,135) to examine variation in self-rated health by sexual partnership status (i.e., by sexual identity across union status). We further test the role of socioeconomic status and gender in these associations. Results from logistic regression models show that union status stratifies self-rated health across gay, lesbian, and heterosexual populations, albeit in different ways for men and women. Socioeconomic status does not play a major role in accounting for these differences. Findings highlight the need for specific interventions with lesbian women, who appear to experience the most strident disadvantage across union status categories.     

Social support,stress, and maternal postpartum depression: A comparison of supportive relationships

A large body of literature documents the link between social support, stress, and women’s mental health during pregnancy and the postpartum period; however, uncertainty remains as to whether a direct effect or stress mediating pathway best describes the relationship between these factors. Moreover, specific dimensions of social support that may be influential (family type, sources of support) have largely been neglected. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (N = 4150), we examine the pathway between social support, stress exposure, and postpartum depression in greater detail. Findings reveal that social support is a significant, protective factor for postpartum depression, and the variety of support providers in a woman’s social network is important, especially in the context of family type. Findings also reveal the importance of considering social support and stress exposure as part of a larger causal pathway to postpartum mental health.