Personal networks of prisoners prior to incarceration: A comparison with the general Dutch population

This study examines inmates’ core discussion network prior to their incarceration. The core discussion network consists of the immediate social circle of relatively strong ties. The aims of the study are twofold: (1) to describe inmates’ core discussion network prior to their incarceration in terms of network structure, relationship quality and embedded socioeconomic resources; (2) to compare inmates’ core discussion network with the core discussion network of the general Dutch population. Data are analyzed from the Prison Project (n = 1909) and the Survey of the Social Networks of the Dutch (n = 394). Compared with the general Dutch population, prior to incarceration, prisoners generally have a core discussion network that is similar to or even better with respect to network structure and relationship quality. However, prisoners’ core discussion network members seem to lack socioeconomic resources.     

Population migration and children’s school enrollments in China, 1990–2005

This paper examines the impact of migration on children’s school enrollment by analyzing the micro-data from Chinese population censuses in 1990 and 2000 and mini-census in 2005. We match school-age children (7–14 years old) with their parents, and examine how migration status and parents’ absence affect children’s school enrollment in urban China. We also compare rural–urban migrant children with their peers in both origin counties and destination districts. Results show that migrant children are less likely to be enrolled in school than urban local children and that children of rural registration status are particularly disadvantaged in school enrollment over the whole examined period in urban China. Rural–urban migrant children fare significantly worse than non-migrant children in both origins and destinations and noticeably they are even less likely than left-behind children to be enrolled in school. The likelihood of being enrolled in school increases for rural–urban migrant children as they spend more time in destinations.     

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.     

Domestic outsourcing and multitasking: How much do they really contribute?

The bulk of responsibility for domestic work and childcare in heterosexual couples falls on women. But the means they find to cope with this load, and how these means relate to the factors underpinning the division of labor are not often studied. Two much-cited ways of reducing overall work time are purchasing domestic assistance (outsourcing) and the multitasking of domestic/caring tasks. Using UK 2000/2001 time-use data (N = 4196 couples), we find domestic outsourcing is related to having dependent children and to partners’ resources, but has little impact on the total domestic/caring workload of either partner. Nor can outsourcing account for the reduction in women’s unpaid labor with increasing economic resources. Wives spend more time multitasking than husbands, but their proportion of multitasked domestic time is similar, and is not affected by resources or dependent children. Domestic multitasking seems to be more related to opportunity (time at home) than to time pressure.     

Variation in trajectories of women’s marital quality

I examine variation in trajectories of women’s marital quality across the life course. The analysis improves upon earlier research in three ways: (1) the analysis uses a sequential cohort design and data from the first 35 years of marriage; (2) I analyze rich data from a national sample; (3) I examine multiple dimensions of marital quality. Latent class growth analyses estimated on data from women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1979 (N = 2604) suggest multiple trajectories for each of three dimensions of marital quality, including two trajectories of marital happiness, two trajectories of marital communication, and three trajectories of marital conflict. Socioeconomic and demographic covariates are then used to illustrate how factors such as income, cohabitation, and race-ethnicity set individuals at risk of poor marital quality throughout the life course by differentiating between high and low trajectories of marital quality. Women on low marital quality trajectories are, as expected, at much greater risk of divorce. Taken together, these findings show how fundamental socioeconomic and demographic characteristics contribute to subsequent marital outcomes via their influence on trajectories of marital quality as well as providing a better picture of the complexity in contemporary patterns of marital quality.     

Testing the temporal nature of social disorder through abandoned buildings and interstitial spaces

With the recent housing crisis, studying abandoned buildings has once again become important. However, it has been some time since abandoned buildings were the subject of direct study, leaving scholars with scant knowledge about the characteristics of abandoned buildings, how they change, and their relationship to neighborhood processes. To fill this gap, we employed longitudinal photographic and SSO evaluations of 36 abandoned buildings and their immediate surroundings in Chicago for one year (n = 587). Results demonstrate the presence and severity of social disorder cues vary across time points and the time of day of observation. There is a relationship between abandoned buildings and social disorder, though the relationship is not a trend. Also, social disorder is diminished around extremely decayed buildings. Lastly, we find that our results are driven by the measurement of places ignored by most SSO studies, including alleys and the rear side of buildings.     

Pathways of children’s long-term living arrangements: A latent class analysis

This study employed latent class analysis to create children’s family structure trajectories from birth through adolescence using merged mother and child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 1870). Input variables distinguished between biological fathers and stepfathers as well as mother’s marriages and cohabitations. The best-fitting model revealed five latent trajectories of children’s long-term family structure: continuously married biological parents (55%), long-term single mothers (18%), married biological parents who divorce (12%), a highly unstable trajectory distinguished by gaining at least one stepfather (11%), and cohabiting biological parents who either marry or break up (4%). Multinomial logistic regression indicated that mother’s education, race, teen birth status, and family of origin characteristics were important predictors of the long-term family trajectories in which their children grew up. These findings suggest that latent class analysis is a valuable statistical tool for understanding children’s complete family structure experiences.     

A propensity score matching analysis of the relationship between victim sex and capital juror decision-making in North Carolina

A small body of prior research has examined the impact of victim sex on jury death penalty decision-making and the majority of this research has demonstrated some evidence of a “female victim effect” such that cases involving a female victim are more likely to receive the death penalty than similarly situated cases with a male victim. However, within this line of research studies have suggested that victim sex may work in conjunction with other case characteristics. In order to further explore this phenomenon, the current study examines a near-population of death penalty cases from North Carolina (n = 1069) from 1977–2009 using propensity score matching. Results demonstrate that once cases are matched on more than 50 legal and extralegal case characteristics, there is no statistically significant or substantive link between victim sex and death penalty decision-making. Findings suggest that it is concrete differences in the legal and extralegal factors observed in cases with female victims compared to male victims that shape jury death sentence decisions rather than a direct effect of victim sex (before matching: OR = 1.53; 95% CI = 1.20–1.95; p < .001/after matching: OR = 0.90; 95% CI = 0.66–1.24; p = .52). Study limitations and implications are also discussed.     

Classroom sex composition and first-grade school outcomes: The role of classroom behavior

Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (N = 21,409; 10,452 girls and 10,957 boys; mean age = 7.24 years), the association between first-grade classroom sex composition (CSC), measured as the percentage of female students, and end of the year academic (reading, mathematics) and socio-emotional (externalizing problems, internalizing problems, self-control, interpersonal skills) outcomes was examined. Using multilevel modeling techniques and controlling for prior achievement levels, CSC was positively associated with children’s reading achievement at the end of first grade; students performed better in reading in classes with a higher percentage of female students. CSC was also associated with three of the socio-emotional outcomes; controlling for prior levels, students in classrooms with a higher percentage of girls had better self-control and interpersonal skills and fewer internalizing problems. Classroom behavior mediated the effects of CSC on reading achievement and the socio-emotional outcomes. Implications for the composition of first-grade classrooms are discussed.     

Seclusion,decision-making power,and gender disparities in adult health: Examining hypertension in India

Research on the social determinants of health in developing countries is increasingly focusing on the importance of gender. Cardiovascular conditions such as hypertension are a growing concern in developing countries, where they are now the leading cause of death. Researchers have documented differences in hypertension between men and women, but the importance of gendered practices in shaping these differences has been left unexamined. Using national data from the India Human Development Survey 2005 (N = 101,593), this study assesses the moderating role of two salient and widespread gendered practices—women’s seclusion and decision-making power—on hypertension disparities between women and men. Both seclusion and low decision-making power are associated with increased odds of hypertension for women, but in the case of seclusion reduced hypertension for men. Results also show the gender gap in hypertension is exacerbated with women’s seclusion and low decision-making power.     

The impact of cumulative family risks on various levels of food insecurity

The study uses the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (N = 2025) to examine the relationship between four cumulative family risk indices and refined measures of food hardship: marginal food security, low food security, and very low food security. Regression analyses indicate that cumulative family risk indices are useful in differentiating various levels of food insecurity. Specifically, the maternal poor health and risky health behaviors index is pertinent for distinguishing (1) food insecure from marginal food secure households and (2) very low food secure from low food secure households. In addition, the financial strain index is pertinent for differentiating between marginal food secure families from food secure families among non-poor households. Connecting food assistance programs with established social services may decrease the negative impact that cumulative family-level risk factors have on families’ varying levels of food insecurity.     

Trends in exposure to industrial air toxins for different racial and socioeconomic groups: A spatial and temporal examination of environmental inequality in the U.S. from 1995 to 2004

In recent decades there have been dramatic declines in industrial air toxins. However, there has yet to be a national study investigating if the drop has mitigated the unequal exposure to industrial toxins by race and social class. This paper addresses this by developing a unique dataset of air pollution exposure estimates, by aggregating the annual fall-out location of 415 air toxins, from 17,604 facilities, for the years 1995 to 2004 up to census block groups (N = 216,159/year). These annual estimates of exposure were matched with census data to calculate trends in exposure for different racial and socioeconomic groups. Results show that exposure to air toxins has decreased for everyone, but African-Americans are consistently more exposed than Whites and Hispanics and socioeconomic status is not as protective for African-Americans. These results by race were further explored using spatially specified multilevel models which examine trends over time and across institutional boundaries.     

Chips off the old blocks? The political participation patterns of parents and children in Italy

This article studies the relationship between the political participation of parents and children in Italy, a country for which no empirical evidence on the topic is available and that has particular characteristics in terms of household dynamics and patterns of political participation. The analyses are based on a sample of 12,802 children from 14 to 19 years old and their parents, drawn from the “Multipurpose survey – Aspects of daily life”, collected by the Italian National Institute of Statistics. The results show that the political participation of children is strongly associated with that of their parents; that maternal participation is of somewhat greater relevance to the participation of both sons and daughters compared to that of fathers; and that the parents’ level of education is not associated with the likelihood of the child participating, net of parental participation.     

Predictors of self-protective behaviors in non-sexual violent encounters: The role of victim sex in understanding resistance

Self-protective behaviors are actions that victims take in a violent encounter to thwart the attack or avoid/minimize injury. This study examines the predictors of self-protective behaviors in non-sexual assault incidents with a particular focus on how the sex of the victim may moderate these conclusions. Non-sexual assault incidents in the National Crime Victimization Survey were analyzed (n = 16,309) and four categories of self-protective behaviors were regressed on a variety of predictors using multivariate probit models. A variety of pre-assault factors (e.g., demographic characteristics), situational characteristics (e.g., location of assault), and the relationship between the victim and offender are associated with the use of resistance. Situational characteristics emerged as the most consistent and strongest predictors of self-protective behaviors. There was little evidence to suggest that separate models for male and female victims were warranted.     

Revisiting convergence: A research note

A number of recent studies show that income inequality is declining between countries. In this research note, I question the significance of this trend by examining the role of initial conditions in producing convergence. An important (but neglected) property of inequality dynamics is the tendency for extreme distributions to become more moderate. When income disparities are large, the subsequent trend is biased toward convergence. Conversely, when initial conditions approach parity, divergence becomes the more likely long-term outcome. I apply this principle to trends in GDP PC across 127 countries during the 1980–2010 period. Using counterfactual analysis, I manipulate the initial level of inequality in GDP PC while holding constant each country’s observed growth rate during the sample period. I find that the growth dynamics of GDP PC produce either convergence or divergence based simply on the initial distribution of income. The point of transition occurs at a moderate level of inequality, whether using population weights (Gini = .365) or not (Gini = .377). I conclude that the recent convergence observed in GDP PC is primarily a function of large income gaps between countries and would not have materialized at more moderate levels of initial inequality. By contrast, an examination of the pre-1950 period reveals divergent growth patterns that are not sensitive to initial conditions.     

The dimensions of mobilities: The spatial relationships between corporeal and digital mobilities

The aim of this article is to study how the corporeal and digital mobilities are spatially organised in relation to each other in everyday life. The dimensions of mobilities are modelled by using survey data (N = 612) collected from Finland in 2011, Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA). The results show that the combined use of corporeal and digital means of mobility affect the spatial organisation of mobilities only little. The results indicate that young people and students are more likely to benefit from their mobility in networking activities as they are equipped with a larger variety of mobility means than older people and pensioners. Lastly, women and people living in essentially urban areas are more likely to augment their physical travelling practices by using small-sized digital mobilities than men and people living in rural locations.     

Mass imprisonment and the life course revisited: Cumulative years spent imprisoned and marked for working-age black and white men

Over the last 40 years, imprisonment has become a common stage in the life-course for low-skilled and minority men, with implications not only for inequality among adult men but also for inequality more broadly. Unfortunately, all research documenting how increases in imprisonment have transformed the life-course of poor, minority men has neglected to estimate how much time black and white men on average spend imprisoned or marked as an ex-prisoner. In this article, we fill this gap by using multistate life tables to estimate what share of their working lives (18–64) black and white men will spend imprisoned and marked as ex-prisoners. Our estimates imply that white men spend on average 0.33 years of their working lives imprisoned and 2.31 years marked, while black men spend on average 1.79 years of their working lives imprisoned and 11.14 years marked. This implies that black men spend on average one-third of their working lives either imprisoned or having been freed but marked by the penal system. For the 32.2% of black men who ever experience imprisonment (Bonczar, 2003), moreover, these estimates imply that they spend on average 5.56 years imprisoned, corresponding to 13.4% of their working lives. Taken together, these findings imply a dramatic reorientation of the life course for black men, as one-third of the black male population will spend one-seventh of their working life in prison.     

Intergenerational transmission of homeownership in Europe: Revisiting the socialisation hypothesis

Socialisation towards homeownership during childhood has been proposed as one transmission channel of homeownership across generations in previous literature, but tests of this socialisation hypothesis are scarce. This study presents the yet most rigorous test of the socialisation hypothesis using retrospective life-history data (SHARELIFE, N = 19,567 individuals) from 13 European countries. Event history and panel regression models are applied. Results show that socialisation in homeownership positively affects the hazard rates of entering homeownership for the first time and the probability to be a homeowner throughout individuals’ lives net of other parental background variables and material transfers. We find a socialisation effect across divergent (but not all) examined countries. Further sensitivity analyses using a placebo test and a hypothetical confounder support the conclusion that being socialised in homeownership during childhood increases the chances of becoming and being a homeowner in later life.     

Dropping out of high school: Effects of close and distant friendships

Prior research highlights the role of friends in influencing whether a student completes high school. Students who drop out tend to have fewer friends, as well as friends who are less oriented toward school success. We distinguish between close and distant friendships by developing a theoretical framework which predicts close and distant friends likely have distinct effects on dropping out. Close friendships provide valuable emotional support, and forging numerous close friendships at school should decrease one’s risk of dropping out. In contrast, the characteristics of distant friends help shape students’ social identities and beliefs about “what’s normative.” Our analyses of the Add Health data set confirm our expectations. Students with more close friendships are less likely to drop out, but close friends’ characteristics are unrelated to dropping out. Distant relationships (as measured by affect and regularity of interaction) with friends who have a high risk of dropping out significantly increase a student’s own risk of dropping out.     

Using population screening for recruitment of young adults engaged in illicit drug use: Methodological issues and sampling outcomes

Social stigma, legal sanctions and the associated lack of sampling frames create barriers to the probabilistic sampling of those engaged in a variety of behaviour, including illicit drug use. We used a novel sampling approach to recruit respondents into a longitudinal study examining amphetamine-type stimulant use. A young adult population was screened for lifetime drug use to create a sampling frame of amphetamine-type stimulant users and non-users. We posted 12,118 screening questionnaires to a random selection of young adults listed on the electoral roll for Brisbane and the Gold Coast, Australia (N = 107,275). Using a small pre-paid incentive and intensive telephone and postal reminders we attained a screening response rate of 49.9%. Eligible amphetamine-type stimulant users (used ecstasy or methamphetamine ⩾ 3 times in past 12 months) and non-users (never used ecstasy or methamphetamine) were identified by screening responses. About two-thirds of each selected group took part in the longitudinal study. Comparisons with large-scale population survey data suggest the sample was broadly representative of young adult amphetamine-type stimulant users in Australia.