THE EFFECT OF YOUTH ALCOHOL INITIATION ON HIGH SCHOOL COMPLETION

The social environment inherent in schools impacts both alcohol consumption onset and high school completion. The results reported here, based on data from the 1979–96 NLSY panels, show that the social coincidences between alcohol consumption and education are important determinants of both education completion and alcohol onset. Ignoring the social nature of these simultaneous decisions underestimates the impact of alcohol onset on education. After correcting for the presence of an endogenous positive relationship between schooling and alcohol consumption, we find that alcohol initiation before age 14 significantly reduces the probability of timeously completing high school by between 7% and 22%. (JEL I18 , I21 )     

HIGH SCHOOL CHOICES AND THE GENDER GAP IN STEM

Women are less likely than men to graduate with a degree in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM). We use detailed administrative data for a recent cohort of Ontario high school students, combined with data from the province's university admission system, to analyze the sources of this gap. We show that entry to STEM programs is mediated through an index of STEM readiness that depends on end‐of‐high school courses in math and science. Most of the gender gap in STEM entry can be traced to differences in the share of college entrants who are STEM‐ready; only a small share is attributable to differences in the choice of major conditional on readiness. We then use high school course data to decompose the gender gap in STEM readiness into two channels: one reflecting the gap in the fraction of high school students with the necessary prerequisites to enter STEM, the other arising from differences in the overall fractions of females and males who enter university. The gender gap in the fraction of males and females with STEM prerequisites is small. The primary driver of the gap in STEM readiness is the low rate of university entry by nonscience‐oriented males. (JEL I21, 28, I20)     

THE STATE OF COLLECTIVE RELIGIOSITY IN CANADA: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

On affirme que la spécialisation institutionnelle qui caractérise l'industrialisation est concomitante du déclin de la présence répandue de la religion. Soutenant de plus que les collectivités sont essentielles à la sustentation idéationnelle, l'auteur explore l'état du judéo-cristianisme dans un Canada s'industrialisant par un examen de la participation à la religion formelle. En se servant d'un cadre démographique de base, et de données de recensement et d'enquêtes, l'auteur commence par un apery général de la participation actuelle et ensuite examine les tendances à l'engagement. On constate que la religion formelle éprouve une baisse de participation que l'on trouve peu probable de s'inverser à l'avenir prévisible. L'auteur termine avec une discussion de la portée des constatations de ce genre pour la religion traditionnelle dans la société canadienne.
It is asserted that the institutional specialization which characterizes industrialization knows the concomitant of a decline in the pervasiveness of religion. Maintaining further that collectivities are essential to ideational sustenance, the author explores the state of Judaic-Christianity in an industrializing Canada through an examination of participation in organized religion. Using a basic demographic framework and census and survey data, he begins with an overview of current participation and then examines involvement trends. It is found that organized religion is experiencing a participation decline which is unlikely to reverse itself in the forseeable future. The author concludes with a discussion of the implications of such findings for traditional religion in Canadian society.     

PARENTAL CHOICE OF SCHOOL CHARACTERISTICS: ESTIMATION USING STATE-WIDE DATA

This article attempts to proxy parental alienation from public schools across states in order to obtain measures of quality dispersion and of the educational characteristics to which families are most sensitive. The indicator of alienation is the choice of private schooling. Since the likelihood of such choice is known from published enrollment ratios, the task is to explain why they vary so widely across states. Of the newer hypotheses tested, that of teacher strike records is strongly significant and in the expected direction. Other novel findings concern the share of administration, teacher memberships of the National Education Association and the proportion of whites to nonwhites in the population.     

THE INFLUENCE OF CLASSROOM CHARACTERISTICS ON HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER TURNOVER

This paper examines the effect of class load and other factors on teacher turnover. Unlike previous studies, class load characteristics–class size, number of classes taught, and percentage of class time spent in areas outside a teacher's certification area–are included along with salary, personal characteristics, and district characteristics in a discrete time hazard model to simulate the effects of changing classroom characteristics on high school teacher turnover. The results indicate that class load characteristics are important correlates of job turnover. Policy implications for school districts, given a growing school-age population, are discussed.     

TEENAGE RISKY BEHAVIOR AND PARENTAL SUPERVISION: THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF MULTIPLE SHIFTS SCHOOL SYSTEMS

We study the relationship between attending high school at night and the probability of engaging in risky behavior, such as having unsafe sex or consuming substances. To address potential endogeneity concerns we take advantage of a random assignment of high school students to daytime and night shifts in the city of Buenos Aires. Using an original survey on students attending their last year of high school, we find that girls attending high school in the evening start having sex at an earlier age and present a higher probability of getting an abortion. We find no significant differences for substance use. Our experimental approach suggests that the link between high school shift and risky behavior is causal. Results hold when we use an alternative sample of alumni. Finally, we report evidence that the lack of parental supervision is the mechanism underlying our results. (JEL I12, I25, J13)     

DIFFICULTIES IN HOLDING THE ROLE OF THE OBSERVER

This is the second of two linked papers on learning from infant and child observation in social work qualifying training (linked with Linnet McMahon & Steve Farnfield ‘Too Close In Or Too Far Out’). A former student reflects on her own observation experience. She considers the anxieties aroused and their containment, which became possible initially through reflection in the seminar group and ultimately through her internalisation of the reflective process. She discusses the value of her learning in subsequent practice in palliative care.     

THE ROLE OF TIME FRAME IN THE ASSESSMENT OF FAMILY FUNCTIONING

The purpose of this study was to evaluate how the stated time frame of family questionnaires can influence the individual's report of family events and relationships. Three whole-family assessment procedures were administered to a large sample of intact families under two conditions—when the respondent was asked to describe his/her family "in general" and "during the past week". Major findings indicated that (a) reports of family relationships reflected the same overall evaluation regardless of time frame, (b) the number or degree of positive endorsements was greater on the "in general" than the "past week" format, and (c) the impact of time frame varied greatly as a function of instrument. Explanations and implications of these findings are discussed.     

THE ROLE OF ASSETS IN LABOR SUPPLY FUNCTIONS

This paper examines the argument advanced by Smith (1977) that it is inappropriate to include current assets in labor supply functions, under the assumption that a life-cycle model underlies both the asset accumulation process and the labor supply process. It is shown that on a theoretical level current labor supply may still be viewed as a function of current assets. It is also demonstrated that in empirical work based upon a life-cycle labor supply model, it may or may not be appropriate to use current assets or current wealth as an independent variable in a labor supply regression     

THE ROLE OF CONSTITUENT TRUST IN CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS

The purpose of this inquiry is to introduce a new variable intothe study of congressional elections—constituent trust.Constituent trust is defined as the level of confidence thatconstituents have in their elected representative. This analysissuggests a strategy for measuring constituent trust and developsa model that relates constituent trust directly and indirectlyto electoral support. By pooling cross-sectional data drawnfrom the University of Michigan's American National ElectionStudies (1978–84), I demonstrate that when constituenttrust is salient in voter cognitions, it has a significant directinfluence on electoral support and is a better predictor ofelectoral support than the incumbent's party identification.In addition to its direct effects, I show that constituent trustindirectly influences electoral support because of its causalrelationship to incumbent popularity.     

THE ROLE OF THE GOLD STANDARD IN KEYNESIAN MONETARY THEORY

This paper shows that many of the most distinctive features of Keynesian economics are best understood if one views the General Theory as essentially a gold standard model. A close examination of Keynes's statements on contemporaneous policy issues suggests that the gold standard had a profound impact on his views on monetary policy effectiveness. In particular, I show that the liquidity trap has been widely misunderstood. Finally, I argue that post–General Theory developments in Keynesian economics are best understood as a response to the inapplicability of Keynes's original message to a world of fiat money regimes. ( JEL B22, E12, N1)     

DEMOCRACY IN THE INFORMATION AGE: THE ROLE OF THE FOURTH ESTATE IN CYBERSPACE

Journalism faces attack from two areas. From one direction it has to repel the pressures from its new owners, the media conglomerates, that have exacerbated the traditional problems of professional news. From another, new forms of political and government communication with the public are emerging. The Internet is displacing the journalistic role of providing information and interpretation for the citizen. This article assesses the future for journalism within the public sphere and asks whether journalism can perform its normative functions in the digital age.     

VOUCHERS,PUBLIC SCHOOL RESPONSE,AND THE ROLE OF INCENTIVES: EVIDENCE FROM FLORIDA

This paper analyzes the incentives and responses of public schools in the context of an educational reform. Much of the literature studying the effect of voucher programs on public schools has looked at the effect on student and mean school scores. This paper tries to go inside the black box to investigate some of the ways in which schools facing the Florida accountability‐tied voucher program behaved. Schools getting an “F” grade for the first time were exposed to the threat of vouchers, but did not face vouchers unless and until they got a second “F” within the next 3 years. In addition, “F,” being the lowest grade, exposed the threatened schools to stigma. Exploiting the institutional details of this program, I analyze the incentives built into the system and investigate the behavior of the threatened public schools facing these incentives. There is strong evidence that they did respond to incentives. Using highly disaggregated school‐level data, a difference‐in‐differences estimation strategy as well as a regression discontinuity (RD) analysis, I find that the threatened schools tended to focus more on students below the minimum criteria cutoffs rather than equally on all. Second, consistent with incentives, the threatened school improvements were, by far, the largest in writing. These results are robust to controlling for differential preprogram trends, changes in demographic compositions, mean reversion, and sorting. These findings have important policy implications. (JEL H4, I21, I28)     

SEX DIFFERENCES IN SCHOOL PERFORMANCE DURING HIGH SCHOOL: Puzzling Patterns and Possible Explanations

While past explanations for sex differences in school performance are heavily geared toward explaining boys’ small advantage on standardized math tests, we broaden the focus to include educational outcomes for which girls typically do well—standardized reading tests and math and English grades. Among adolescents in the National Education Longitudinal Study, girls enjoy better English and math grades and higher reading test scores than boys in eighth grade and these advantages all increase during high school. In contrast, boys earn slightly higher math test scores in eighth grade and this gap also increases slightly by the end of high school. This set of patterns leaves us with a puzzle—why do girls and boys excel at different components of schooling? We explore models that assess the degree to which these different trajectories can be explained by sex differences in classroom behavior and out‐of‐class activities. We conclude that a major reason for sex differences in grades is boys’ poorer classroom behavior while sex differences in time spent outside of school should supplement previous explanations for test scores gaps.     

THE ROLE OF FINANCIAL LITERACY IN DETERMINING RETIREMENT PLANS

Workers nearing retirement face many important, and often irreversible, choices. We collected detailed demographic and financial literacy data on over 1,500 workers nearing retirement at three large companies to assess how individuals are planning for retirement. Many respondents display limited knowledge and understanding of public and company‐provided retirement benefits. Controlling for basic demographics and wealth, we find that misconceptions about eligibility ages and plan generosity influence workers' expected age of retirement. Although retirement‐related decisions will affect workers' well‐being for the remainder of their lifetimes, many do not possess enough basic financial knowledge to confidently make optimal choices. (JEL J26, J320, J240)     

THE ROLE OF THE MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL IN CONTESTED CUSTODY:

Two different roles for mental health professionals in contested custody cases are presented. The first, the evaluator of competence model, is the more traditional one; its underpinnings are individually-oriented concepts: the clinician is a diagnostician and evaluator, making a recommendation to the court, and the family's input in the decision-making is minimal. The second role, a facilitator of change, comes out of family therapy theory; its focus is on helping the family to change and resolve their issues so that custody can be decided fairly: it is evaluative only secondarily, that is, if the family is unable to resolve the dilemma themselves. When working with contested custody cases, which are really unresolved family problems, the second approach is more promising.     

THE EMERGING ROLE OF THE MEDICAL SOCIOLOGIST IN PALLIATIVE CARE SETTINGS

The demographics of a rapidly aging society and the chronic nature of contemporary illness intersect in the twenty-first century to confront medicine with the challenge of reenvisioning health care at life's end. Using analytic, interpretive, and reflexive tools, the medical sociologist can assist health care teams in improving quality of life terminally ill patients and their caregivers. In this article, we explore the role of the medical sociologist in palliative care settings, discuss ways to integrate that role into the day-to-day processes of palliative medicine, and identify three areas of intervention where medical sociologists can bring a unique perspective to end-of-life settings. We conclude by examining impediments to the inclusion of the medical sociologist on the clinical team and discussing how these barriers can be addressed.     

THE ROLE OF PARENTS IN THE MAINTENANCE OF SECOND GENERATION VIETNAMESE CULTURAL BEHAVIORS

Although previous research shows that biculturalism is adaptive for the children of immigrants, in the United States there is a great deal of pressure for assimilation. This study examines whether parents who model cultural behaviors and encourage interaction with co-ethnics increase the likelihood that their adult children will engage in cultural behaviors. Data are from a survey of second generation Vietnamese members between the ages of 18 and 30 (N=66) living in Atlanta. Results indicate parents' cultural behaviors (speaking and reading) affect adult children's cultural skills and the ethnic composition of their social networks enhances the likelihood that their children's networks are ethnically based. Moreover, the parents' influence is direct, not mediated by children's social networks. Mothers exert stronger influence than fathers, but respondents' own gender does not predict cultural retention. We discuss results in terms of implications for maintaining ethnic cultures in a context that encourages assimilation.