At the intersection of self and other: English language ability and immigrant labor market outcomes

New Immigrant Survey 2003 data are used to consider the intersection between self- and other’s assessments of English proficiency. Our findings yield two important results. First, individuals who over- or under-estimate their English proficiency experience worse labor market outcomes than those whose positive self-evaluations coincide with the interviewer’s. Second, our analysis of respondents with a concordant self and interviewer assessment suggests higher returns to English proficiency than when using self-assessment. We argue that, although self-assessed language proficiency dominates the literature on immigrants’ well-being, this measure omits an important additional factor concerning immigrant self-perception and its concordance with the perceptions of others.     

Cognitive abilities and self-rated health: Is there a relationship? Is it growing? Does it explain disparities?

Although social epidemiologists have recently turned to the role of cognitive abilities in health, the ensuing debate has been largely speculative and numerous questions remain unanswered. Epidemiologists have speculated in three key areas: (i) whether cognitive abilities are associated with health; (ii) whether the association is growing; and (iii) whether cognitive abilities explain disparities. Using the cumulative 1974–2000 General Social Survey, this paper explores these questions using self-rated health as an outcome and a test of verbal ability as an indicator of cognitive abilities. On the one hand, the results suggest a significant and strictly monotonic association between verbal ability (with scores ranging from 0 to 10) and self-rated health. The association has been consistently strong since 1974; there is no evidence for a growing association. On the other hand, the results provide little to no evidence that verbal ability explains disparities. In multivariate models, the coefficients for income and education are reduced by only a small fraction with the introduction of controls for verbal ability (5 and 16%, respectively) and the relationship between verbal ability and self-rated health is, itself, very sensitive to controls for socioeconomic status. Furthermore, verbal ability cannot account for black–white differences in self-rated health: interaction-effect analyses indicate that, conditional on socioeconomic status, verbal ability has no discernable association with self-rated health among African Americans. Altogether, the results suggest that cognitive abilities are related to self-rated health, but also that cognitive abilities will do very little to explain disparities and may have benefits that are limited mostly—and sometimes entirely—to whites. The results are inconsistent with much of the previous speculation regarding cognitive abilities, but consistent with research on health’s “fundamental” causes and, more generally, with sociological research on the role of cognitive abilities in the process of stratification.     

Inequality in the family: The institutional aspects of women’s earning contribution

This paper examines the effect of employment-supportive policies and arrangements on women’s economic contribution to their family. Using samples of working-age couples in 21 countries we employ multilevel modeling to separate the effects of household and country-level variables on earnings. We distinguish two types of relevant contextual factors: those that support women’s employment while preserving their domestic roles and those that potentially reduce intra-family economic inequalities by allowing women to allocate more of their time to paid employment. The findings suggest that all employment-supportive policies and arrangements increase women’s relative contribution to the household income through their effect on female labor force participation. Among dual-earner families, however, higher rates of childcare facilities increase women’s contribution, while long maternity leave and part-time employment decrease it. These tendencies are more pronounced among mothers.     

Educational differences in health risks and illness over the life course: A test of cumulative disadvantage theory

This study tests the cumulative disadvantage hypothesis by examining the age-varying relationships between education, health risks, and disease onset and survival duration. Results based on 20 years of longitudinal data suggest that education is related to both the individual and accumulated number of behavioral, social, and economic health-risks, which in turn, are related to increasing educational differences in rates of disease incidence and survival. For hypertension, behavioral risks fully account for education’s negative effect on disease onset whereas educational differences in survival are best explained by the accumulation of social and economic risks. For heart attack, a combination of behavioral, social, and economic risks mediate the association between education and incidence, but neither the individual nor accumulated health-risks could account for education’s positive effect on surviving after a heart attack. Similar findings for diabetes and stroke are also discussed.     

Normative or economic behavior? Fertility and women’s employment in Israel

Women’s employment and childrearing are competing activities, which exert much pressure on their time and energy. Many studies have found that women in paid employment, especially in a demanding career, limit their fertility and have few children or none. This negative correlation was explained mainly in terms of opportunity costs and the incompatibility of women’s employment and childrearing. This study focuses on the interplay between women’s employment and fertility decisions in Israel, a socially diverse country, characterized by high levels of both fertility and female employment. We argue that in an environment which supports and encourages high fertility women’s employment activity is less consequential for family planning. The study analyzes simultaneously the decision to have a third child and the decision to work. The findings show that fertility affects negatively women’s work activity, but women’s employment has no effect on their decision to have an additional child. Also, cultural variables affect the fertility decision but not economic considerations, while the opposite holds for the work decision.     

Non-Hispanics with Latin American ancestry: Assimilation, race, and identity among Latin American descendants in the US

In the 2006 American Community Survey (ACS), 6% of respondents with Latin American ancestry answered ‘no’ when asked whether they were Hispanic themselves. Conventional definitions of the Hispanic population exclude such respondents as ‘not Spanish/Hispanic/Latino’ even though they are self-identified Latin American descendants. Since their exclusion may bias our assessments of Hispanic social mobility, it is important to know more about them. Non-Hispanic identification is most common among Latin American descendants who (1) list both Latin American and non-Latin American ancestries, (2) speak only English, and (3) identify as White, Black, or Asian when asked about their ‘race.’ Ancestry and racial identity are considerably more influential than respondents’ education, income, place of birth, or place of residence. These findings support both traditional straight-line assimilation and a more recent “racialized assimilation” theory in explaining discrepant responses to the ethnicity and ancestry questions among Latin American descendants.     

Economic deprivation and racial segregation: Comparing Superfund sites in Portland, Oregon and Detroit, Michigan

The research presented here weighs the ability of two major explanations of social inequality—Massey and Denton’s racial segregation explanation and Wilson’s emphasis on economic deprivation (concentrated poverty)—to predict environmental inequality. Two sets of logistic regression analyses are used to predict the location of Superfund sites in Portland, Oregon and Detroit, Michigan providing a conditional understanding of environmental inequality within a larger sociological context. The analysis includes a general examination of the two theories in all census tracts in both cities and a set of analyses focusing upon Black neighborhoods in Detroit. The findings indicate that there is support for explanations of environmental inequality that include both racial segregation and economic deprivation, but that the more powerful of the two is economic deprivation. The results suggest that even though African-American neighborhoods disproportionately house Superfund sites, these facilities are more likely to be located in Black neighborhoods that are economically deprived.     

Bad news indeed for Ryff’s six-factor model of well-being

Springer and Hauser (An Assessment of the Construct Validity of Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being: Method, Mode, and Measurement Effects. 2006. Social Science Research 35) tested one key aspect of the validity of Ryff’s six-factor model of psychological well-being (RPWB), namely, whether there is substantial independent variation among the six factors. In several large and heterogeneous samples, under a variety of model specifications, and using various sets of RPWB items, we found very high factor correlations among the dimensions of well-being, especially personal growth, purpose in life, self-acceptance, and environmental mastery. That is, the six-factor model makes theoretical claims that do not yield large or consistent empirical distinctions when standard measures and instrumentation are used. Where Ryff and Singer’s comment (Best News Yet on the Six-Factor Model of Well-Being. 2006. Social Science Research 35) refers directly to that analysis, their methodological discussion is most often irrelevant or incorrect. Their text largely ignores and fails to challenge our strong empirical findings about the factorial structure of well-being. In this response, we reinforce these findings and their implications for the (in)validity of the six-factor well-being model as implemented by Ryff. We also explain why Ryff and Singer’s lengthy review of studies that show differential relationships of RPWB factors with other variables should be interpreted with far greater caution than Ryff and Singer recognize. We offer recommendations for analyzing RPWB items in surveys that have already been conducted, but we also emphasize the need for a thorough rethinking of the measurement and dimensionality of psychological well-being.     

Social network characteristics and risky sexual and drug related behaviors among homeless young adults

Although research finds high rates of risky sexual and drug related behavior among homeless young people, little research had examined how the characteristics of their social networks encourage or constrain risky behaviors. Based on a sample of 145 homeless young adults in the Midwestern United States, results revealed that having used alcohol with at least one of their network members and the presence of more conflict was associated with engaging in a greater number of sexual risk taking behaviors. Correlates of engaging in a greater number of substance use related behaviors included having older peers within the network, having used illicit drugs with at least one network member, and the presence of more conflict. The presence of a family member in one’s network, however, was associated with fewer sexual and drug related risk behaviors. Overall, the social network characteristics of youth explained significant, additional variance beyond that of youth’s own characteristics and their early family histories.     

Parental employment circumstances and children’s academic progress

Using data from the 1996 Survey of Income and Program Participation, we examine 4476 school-age children in 2569 families with matched pairs of married fathers and mothers to study children’s academic progress as a function of fathers’ and mothers’ employment circumstances, with a particular focus on involuntary employment separations. We draw on weekly work histories, collected at 4-month intervals, to characterize parental employment circumstances over a two-year period. Results find no significant associations between mothers’ employment experiences and children’s academic progress, even in households where mothers earn more than fathers. In contrast, fathers’ experience of involuntary employment separations is associated with children’s academic progress. On average, fathers’ experience of involuntary employment separations is associated with a higher likelihood of children’s grade repetition and suspension/expulsion from school. However, subgroup analyses reveal this association only in households where mothers earn more than fathers. We conclude that the adverse impacts of fathers’ involuntary employment separations in two-parent families have less to do with income losses than with family dynamics.     

Specialization and happiness in marriage: A U.S.–Japan comparison

This paper examines the relationship between specialization and happiness in marriage in the U.S. and Japan. Our findings, based on the General Social Surveys in the U.S. and Japan, indicate both similarities and differences in the determinants of marital happiness in the two countries. In the U.S., the findings are mixed. Women’s reported marital happiness in the U.S. is more likely to follow the predictions of the bargaining model where their happiness is determined by their own income. Men’s marital happiness in the U.S. follows the predictions of the specialization model; they are happier if their wives are not working or, alternatively, if they are financially dependent on their wives. In Japan, we find support for the specialization model, particularly in the case of women; they are happier if they are specialized in the household and they have a higher household income. Our research highlights how marital quality is affected by the institutional context and the normative environment.     

Humanizing the homeless: Does contact erode stereotypes?

This paper employs a field experiment to assess whether interpersonal contact changes domiciled individuals’ attitudes of the homeless. Volunteers for Project Homeless Connect—a one-day event that provides social services to the homeless—were asked to complete a pre- and post-survey. The results provide mixed support for the contact hypothesis. After volunteering, respondents were far less likely to see homelessness as the result of individual characteristics, such as substance abuse or work aversion. However, opinion was remarkably stable when it came to policy preferences. The results cast doubt on the conventional wisdom that individuals’ perceptions of the causes of homelessness track closely with their preferences for governmental policy.     

Trends in the relative occupational status of African Americans and European immigrants in Northern cities, 1880–1970

In his classic book, A Piece of the Pie, Stanley Lieberson described divergent trends in occupational standing for African Americans and European immigrants after 1920, as the Great Migration from the South swelled the size of the black population in northern cities. In this paper I build upon Lieberson’s work using longitudinal data drawn from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series for the census years 1880–1970. This more versatile data source allows me to examine separate occupational trends for northern-born blacks and southern-born migrants and to control for relevant socio-demographic characteristics. The findings confirm Lieberson’s general conclusion that blacks lost ground, occupationally, to immigrants after 1920. However, they show further that: (1) northern- and southern-born blacks experienced different trends in relative occupational standing after 1920, (2) that these different trends were due largely to compositional differences between the two groups of northern blacks, especially educational differences, and (3) that blacks were generally less successful than immigrants at translating additional educational attainment into improved occupational status, with southern migrants experiencing the weakest occupational returns to education. It is concluded that compositional differences and a racially-defined occupational queue were the most important factors shaping group differences and trends in occupational standing between 1920 and 1970. Timing of arrival in the northern industrial economy and a response by whites to the “racial threat” from a growing black population were less important.     

Religious intermarriage in the United States: trends, patterns, and predictors

The reciprocal connection between religion and family life makes the topic of religious intermarriage of particular importance in the sociology of religion. Spousal influences are key for motivating religious switching and other religious commitments. Religious intermarriage has also been shown to influence a host of other outcomes, including spousal conflict, domestic violence, divorce, and fertility. Using data from the 1973–1994 GSS, I estimate log-multiplicative models examining patterns of association between spouses’ religious affiliations across two broad cohorts. Two-step and FIML Heckman’s selection models are used to determine how education, migration, cohort, and denominational origins influence the probability of intermarriage and the distance of intermarriage if it occurs. Religious intermarriage increases across cohorts, but declines in homogamy are limited to liberal religious groups. Catholics and members of conservative sects are less likely to intermarry compared to others. The relative ordering of distances between religious groups was unchanged across cohorts. Educational attainment increases the likelihood of intermarriage, and marriages in which the woman has more education are more likely to be heterogamous. However, educational factors have no impact on the distance of intermarriage if it occurs. Geographically stable rural Southerners are least likely to intermarry and if they do, choose a more similar spouse.     

Explaining educational influences on attitudes toward homosexual relations

Despite changing attitudes toward homosexual relations in the United States, college-educated individuals remain less disapproving of homosexual sex than less-educated persons. Using recent General Social Survey data, this study considers three alternative explanations for the established association between schooling and support for same-sex relations. First, education may promote tolerance of homosexual sex by teaching support of nonconformity. Second, schooling may promote greater cognitive sophistication and complex reasoning, thus enabling individuals to better evaluate new ideas. Third, the observed relationship between education and tolerance may be the spurious result of affluence of the parental home. We find that the relation of education and attitudes is not a spurious one. Rather, the liberalizing effect of education on attitudes toward homosexual relations is due, in part, to education’s association with support for civil liberties, and in part, to schooling’s correlation with cognitive sophistication.     

On the mode of administering a questionnaire and responses to open-ended items

Concurrently administered personal and telephone surveys are compared to measure differences between the modes for identical questions. Speed of questioning is found to be greater in telephone interviews than personal interviews. The faster pace of telephone interviews is linked to shorter answers to open-ended items on the telephone. The tendency to reduce such responses is disproportionately exhibited by younger, affluent respondents who tend to provide detailed responses in personal interviews.     

Her money, her time: Women’s earnings and their housework hours

Do husbands and wives divide housework on the basis of who makes more money? Much of the recent literature has focused on the effects of individuals’ earnings relative to their partners’ on their housework. By contrast, this paper analyzes the effects of women’s own earnings on the time they spend doing housework in the context of heterosexual couple households. A conservative estimate using the second wave of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) is that the negative association of women’s housework with their own earnings is two to three times greater than that with their partners’; in the full model, the association with partners’ earnings is not statistically significant. The importance of women’s own earnings in housework models is highlighted by the comparable effect of income on housework among single women. It appears that so far as housework is concerned, women do not benefit greatly from their male partners’ incomes. The finding emphasizes the gender segregation of domestic labor, and underscores the importance of income differences among women in explaining their housework behavior. It shows that the difference between the mean housework hours of the women with the lowest and highest earnings is as large as the difference between the mean housework hours of women and men.     

Intergenerational transmission of sex-specific differential treatments: The allocation of education resources among siblings

Using a unique data set of 3-generation education information, in this article we extend the analysis of Greenhalgh [Greenhalgh, Susan, 1985. Sexual Stratification: The other side of ‘growth with equity’ in East Asia. Population and Development Review 11, 265–314] and study the question of intergenerational transmission of sex-specific differential treatments. The rich data are obtained from Taiwan’s Panel Study of Family Dynamics project. As far as the macro pattern is concerned, we found that although there is a clear tendency of differential treatment against females in the old generation, this tendency is significantly weakened and nearly vanishes in the young generation. Furthermore, the supporting effect of senior siblings in the old generation becomes a crowding (resource-dilution) effect in the young generation. However, within each micro lineage, there is a mild “habitus” effect in the sense that parents who experienced gender-specific differential treatment tend to treat their children in a similar fashion. We find that parents’ education contributes to the elimination of sex-based differential treatment, consistent with the finding in Thronton et al. [Thornton, Arland, Alwin, Duane F. and Camburn, Donald, 1983. Causes and consequences of sex-role attitudes and attitude change. American Sociological Review 48, 211–227].     

Parents’ marital disruption and its uneven effect on children’s academic performance—A simulation model

Although a substantial amount of social science research has examined the consequences of various life events, much less has been done to examine how the effect may be unevenly distributed. The present research takes children’s experiences of parents’ marital disruption as an example and demonstrates how a contaminated-distribution model may simulate a scenario in which the effect of parents’ marital disruption on children’s academic performance is unevenly distributed. Using test performance data from a nationally representative sample of 10,045 American adolescents, the study partitions the overall performance distribution among adolescents of divorce into an unaffected and a severe-effect distribution. The analyses report the estimated proportions of adolescents whose academic performance is severely affected by various levels. The findings also show that the proportions of adolescents whose school performance is affected by a fixed level remain relatively stable in three consecutive post-divorce waves.     

Psychological ‘self–other overlap’ and support for slavery reparations

Neurobiological and social psychological studies suggest the existence of non-conscious ‘self–other overlap’ that can lead individuals to identify with other individuals or groups. This paper investigates whether this effect may help to explain support by some Whites for an otherwise unpopular policy on behalf of African Americans-slavery reparations. A representative telephone survey (n = 1200) serves as baseline of comparison for an online reaction time study with a non-representative sample (n = 1341) that measures ‘self–other overlap’ (interchangeably referred to as “implicit closeness” to Blacks). Partial proportional odds ordered logit analyses reveal implicit closeness to Blacks as the single most powerful predictor of support for reparations among White respondents. The magnitude of the absolute effect of implicit closeness exceeds that of traditional predictors such as racial resentment, ideology, and party identification. Methodological and political implications are discussed.