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.     

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.     

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.     

Occupational stratification,job-mismatches,and child poverty: Understanding the disadvantage of Black immigrants in the US

This study examines the implications of occupational stratification and job mismatches for the welfare of children, using data from the 2005–2009 American Community Survey. The results show that Black children of immigrants have household heads that are more likely to have occupations with low SEI scores than children in US-born households. More importantly, they demonstrate that intersections between parental job-mismatches and employment in the bottom rather than upper levels of the occupational distribution have important implications for understanding poverty differences among children. Job mismatches within occupations with low SEI scores are associated with greater poverty risks among Black than White, Asian, or Hispanic children of immigrants. However, racial poverty disparities are considerably lower among children with household heads in the highest occupational strata.     

We trust in government,just not in yours: Race,partisanship, and political trust, 1958–2012

Although it is generally accepted that political trust is reflective of satisfaction with the performance of the incumbent administration, this is only considered true for White Americans. Because their trust reflects a larger discontent with the political system, Black Americans, it is held, do not respond in the same way in the short term. This argument has yet to be tested with over-time data. Time matters. Not only does the race gap in trust change over time but the impact of partisanship and political winning is, by definition, time-dependent. The results of an analysis of the 1958–2012 American National Election Studies data show that Black Americans and White Americans are equally likely to tie short-term performance to trust in government. However, the relationship between partisanship and political trust and, therefore, system discontent, clearly differs for the two groups. Aggregate models that do not take race-partisan sub-group differences into account will therefore be misleading.     

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.     

Background characteristics in the U.S. adult population 1952–1973: A survey-metric model

Data from 30 surveys (46,356 cases from 10 Michigan Election Surveys and 20 Gallup polls) are analyzed to study the interrelations of cohort, sex, race, region, and education from 1952 to 1973.A d-system model is developed that pools results from the various surveys into a set of parameters forming a flowgraph model. This technique allows one to see whether the surveys used are consistent and whether the results are consistent with outside sources such as census reports. (Generally speaking, the surveys were found to be consistent and the model showed generally good fit with census and NORC General Social Survey estimates, but significant differences in two or three parameters.) A computer model of the system is used to generate implications and extrapolations.Substantively, the main results were: (1) a definite trend away from sex equality in education, especially for college attendance; (2) very little narrowing in race, region, and religious differences in education, until the most recent cohorts where Northern White Catholics and Southern White Protestants show virtual parity with “Yankees” (Northern White Protestant); and (3) a projection that shows discouragingly little narrowing of intergroup education differences in the general population for the next 5 years.     

Churning races in Canada: Visible minority response change between 2006 and 2011

Why do most people have stable responses to census race questions, while some do not? Using linked Canadian data, we examine personal, social, and economic characteristics that predict response stability as White or as one of six large visible minority groups, versus a change in response to/from White or to/from another visible minority group. Response change rates in Canada are generally comparable to those in the US, UK, and New Zealand. Likely reflecting the centuries-old hegemony of Whites in these countries, White is the most stable response group in Canada as well as the US, UK, and New Zealand. Multiple-race response groups are among the newest and least stable response groups. Social statuses and experiences (mixed ethnic heritage, immigration status, and exposure to own-group members) are generally more predictive of race response stability and change than economic (income level and change in income) or personal statuses (education, age). This highlights the socially-constructed nature of race group boundaries. Joining and leaving a group are often predicted by the same status/characteristic and in the same direction, hinting that the status/characteristic adds complexity to the race-related experiences of constituents.     

Different preferences or different opportunities? Explaining race differentials in the academic achievement of friends

A popular explanation for race and ethnic disparities in academic achievement is that minorities are exposed to different peers and have different opportunities to make friends with high-achievers. Although we know that adolescents from different race and ethnic groups attend different schools and that they choose different friends, we do not know how these different opportunities affect the friends they make. This paper fills this gap by studying how the opportunities within adolescents’ schools affect race and ethnic differences in the academic characteristics of friends. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and the conditional logit and opportunities framework, I account for adolescents’ different opportunities to make friends both within and across schools. Ignoring their different opportunities, Black and Latino adolescents’ nominated friends have significantly lower levels of achievement than white adolescents. After accounting for their different opportunities to make friends within and between schools, race and ethnic differences in the achievement characteristics of friends disappear. If Black and Latino adolescents’ opportunity structures were identical to white adolescents’, their probabilities of nominating high-achieving friends would not differ.     

Family leaves, the FMLA and gender neutrality: The intersection of race and gender

Using nationally representative data on the employed, we assess the effects of gender as well as the intersection of race and gender on family leave taking post-FMLA. We find that White men are significantly less likely to take family leaves than White women and men and women of color. Although men across race are less likely to take leaves for newborns, they are almost as likely as women to take leaves for seriously ill children and parents and as likely to take leaves for spouses. Men, regardless of race, tend to take shorter leaves than women. Our results have important implications for the design of leave policy: the broadening of family leaves beyond parental leaves reduces inequality in likelihood of leave; the introduction of leaves for routine family demands probably does little to reduce gender inequality; unpaid leaves mandated by the FMLA may sustain inequality.     

I wouldn’t, but you can: Attitudes toward interracial relationships

Using the 2008 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), we study Whites’ attitudes towards dating, cohabiting with, marrying, and having children with African Americans and Asian Americans. We find that 29% of White respondents reject all types of relationships with both groups whereas 31% endorse all types. Second, Whites are somewhat less willing to marry and bear children interracially than to date interracially. These attitudes and behaviors are related to warmth toward racial outgroups, political conservatism, age, gender, education, and region. Third, White women are likely to approve of interracial relationships for others but not themselves, while White men express more willingness to engage in such relationships personally, particularly with Asians. However, neither White men nor White women are very likely to actually engage in interracial relationships. Thus, positive globalattitudes toward interracial relationships do not translate into high rates of actual interracial cohabitation or marriage.     

民办高等教育的性质界定及制度设计

民办高等教育投资办学的本质特征与法律层面上的非营利性定位,两者业已构成尖锐的冲突。合理回报措施的出台,不仅没有解决以上冲突,反而成为冲突的一部分。因此,有必要对民办高校进行营利性和非营利性的划分,并予营利性高校以礼待。营利性高校和非营利性高校的区别,不是通过贬抑和限制营利性高校,而是通过特别嘉奖等方式突出非营利性高校来凸显不同。上述民办高等教育的制度设计与其等待中央政府的明文规定,不如通过地方政府的积极有为落实于实践。民办高等教育的性质界定及其制度设计只是在社会转型阶段顺势而为的举措,真正的解决之道在于一个公正的竞争环境。     

Parental education,television exposure,and children's early cognitive,language and behavioral development

The association between television exposure and children's development is subject to controversial debates. Heavy television exposure may be detrimental to children by overstimulating their developing brains. It may also infringe on time that children would otherwise spend on more developmentally beneficial activities or parental interactions. In the present analysis, we use data from the 2004/5 birth cohort of the Growing Up in Scotland study to investigate relations between hours of weekly television measured around the ages of two to four and as average over this period with children's linguistic, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes around the age of five. Our analysis shows differences in the level and growth of television exposure by parental education. However, we did not find any substantive associations between television exposure and children's cognitive or language ability. We found small associations of television exposure with conduct problems and prosocial behavior, particularly for children of less-educated parents. Overall, the results suggest that the impact of television on children's development is less pronounced than often assumed.     

Risk factors for family time burdens providing and arranging health care for children with special health care needs: Lessons from nonproportional odds models

We identify need, enabling, and predisposing factors for high family time burdens associated with the health care of chronically-ill children, using data from the U.S. 2009–2010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN), a population-based survey of 40,242 children with special health care needs (CSHCN). We estimate generalized ordered logistic multivariable regressions of time spent (1) providing health care for the child at home, (2) arranging/coordinating health care, and (3) combined time. Factors associated with higher time burdens included child’s functional limitations, severe or unstable health conditions, public health insurance, lack of a medical home, low family income, low adult education, and non-white race. Nonproportional odds models revealed associations between risk factors and time burden that were obscured by binary and standard ordered logistic models. Clinicians and policymakers can use this information to design interventions to alleviate this important family stressor.     

When children affect parents: Children’s academic performance and parental investment

Sociologists have extensively documented the ways that parent resources predict children’s achievement. However, less is known about whether and how children’s academic performance shapes parental investment behaviors. I use data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) and longitudinal fixed effects models to examine how changes in teacher assessments are related to changes in the conferral of various parent resources. Overall, I find that the relationship between achievement and investment varies based on the directionality in children’s achievement and the type of resource at hand. Children whose performance improves receive a broad range of enrichment resources, while declines in performance are met with corrective educational resources. Results are largely consistent whether language or math assessments are used to predict investment, and also among children whose achievement does not change over time. I discuss these patterns, along with implications for the use of parent resources in education and family research.     

二语和外语学习环境与学习成效的比较研究

通过对来自我国西藏地区的大学生学习汉语和英语的过程对比来例证二语教学与外语教学的不同。因为语言环境因素,外语教学效率低于二语教学效率。即使正式的课堂教学,教师的目的语水平也导致外语课堂与二语课堂目的语的输入与输出有区别。因此,缩小外语教师目的语水平与他们的思维、学识和教学理论的差距和重视课堂语言基础知识的习得是提高外语教学效率的关键。     

网络二语教学中的有效互动分析

在二语学习中,互动是提高教学质量和学习效率的重要手段之一.在网络教学中,公告栏、留言板、邮件系统、个别辅导系统等工具为二语教学中的互动创造了优越的条件.本文以美国4门大学网络语言课程和115名网络二语学习者的问卷调查为案例,分析了在网络环境下教学互动的特点以及利用这些特点提高教学质量的途径.分析表明,非线性教学活动、即时教学反馈、学习目标关联是增强有效互动的主要因素.结合我国网络教学的现状,文章提出了改进网络二语教学的一些建议.     

特定环境和背景因素下的学习观念和学习策略相关性研究

以目前国内外有关学习观念和学习策略研究的成果为依据,就观念和策略的相关性进行了较为系统地理论性探讨。同时,从学习观念和写作策略的选择和使用层面进行了问卷调查分析。结果表明：学习观念和写作策略具有一定的相关性,认为学习观念影响学习策略的选择,最终作用于学习结果;同时,学习策略的使用也能够引起学习观念的变化。在此基础上提出把观念和策略结合起来进行研究,并应用于外语教学过程,以期有效地提高学生外语学习的效果。     

外语与外国文化的学习--对跨文化外语教学的再认识

本文试图通过比较语言与文化的关系来讨论外语界日益重视的跨文化学习问题.作者认为,充分认识外语学习过程中语言与文化的关系、外语与其相应文化学习的过程和结果是跨文化外语教与学的定位、实施和研究的前提条件.     

外语学习可持续发展能力的影响因素研究

依据建构主义的学习观探讨和分析外语学习能力发展的机制及其影响因素。认为,学习者的认知、情感以及行为因素构成外语学习能力可持续发展的内部因素;影响外语学习能力可持续发展的外部因素包括教师因素、学习内容因素和学习环境因素。学习者、教师、学习内容和学习环境四种因素缺一不可,它们相互作用、相互影响,共同促成个体外语学习能力的可持续发展,这便是外语学习能力发展的机制。旨在为实际外语教学中培养学生可持续发展的外语学习能力提供具体的、可操作性理论思路。