Pathways to the All-Volunteer Military

OBJECTIVES: The present study investigates the role of a disadvantaged background, the lack of social connectedness, and behavioral problems in channeling young men to the opportunities of the all-volunteer military instead of to college and the labor market. METHODS: Data from three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health in the United States. The analytic sample consists of 6,938 white, black, and other males. RESULTS: The greatest likelihood of military service versus college and the labor force occurs when young men of at least modest ability come from disadvantaged circumstances, experience minimal connectedness to others, and report a history of adolescent fighting. DISCUSSION: Findings suggest the importance of access to post-high school education and worklife opportunities as a military service incentive for less advantaged young men in the all volunteer era.     

Needed sociological research on the de-escalation of wars

This paper raises a series of questions regarding the de-escalation of wars. It distinguishes between three types of groups that engage in wars: (a) states, (b) insurgents, and (c) peoples, and suggests that wars between different combinations of these three groups follow different patterns of de-escalation. It raises questions regarding the dynamics of de-escalation processes, the roles of different participants, and various types of de-escalation formulae. It concludes with a discussion of special data-gathering problems involved in studying the de-escalation of wars.     

Linking early social risks to impaired physical health during the transition to adulthood

The present longitudinal study of 485 youth used structural equation models to investigate the ways in which a combination of social disadvantage in the family of origin and adolescent maladjustment increases risk for physical health difficulties during adulthood. The study examined a theoretical model that proposes that disruptions in the transition to adulthood mediate the effect of earlier social disadvantage and adolescent maladjustment on young adult physical health status. Results show that early risk factors initiate a sequence of negative influences on young adult physical health through early entry into family responsibility, truncated educational attainment, and poor occupational and economic status. These associations prevailed even after controlling for physical health status during adolescence.