scholarly journals A Rolling Panel Model of Cohort, Period, and Aging Effects for the Analysis of the General Social Survey

2021 ◽  
pp. 004912412110431
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Morgan ◽  
Jiwon Lee

The linear dependence of age, period, and birth cohort is a challenge for the analysis of social change. With either repeated cross-sectional data or conventional panel data, raw change cannot be decomposed into over-time differences that are attributable to the effects of common experiences of alternative birth cohorts, features of the periods under observation, and the cumulation of lifecourse aging. This article proposes a rolling panel model for cohort, period, and aging effects, suggested by and tuned to the treble panel data collected for the General Social Survey from 2006 through 2014. While the model does not offer a general solution for the identification of the classical age-period-cohort accounting model, it yields warranted interpretations under plausible assumptions that are reasonable for many outcomes of interest. In particular, if aging effects can be assumed to be invariant over the course of an observation interval, and if separate panel samples of the full age distribution overlap within the same observation interval, then period and aging effects can be parameterized and interpreted separately, adjusted for cohort differences that pulse through the same observation interval. The estimated cohort effects during the observation interval are then interpretable as effects during the observation interval of entangled period and cumulated aging differences from before the observation interval.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Morgan ◽  
Jiwon Lee

The linear dependence of age, period, and birth cohort is a challenge for the analysis of social change. With either repeated cross-sectional data or conventional panel data, raw change cannot be decomposed into over-time differences that are attributable to the effects of common experiences of alternative birth cohorts, features of the periods under observation, and the cumulation of lifecourse aging. This article proposes a rolling panel model for cohort, period, and aging effects, suggested by and tuned to the treble panel data collected for the General Social Survey (GSS) from 2006 through 2014. While the model does not offer a general solution for the identification of the classical age-period-cohort (APC) accounting model, it yields warranted interpretations under plausible assumptions that are reasonable for many outcomes of interest. In particular, if aging effects can be assumed to be invariant over the course of an observation interval, and if separate panel samples of the full age distribution overlap within the same observation interval, then period and aging effects can be parameterized and interpreted separately, adjusted for cohort differences that pulse through the same observation interval. The estimated cohort effects during the observation interval are then interpretable as effects during the observation interval of entangled period and cumulated aging differences from before the observation interval.


Author(s):  
Aengus Bridgman ◽  
Rosalie Nadeau ◽  
Dietlind Stolle

Abstract Following public debates on the topic of trust in Quebec, this article examines the alleged social capital differential between Quebec and the rest of Canada. The literature has found lower levels of generalized trust in Quebec, but explanations offered are diverse and conjectural, with historical, sociological and political factors all in contention. We test contextual and compositional influences, including cohort differences, language and linguistic ability, religion, ethnicity, and neighbourhood-level measures of diversity, using pooled cross-sectional data from the Canadian General Social Survey (2003, 2008 and 2013) linked with precise measures of neighbourhood-level ethnic and linguistic diversity drawn from the Canadian census. We identify those Quebecers who have low levels of trust and those who more closely resemble their counterparts in the rest of Canada. We find that individual linguistic ability and linguistic heterogeneity of the neighbourhood are important correlates of trust and that among francophone populations, social distrust is found most in unilingual homogenous communities.


2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (10) ◽  
pp. 2047-2055 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Spiers ◽  
T. S. Brugha ◽  
P. Bebbington ◽  
S. McManus ◽  
R. Jenkins ◽  
...  

BackgroundThe National Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (NPMS) programme was partly designed to monitor trends in mental disorders, including depression, with comparable data spanning 1993 to 2007. Findings already published from this programme suggest that concerns about increasing prevalence of common mental disorders (CMDs) may be unfounded. This article focuses on depression and tests the hypothesis that successive birth cohorts experience the same prevalence of depression as they age.MethodWe carried out a pseudo-cohort analysis of a sequence of three cross-sectional surveys of the English household population using identical diagnostic instruments. The main outcome was ICD-10 depressive episode or disorder. Secondary outcomes were the depression subscales of the Clinical Interview Schedule – Revised (CIS-R).ResultsThere were 8670, 6977 and 6815 participants in 1993, 2000 and 2007 respectively. In men, the prevalence of depression increased between cohorts born in 1943–1949 and 1950–1956 [odds ratio (OR) 2.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4–4.2], then remained relatively stable across subsequent cohorts. In women, there was limited evidence of change in prevalence of depression. Women born in 1957–1963, surveyed aged 44–50 years in 2007, had exceptionally high prevalence. It is not clear whether this represents a trend or a quirk of sampling.ConclusionsThere is no evidence of an increase in the prevalence of depression in male cohorts born since 1950. In women, there is limited evidence of increased prevalence. Demand for mental health services may stabilize or even fall for men.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 391-415
Author(s):  
Chung-li Wu ◽  
Alex Min-Wei Lin

As an emerging first-tier world power, China is exerting an important influence on countries in the Asia-Pacific region, especially Taiwan, with which it has a long history of often contentious relations. This study investigates the impact of “intergenerational value change” on impressions of China in 2017 among three political birth cohorts of Taiwanese. Based on a representative survey of Taiwanese citizens, the study finds that cohort impressions can be classified according to the extent to which they relate to the economic–political and the social–environmental dimensions, suggesting that Taiwanese perceptions of China are not unidimensional and are more nuanced than they first appear. The data by and large confirm the validity of cohort differences; members of the first and oldest cohort hold more positive impressions of China with respect to social and environmental issues than members of the second and middle cohort, while the third and youngest cohort would regard China in a more positive light if their economic and political concerns were addressed. A few variables remain statistically significant, including party identification and unification versus independence preference, even after controlling for aging effects.


2020 ◽  
pp. 016502542097104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise C. Hawkley ◽  
Susanne Buecker ◽  
Till Kaiser ◽  
Maike Luhmann

Prior research in non-U.S. samples has found a complex nonlinear relationship between loneliness and age. This research has shown that established predictors of loneliness—poor health, being unmarried, living alone, and having infrequent social interactions—help to explain age differences in loneliness. However, while some variables were found to be universal predictors of loneliness at all ages, others were relevant in specific age groups only. In this study, we describe age differences in frequency of loneliness from age 18 to 89+ years in the U.S. and examine age differences in predictors of loneliness from age-specificity and age-normative perspectives. We used cross-sectional nationally representative data from the General Social Survey ( N = 2,477) and found a nonlinear relationship between age and loneliness that closely resembles prior research. However, we found no evidence for age-specific predictors of loneliness. Household income, household size, marital status, health, and frequency of socializing were “universal” predictors of loneliness; their associations with loneliness did not differ in strength with age. Our hypothesis that individuals who deviated from age-specific norms would experience more intense loneliness was not supported. Implications for research and loneliness interventions are discussed.


Author(s):  
Jason P. Smith ◽  
David M. Merolla

Abstract This research aims to enhance our understanding of the relationship between racial prejudice and White Americans’ views on cannabis legalization. The recent legalization of recreational cannabis in a handful of states, along with many other states legalizing medical cannabis in recent years, has catapulted the flowering plant back into the spotlight and nightly news cycles. Given the historically racist propaganda used to criminalize the plant, it follows that Whites’ support for legalization may be associated with racial prejudice. Using data from the General Social Survey data from 1972–2018, we find that different forms of racial prejudice have a negative effect on Whites’ support for cannabis legalization generally. Additionally, as the negative effect of overt, old-fashioned racism diminishes over time and across birth cohorts it is supplanted by the more subtle laissez-faire racism. In conclusion, we discuss the implication of the relationship between racial prejudice and views on marijuana for the increasingly complicated racial dynamics surrounding cannabis legalization.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 237802312090395
Author(s):  
Anna Boch

According to prior research, political tolerance has either stagnated since the 1970s (if to be tolerant one must be tolerant of every group in all circumstances) or steadily increased (if tolerance is measured using an index, averaging across groups). Using General Social Survey cross-sectional and panel data on civil liberties, this article proposes a new framework: separating out the groups that use hate speech from those that may be only controversial. The United States is unique among Western liberal democracies in not having a prohibition against hate speech. By applying a dichotomous hate speech framework to measuring political tolerance, this article finds that the proportion of Americans who are always tolerant has increased by 8 percentage points from 1996 to 2018. Meanwhile, tolerance of groups that use hate speech has remained flat and even decreased among groups that historically were more tolerant of such groups, including the college educated.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-134
Author(s):  
Peter V. Marsden ◽  
Tom W. Smith ◽  
Michael Hout

In the five decades since its inception in 1971, the General Social Survey (GSS) project has prospectively recorded the current characteristics, backgrounds, behaviors, and attitudes of representative cross sections of American adults covering more than two generations and more than a century of birth cohorts. A foundational resource for contemporary social science, the data it produces and disseminates enable social scientists to develop broad and deep understandings into the changing fabric of US society, and aid legions of instructors and students in teaching and learning. It facilitates internationally comparative survey research and places the United States in the context of other societies through the International Social Survey Program, which it cofounded. This article first recounts the GSS's origins, design, and development. It then surveys contributions based on GSS data to studies of stratification and inequality, religion, sociopolitical trends, intergroup relations, social capital and social networks, health and well-being, culture, and methodology.


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