scholarly journals Gendered Diverging Destinies: Changing Family Structures and the Reproduction of Educational Inequalities Among Sons and Daughters in the United States

Demography ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diederik Boertien ◽  
Fabrizio Bernardi

Abstract The prevalence of nontraditional family structures has increased over time, particularly among socioeconomically disadvantaged families. Because children's socioeconomic attainments are positively associated with growing up in a two-parent household, changing family structures are considered to have strengthened the reproduction of social inequalities across generations. However, several studies have shown that childhood family structure relates differently to educational outcomes for sons than for daughters. Therefore, we ask whether there are gender differences in the extent to which changing family structures have contributed to the college attainment gap between children from lower and higher socioeconomic backgrounds. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and 1997 cohorts to estimate extended Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition models that take into account cross-cohort changes in the prevalence of family structures and heterogeneity in the effects of childhood family structure on college attainment. We find that the argument that changes in family structures contributed to diverging destinies in college attainment holds for daughters but not for sons. This result is due to the different changes over time in the effects of childhood family structure by gender and socioeconomic background.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diederik Boertien ◽  
Fabrizio Bernardi

The prevalence of non-standard family structures has increased over time and in particular among socioeconomically disadvantaged families. Because children’s attainments are negatively associated with growing up in non-standard family structures, changes in family structures are often considered to have strengthened the reproduction of social inequalities across generations. We argue that the validity of this argument depends on variation in how family structure affects children’s attainments, a premise we label heterogeneity in attainment penalties. Previous research has documented heterogeneity in attainment penalties across social groups and by gender. Therefore, the role of family structure in reproducing inequalities is unclear and might vary by gender too. We use data from the NLSY 1979 and 1997 cohorts to estimate the contribution of changes in family structures to parental education differences in educational attainment for boys and girls. We estimate extended Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition models which take into account both cross-cohort changes in the prevalence of family structures and heterogeneity in related penalties. Changes in the prevalence and penalties related to childhood family structures account for a 15% increase in the parental education gap in educational attainment for girls but reduced the attainment gap for boys by 13%.


Author(s):  
Sasha Zarins ◽  
Sara Konrath

Compassion, or empathic concern, is an emotional response to another’s suffering, coupled with the desire to take action to alleviate that suffering. Throughout history, older generations have been critical of younger generations, often arguing that they are more self-focused than previous generations. However, it is important to examine actual data with respect to changes over time in such variables. Without doing so, we risk spreading potentially harmful and inaccurate stereotypes about young Americans. The goal of this chapter is to review research examining changes over time in compassion-related variables in the United States. Research suggests that compassion-related variables have indeed been declining over time, while self-focused variables have been increasing. However, we will also discuss counter-arguments and counter-evidence, and present possible implications of this research.


2020 ◽  
pp. 20-37
Author(s):  
David S. Pedulla

This chapter considers what nonstandard, mismatched, and precarious employment can entail and details the changing nature of the broader economy. There is a growing emphasis on the institutional arrangements and changes that have resulted in economic strain and anxiety for many workers in the United States. The chapter delves into the ways that these nonstandard, mismatched, and precarious employment experiences are evaluated by employers during the hiring process. It also provides basic definitions and background information about these types of employment experiences and how they overlap with race and gender divisions in the labor market. Finally, the chapter examines the existing scholarship on changes over time in these positions and how they impact the lives of workers, their families, and the organizations where they labor.


2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 115-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Ball ◽  
N. Gregory Mankiw

This paper discusses the NAIRU—the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment. It first considers the role of the NAIRU concept in business cycle theory, arguing that this concept is implicit in any model in which monetary policy influences both inflation and unemployment. The exact value of the NAIRU is hard to measure, however, in part because it changes over time. The paper then discusses why the NAIRU changes and, in particular, why it fell in the United States during the 1990s. The most promising hypothesis is that the decline in the NAIRU is attributable to the acceleration in productivity growth.


2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 577
Author(s):  
Susan K. Key ◽  
Rosalia N. Scripa ◽  
Robert Juneau

Smoking bans have gone from being essentially non-existent to being the norm over the course of the last 50 years. When some of these authors started teaching, it was the norm to smoke in the classroom, in hospitals, on airplanes, in prison and in the office. Times have changedsmoking is no longer allowed in these locations in the United States. In this paper, an overview of the history of smoking advocacy, the impacts of smoke-free legislation on different stakeholders, and changes in public perceptions of smoking are provided. Mitchell and Agles 1997 Stakeholder Salience Model are used to illustrate the changes over time in stakeholder status for both smokers and nonsmokers. The Mitchell Model could have been useful to predict the change in status that the two stakeholder groups experienced and the authors suggest that management should note the emergence of urgent stakeholders in the future, as they may gain salience in other matters that can impact company wealth. Firms have to be aware of both their customers needs (smokers) as well as other social movements that may affect the use of their product, such as nonsmoking legislation. This is the first paper to apply stakeholder salience, including the concepts of urgency, power, and legitimacy, to the changing fortunes of smokers. It looks at how smoking and smokers have gone from the norm in U.S. society to outlaw status.


Author(s):  
Ahmad Helmy Fuady

The objective of this paper is to examine the competitiveness of Indonesia's exports to the United States (US) market, compared to other Asian economies, namely Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Republic of Korea and India, over the period of 1986-2003. A shift-share method is applied to single digit SITC US imports data from those countries. It found that the competitiveness of Indonesia's exports changes over time. The Indonesia's exports reached its best performance in the period 1992-1997. However, after the 1997 economic crisis, Indonesia faces a serious problem, since none of its export has competitiveness in the US market, compared to the reference economy. The analysis also shows that China has consistently posed a serious pressure not only for Indonesia, but also for the other Asian economies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 115S-124S ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie Lachance ◽  
Martha Quinn ◽  
Theresa Kowalski-Dobson

Approaches undertaken by the Food & Fitness (F&F) community partnerships demonstrate that engaging community residents in the process of creating systems change strengthens the ability of neighborhoods, organizations, and institutions to foster and sustain those changes over time. The F&F partnerships were established to increase access to locally grown food and safe places for physical activity for children and families in communities with inequities across the United States. A critical focus of this initiative has been to use community-determined approaches to create changes in policies, infrastructures, and systems that will lead not only to change but also to sustainable change that positively influences health equity. During the 9 years of the initiative, lessons were learned about the fundamental elements that built the foundation for success across all partnership work. Data were extracted from the systems and policy change tracking forms related to efforts for all F&F sites over the entire implementation period (2009-2016). Documentation related to both the process and outcomes of the efforts were qualitatively analyzed to determine factors related to success. The following factors have emerged from our analyses and uncover a deeper understanding of what actions and factors were critical for the work: focus of the work over time, capacity built in the partnerships, and sustainability of the work and outcomes.


Author(s):  
Chaiwoo Lee ◽  
Pnina Gershon ◽  
Bryan Reimer ◽  
Bruce Mehler ◽  
Joseph F. Coughlin

Increasing availability of and extensive investments toward automation in consumer vehicles call for a better understanding of public perceptions and acceptance. This study presents a five-year series of large-scale surveys (N=17,548, average 3,510 participants/year) on consumer knowledge and acceptance of vehicle automation in the United States. Results suggest a continued hesitance toward use of self-driving vehicles, with willingness to use increasing sharply under hypothetical conditions around inability to drive and added safety assurance. While drivers of all ages were most comfortable with driver assist level automation, acceptance of automation overall decreased with age. Findings also indicate that the public may have incorrect beliefs regarding the availability of self-driving vehicles. In conclusion, drivers’ acceptance of vehicle automation changes over time, is tied to factors beyond the current state of development and deployment, and may depend on a relative assessment of benefits and reliability in comparison to their own driving capabilities.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document