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Author: Cooney, Teresa Marie
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Cooney, Teresa Marie
School and Work Transitions in Young Adulthood: The Influence of Prior and Concurrent Family Conditions
Ph.D. Dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 1988. DAI-A 49/07, p. 1976, January 1989.
Cohort(s): Young Men, Young Women
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Behavior; Family Influences; Gender Differences; Transition, School to Work

This study used three data sets from the National Longitudinal Surveys to compare the relative influence of family conditions measured at two points in time--early adolescence (age 14) and young adulthood (age 18)--on the probability of young adults' making the transitions out of school and into work by age 18. It is argued that the timing of family influences on young adults' transitions is important since such influences as parents' occupation, income, marital status and family size are known to change over time. Logistic regression analyses were used to compare prior (age 14) and concurrent (age 18) family influences on the transition behavior of 740 white women and 633 men who were ages 14-24 in the mid 1960's. The analyses revealed that, in this sample, family conditions were extremely stable over the period from age 14 to 18. Thus, comparisons of prior and concurrent family predictors of school and work transitions were impossible to make. However, regarding more general family influences on transition behavior, significant gender differences were found, as well as differences in family influences on the school versus the work transition. Specifically, concurrent family income was negatively related to the likelihood of men, but not women leaving school. The opposite was true for the transition to work. Also, living in a single-parent family at 14 was related to a greater likelihood of men, but not women, entering work by age 18. Women living in one-parent families at age 18 were less likely than other women to leave school by age 18. Overall, family conditions were better predictors of men's than women's work transition. And, for the total sample, family conditions were much stronger predictors of the school than the work transition. Methodological problems encountered when trying to examine family instability and its consequences are addressed, along with alternative methods for studying the relative influence of prior and late family conditions, and the impact of family change. Reasons for the lack of predictive power in the tested models are explored, and recommendations for future research are made.
Bibliography Citation
Cooney, Teresa Marie. School and Work Transitions in Young Adulthood: The Influence of Prior and Concurrent Family Conditions. Ph.D. Dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 1988. DAI-A 49/07, p. 1976, January 1989..