Search Results

Author: Lichter, Daniel T.
Resulting in 23 citations.
1. Brown, J. Brian
Lichter, Daniel T.
Childhood Disadvantage, Adolescent Development, and Pro-social Behavior in Early Adulthood
In: Constructing Adulthood: Agency and Subjectivity in Adolescence and Adulthood: Advances in Life-Course Research, V. 11. R. Macmillan, ed. New York, NY: Elsevier, November 2006: pp. 149-170
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Adolescent Behavior; Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Behavior, Prosocial; Children, Poverty; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Neighborhood Effects; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Poverty; Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) (see Self-Esteem); Volunteer Work

Do disadvantaged children and adolescents become socially responsible, productive, and civic-minded adults? Linking recently surveyed young adults to their earlier childhood and adolescent experiences (using data from the the NLSY), we: (1) document young adults' pro-social behavior (i.e., formal volunteering), (2) estimate the long-term effects of childhood disadvantage on volunteering in young adulthood, (3) assess the possible mediating effects of adolescent development, and (4) identify characteristics associated with pro-social behavior among young adults from economically disadvantaged families. We argue that a long-term negative effect of childhood disadvantage on pro-social behavior in early adulthood operates in part through adolescent development. Among young adults from disadvantaged families, school enrollment and regular church attendance are strongly associated with pro-social behavior. Our results support the view that a disadvantaged childhood has long-term effects on social engagement, yet this cycle can be broken through positive adolescent experiences.
Bibliography Citation
Brown, J. Brian and Daniel T. Lichter. "Childhood Disadvantage, Adolescent Development, and Pro-social Behavior in Early Adulthood" In: Constructing Adulthood: Agency and Subjectivity in Adolescence and Adulthood: Advances in Life-Course Research, V. 11. R. Macmillan, ed. New York, NY: Elsevier, November 2006: pp. 149-170
2. Graefe, Deborah Roempke
Lichter, Daniel T.
Life Course Transitions of American Children: Parental Cohabitation, Marriage, and Single Motherhood
Demography 36,2 (May 1999): 205-217.
Also: http://www.springerlink.com/content/u778278h0315u010/
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Child Health; Cohabitation; Demography; Event History; Family Studies; Life Course; Marital Status; Marriage; Parents, Single

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The life course transitions into and from families headed by unmarried cohabiting couples for a recent cohort of American children are examined. Life table estimates, based on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth mother-child files, indicate about one in four children will live in a family headed by a cohabiting couple sometime during childhood. Economic uncertainty is an important factor determining whether children in single-parent families subsequently share a residence with a mother's unmarried partner. Moreover, virtually all children in cohabiting-couple families will experience rapid subsequent changes in family status. The estimates provide a point of departure for future work on children's exposure to parental cohabitation and its social and economic implications.
Bibliography Citation
Graefe, Deborah Roempke and Daniel T. Lichter. "Life Course Transitions of American Children: Parental Cohabitation, Marriage, and Single Motherhood." Demography 36,2 (May 1999): 205-217.
3. Hayward, Mark D.
Lichter, Daniel T.
A Life Cycle Model of Labor Force Inequality: Extending Clogg's Life Table Approach
Sociological Methods and Research 26,4 (May 1998): 487-510.
Also: http://smr.sagepub.com/content/26/4/487.abstract
Cohort(s): Older Men
Publisher: Sage Publications
Keyword(s): Education; Income Dynamics/Shocks; Labor Force Participation; Life Cycle Research; Markov chain / Markov model; Statistical Analysis; Wage Gap

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Develops explicit life-cycle measures of inequality that summarize the divergent stochastic processes defining group differences in labor force behavior, focusing on educational differences in individuals' work & retirement experiences over the latter part of the career cycle. The analytic approach is a Markov-based multistate life-table, directly extending Clifford C. Clogg's (1979) life-table model of labor force inequality. Analyses are based on 1966-1983 data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Older Men (initial N = 5,020 men, ages 45-59). The approach demonstrates how both prevalence measures of inequality and measures of life-cycle inequality are generated by the underlying stochastic processes. Comparisons of the life-cycle and prevalence measures illustrate the potentially divergent pictures of labor force inequality conveyed by the alternative measures. 5 Tables, 2 Figures, 20 References. Adapted from the source document
Bibliography Citation
Hayward, Mark D. and Daniel T. Lichter. "A Life Cycle Model of Labor Force Inequality: Extending Clogg's Life Table Approach." Sociological Methods and Research 26,4 (May 1998): 487-510.
4. Lichter, Daniel T.
Household Migration and the Labor Market Experience of Married Women
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1981
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Earnings, Wives; Migration; Mobility; Regions; Retirement/Retirement Planning

This study attempted to assess the appropriateness of economic models of migration decision-making in explaining the geographic mobility of married women. Two general objectives were pursued: (1) to examine the contribution of the wife's employment-related experiences to the subsequent geographic mobility of their families; and (2) to examine the effect of household migration on the wife's position in the labor market, particularly with respect to her job continuity, earnings, occupational mobility, and job satisfaction. The NLS of Mature Women provided a unique source of data in which to address these issues. Although employment by the wife reduced the probability of family geographic migration, and this relationship generally persisted across various female subgroups, specific characteristics of the wife's job were of little utility in explaining the migration of their families. At least for this age cohort, the wife's earnings, occupation, and job attitudes were not found to be systematically related to family migration, thus suggesting that migration may be largely exogenous to the employment experiences of many women. This general conclusion provided a vivid contrast with patterns of association observed between husbands' job characteristics and family migration.
Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T. Household Migration and the Labor Market Experience of Married Women. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1981.
5. Lichter, Daniel T.
Socioeconomic Returns to Migration Among Married Women
Social Forces 62,2 (December 1983): 487-503.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2578318
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Keyword(s): Earnings, Wives; Migration

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The aim of the present study is to: (1) examine the effect of migration on changes in earnings among a cohort of older married women; and (2) assess whether "returns" to migration vary systematically by the wife's educational and occupational resources in a manner consistent with the tenets of family resource theory. Using the Mature Women cohort of the NLS, we find that migration has a significant negative effect on earnings in the short-term, but that the longer- term effects are minimal. Contrary to our hypothesis, however, the negative effect of migration on married women's earnings is not diminished regardless of levels of educational and occupational resources. The implications of these results are discussed.
Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T. "Socioeconomic Returns to Migration Among Married Women." Social Forces 62,2 (December 1983): 487-503.
6. Lichter, Daniel T.
The Migration of Dual-Worker Families: Does the Wife's Job Matter?
Social Science Quarterly 63,1 (March 1982): 48-57
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Keyword(s): Dual-Career Families; Earnings; Family Resources; Migration; Mobility; Mobility, Job; Wives

Permission to reprint the abstract has been denied by the publisher.

Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T. "The Migration of Dual-Worker Families: Does the Wife's Job Matter?" Social Science Quarterly 63,1 (March 1982): 48-57.
7. Lichter, Daniel T.
Anderson, Robert N.
Hayward, Mark D.
Marriage Markets and Marital Choice
Presented: Miami, FL, Population Association of America Meetings, May 1994
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Assortative Mating; Census of Population; Marriage; Racial Studies; Socioeconomic Status (SES); Wages, Reservation

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This study examines the relationship between marriage market conditions and marital choice (i.e., assortative mating). The guiding hypothesis is that shortages of attractive mates not only lower the probability of marriage, but in the event of marriage, also alter never-married women's "reservation-quality spouse" (i.e., akin to reservation wage in job search theory). To the extent that marital pros never-married women are more likely to: (1) marry men with characteristics to their own as they expand the pool of eligible mates; and (2) marry socioeconomic status. We test this hypothesis using data from the National Survey of Youth. Our discrete-time competing risk hazards models pit micro explanations that emphasize women's personal resources against structural explanations that emphasize local marriage market constraints in the mate selection process.
Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T., Robert N. Anderson and Mark D. Hayward. "Marriage Markets and Marital Choice." Presented: Miami, FL, Population Association of America Meetings, May 1994.
8. Lichter, Daniel T.
Anderson, Robert N.
Hayward, Mark D.
Marriage Markets and Marital Choice
Journal of Family Issues 16,4 (July 1995): 412-431.
Also: http://jfi.sagepub.com/content/16/4/412.refs
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Sage Publications
Keyword(s): Assortative Mating; Census of Population; Demography; Family Characteristics; Marriage; Modeling, Hazard/Event History/Survival/Duration; Racial Studies; Socioeconomic Status (SES); Wages, Reservation

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This study examines the relationship between marriage market conditions and marital choice (i.e., assortative mating). The guiding hypothesis is that shortages of attractive mates not only lower the probability of marriage, but in the event of marriage, also alter never-married women's "reservation-quality spouse" (i.e., akin to reservation wage in job search theory). To the extent that marital pros never-married women are more likely to: (1) marry men with characteristics to their own as they expand the pool of eligible mates; and (2) marry socioeconomic status. We test this hypothesis using data from the National Survey of Youth. Our discrete-time competing risk hazards models pit micro explanations that emphasize women's personal resources against structural explanations that emphasize local marriage market constraints in the mate selection process.
Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T., Robert N. Anderson and Mark D. Hayward. "Marriage Markets and Marital Choice." Journal of Family Issues 16,4 (July 1995): 412-431.
9. Lichter, Daniel T.
Batson, Christie D.
Brown, J. Brian
Welfare Reform and Marriage Promotion: The Marital Expectations and Desires of Single and Cohabiting Mothers
Social Service Review 78,1 (March 2004): 2-25.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/380652
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Keyword(s): Cohabitation; Fertility; Marital Status; Marriage; Welfare

We examine the marital expectations, desires, and behaviors of single and cohabiting unmarried mothers using nationally representative data. Our study suggests that a substantial majority of unmarried women, including disadvantaged single and cohabiting mothers, value marriage as a personal goal. We also find systematic differences among subgroups with somewhat lower marital expectations among disadvantaged women, single mothers, and racial minority women. However, our results also indicate that marital desires do not easily translate into marriage. Accordingly, from a public policy perspective, single mothers' attitudes or values about marriage need not be changed. The problem is one of identifying and reducing barriers that prevent single women from realizing their strong aspirations for marriage.
Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T., Christie D. Batson and J. Brian Brown. "Welfare Reform and Marriage Promotion: The Marital Expectations and Desires of Single and Cohabiting Mothers." Social Service Review 78,1 (March 2004): 2-25.
10. Lichter, Daniel T.
Brown, J. Brian
Childhood Poverty, Resilience and Pro-Social Behavior in Early Adulthood
Presented: Atlanta, GA, Population Association of America Annual Meetings, May 2002
Cohort(s): NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Behavior, Prosocial; Poverty; Volunteer Work; Welfare

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We identify young adults who transcend disadvantaged childhood backgrounds and grow into productive adult roles. Specifically, we estimate the long-term effects of childhood poverty and welfare receipt on pro-social behavior in early adulthood. Achieving this objective is made possible using proprietary data from the 2000 NLSY Young Adult Sample (Center for Human Resource Research at Ohio State). We link the 1725 young adults aged 18 to 29 in 2000 to data collected from childhood and parents in the earlier 1979-1998 NLSY waves. Our research focuses on indicators of pro-social behavior: Establishing healthy intimate and friendship patterns, and civic involvement (including volunteerism). This research speaks to concerns about whether child poverty and family instability have long-term problems that are revealed in adulthood - when they become (or not) productive and well-adjusted members of American society. Our research takes a step forward in identifying the agency and resilience of today's young adults.
Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T. and J. Brian Brown. "Childhood Poverty, Resilience and Pro-Social Behavior in Early Adulthood." Presented: Atlanta, GA, Population Association of America Annual Meetings, May 2002.
11. Lichter, Daniel T.
Kephart, George
McLaughlin, Diane K.
Landry, David J.
Race and the Retreat from Marriage: A Shortage of Marriageable Men?
American Sociological Review 57,6 (December 1992): 781-799.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2096123
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Family Structure; Income Dynamics/Shocks; Marriage; Racial Differences; Sex Ratios

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We evaluate a marital search model that links the quantity and quality of available men to first marriage transitions among black women and white women in the United States. Our analysis provides a more complex assessment of the hypothesis that racial differences in transitions to first marriage reflect shortages of marriageable men in local marriage markets. We attach several indicators of local marriage market conditions (primarily sex ratios from the 1980 Census) to women's marital histories available in the 1979 through 1986 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Our discrete-time logit models support the following conclusions: (I) A shortage in the quantity and quality of available males in local areas depresses women's transitions to first marriage; (2) economic independence among women (as measured by employment and earnings) is positively associated with entry into marriage; (3) racial differences in mate availability account for a relatively small share of existing racial differences in marriage; (4) indicators of local mate availability nevertheless account for a larger proportion of, observed racial differences in transitions to first marriage than factors such as family background, welfare status and living arrangements (e.g., multigenerational family); (5) the effects of marriage market characteristics are contingent on whether women are "searching" in the marriage market; and (6) the effect of a shortage of "economically attractive" men is not simply an artifact of local demographic deficits of men to marry.
Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T., George Kephart, Diane K. McLaughlin and David J. Landry. "Race and the Retreat from Marriage: A Shortage of Marriageable Men?" American Sociological Review 57,6 (December 1992): 781-799.
12. Lichter, Daniel T.
McLaughlin, Diane K.
Marriage Markets and Marital Behavior among Low-Income Women
Presented: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, American Statistical Association Winter Conference, Families and Children: Research Findings, Data Needs, and Survey Issues, 1993
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Statistical Association
Keyword(s): Behavior; Marriage; Poverty; Women; Work Knowledge

This paper evaluates the relationship between several indicators of the local supply of economically-attractive men and marriage rates among poor and nonpoor women in the United States. Data are from the-1980 PUMS-D and the 1979-86 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Our main goals are (1) to provide a statistical portrait of the pool of marriageable men available for poor women to marry; and (2) to estimate contextual models of first marriage transitions among young poor women. Our results bear on recent state welfare reforms (e.g., wedfare) aimed at reducing disincentives to marry among poor welfare recipients.
Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T. and Diane K. McLaughlin. "Marriage Markets and Marital Behavior among Low-Income Women." Presented: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, American Statistical Association Winter Conference, Families and Children: Research Findings, Data Needs, and Survey Issues, 1993.
13. Lichter, Daniel T.
McLaughlin, Diane K.
Kephart, George
Landry, David J.
Race, Local Mate Availability, and Transitions to First Marriage Among Young Women
Presented: Denver, CO, Population Association of America Meetings, April 1992
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Marriage; Racial Differences

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The primary objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between spouse availability at the local geographic level and the timing of marital transitions among young women in the United States. Specifically, discrete-time survival methods are used to evaluate contextual models of first marriage transitions among black and white women, linking various marriage market indicators to the individual records from the 1979-85 waves of the NLSY. Indicators of the supply (e.g., sex-ratio imbalances) and "quality" of potential mates (e.g., Wilson's Male Marriability Pool Index) are available from the 1980 Census PUMS-D file. The analytic framework draws heavily on rational choice models of mate selection and on job-search theory.
Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T., Diane K. McLaughlin, George Kephart and David J. Landry. "Race, Local Mate Availability, and Transitions to First Marriage Among Young Women." Presented: Denver, CO, Population Association of America Meetings, April 1992.
14. Lichter, Daniel T.
Mellott, Leanna Marie
Transitions of Disadvantaged Cohabiting Mothers into Marriage
Presented: Boston, MA, Population Association of America Meetings, April 2004.
Also: http://paa2004.princeton.edu/download.asp?submissionId=40486
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Cohabitation; Event History; Fertility; Marital Status; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Welfare

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Marriage is at the center of public policy debates over reauthorization of the 1996 welfare reform bill. In this paper, we examine patterns of union formation among disadvantaged cohabiting mothers. Specifically, we focus on transitions to marriage or singlehood among cohabiting women. Data come from the newly-released cohabitation histories in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979-2002). For the first time, the partners of the NLSY cohabiting women are matched over successive survey waves. This provides a new opportunity to evaluate the effects of women's economic circumstances and welfare receipt, as well as their marital and fertility histories (including serial partners and the biological relatedness of co-residential children), on union transitions. We fit discrete time multinominal event history models of union transitions, while controlling for individual fixed effects. Our primary goal is to identify barriers to marriage among cohabiting mothers.
Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T. and Leanna Marie Mellott. "Transitions of Disadvantaged Cohabiting Mothers into Marriage." Presented: Boston, MA, Population Association of America Meetings, April 2004.
15. Lichter, Daniel T.
Qian, Zhenchao
Serial Cohabitation and the Marital Life Course
Journal of Marriage and Family 70,4 (November 2008): 861-878.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00532.x/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing, Inc. => Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Cohabitation; Divorce; Life Course; Marriage

Using cohort data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this paper tracks the experiences of serial cohabitors . Results indicate that only a minority of cohabiting women (about 15% - 20%) were involved in multiple cohabitations. Serial cohabitations were overrepresented among economically disadvantaged groups, especially those with low income and education. They also were less likely than single-instance cohabiting unions to end in marriage rather than dissolve. If serial cohabitors married, divorce rates were very high -- more than twice as high as for women who cohabited only with their eventual husbands. The results suggest the need to balance the government's current preoccupation with marriage promotion with greater support of "at risk" unions that marriage promotion initiatives have helped create. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T. and Zhenchao Qian. "Serial Cohabitation and the Marital Life Course." Journal of Marriage and Family 70,4 (November 2008): 861-878.
16. Lichter, Daniel T.
Qian, Zhenchao
Mellott, Leanna Marie
Marriage or Dissolution? Union Transitions Among Poor Cohabiting Women
Demography 43,2 (May 2006): 223-40.
Also: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/demography/v043/43.2lichter.pdf
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Cohabitation; Income Level; Marriage; Poverty; Women

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The objective of this paper is to identify the incentives and barriers to marriage among cohabiting women, especially disadvantaged mothers who are targets of welfare reform. We use the newly released cohabitation data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979–2000), which tracks the partners of cohabiting women across survey waves. Our results support several conclusions. First, cohabiting unions are short-lived -- about one-half end within one year, and over 90% end by the fifth year. Unlike most previous research, our results show that most cohabiting unions end by dissolution of the relationship rather than by marriage. Second, transitions to marriage are especially unlikely among poor women; less than one-third marry within five years. Cohabitation among poor women is more likely than that among nonpoor women to be a long-term alternative or substitute for traditional marriage. Third, our multinomial analysis of transitions from cohabitation into marriage or dissolution highlights the salience of economically disadvantaged family backgrounds, cohabitation and fertility histories, women's economic resources, and partner characteristics. These results are interpreted in a policy environment that increasingly views marriage as an economic panacea for low-income women and their children.
Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T., Zhenchao Qian and Leanna Marie Mellott. "Marriage or Dissolution? Union Transitions Among Poor Cohabiting Women." Demography 43,2 (May 2006): 223-40.
17. Lichter, Daniel T.
Shanahan, Michael J.
Gardner, Erica L.
Becoming a Good Citizen? The Long-Term Consequences of Poverty and Family Instability During Childhood
Working Paper, Russell Sage Foundation, December 1999.
Also: http://www.russellsage.org/publications/working_papers/lichter-citizen.pdf
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
Keyword(s): Behavior, Prosocial; Family Structure; Modeling, Mixed Effects; Poverty; Volunteer Work

This paper was also presented at the Population Association of America Annual Meetings, March 1999. Our main objective is to evaluate whether a disadvantaged childhood inevitably leads to a politically disaffected and socially disengaged late adolescence. We examine the relationship between social and economic disadvantages during early childhood and "good citizenship" during late adolescence. Measures of formal activities are now available from the 1996 young adult supplements of the National Longitudunal Survey of Youth (NLSY); these data are linked to mother and family records from the 1979-96 main NLSY sample to create life-history records spanning childhood and adolescence. Children -- especially males -- from single parent families are less likely than children growing up in married couple households to be involved in volunteer work. Volunteer behavior is more strongly related to time spent in poverty among females than males. More generally, our results provide support for a mediational model, one in which long-term negative effects of childhood social and economic disadvantages on later pro-social behavior occur indirectly through effects on socioemotional development and life experiences during adolescence (e.g., attendance at religious services and school success). These results address current concerns about putative declines in a civil society in America and about the elevation of individualism over communalism among today's young people. (Copyright Russell Sage Foundation.)
Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T., Michael J. Shanahan and Erica L. Gardner. "Becoming a Good Citizen? The Long-Term Consequences of Poverty and Family Instability During Childhood." Working Paper, Russell Sage Foundation, December 1999.
18. Lichter, Daniel T.
Shanahan, Michael J.
Gardner, Erica L.
Helping Others? The Effects of Childhood Poverty and Family Instability on Prosocial Behavior
Youth and Society 34,1 (September 2002): 89-119.
Also: http://yas.sagepub.com/content/34/1/89.abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Sage Publications
Keyword(s): Behavior, Prosocial; Family Structure; Modeling, Mixed Effects; Volunteer Work

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This article examines the relationship between poverty and family instability during childhood on prosocial behavior--volunteerism--during late adolescence. The 1996 Young Adult supplements of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) are linked to mother and family records from the 1979-1996 main NLSY sample to create life history records spanning childhood and adolescence. Adolescents--especially males--from single-parent families are less likely than those growing up in married-couple households to be involved with volunteer work. Volunteerism is more strongly related to time spent in poverty among females than males. The results support a mediational model, in which negative effects of childhood social and ecnomic disadvantages on later prosocial behavior occur indirectly through effects on socioemotional development and life experiences during adolescence. The results inform current concerns about putative declines in a civil society and the elevation of individualism over communalism among today's young people.
Bibliography Citation
Lichter, Daniel T., Michael J. Shanahan and Erica L. Gardner. "Helping Others? The Effects of Childhood Poverty and Family Instability on Prosocial Behavior." Youth and Society 34,1 (September 2002): 89-119.
19. McLaughlin, Diane K.
Lichter, Daniel T.
Poverty and the Marital Behavior of Young Women
Journal of Marriage and Family 59,3 (August 1997): 582-594.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/353947
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: National Council on Family Relations
Keyword(s): Employment; Marriage; Poverty; Racial Differences; Welfare; Women

Marriage provides one route out of poverty and long-term reliance on welfare, yet little is known about the factors that encourage or impede marriage among poor, young women. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine first marriage transitions for poor young women and young women who are not poor. We find that the latter are more likely to marry than poor women, but poor women who have jobs are more likely to marry than those who do not have jobs. Poor Black women have the same probability of marriage as poor White women, after controlling for differences in economic independence, mate availability, and family culture and living arrangements. The receipt of welfare was not associated with marriage propensity for either poor women or women who are not poor. Lower mate availability and higher average welfare payments in a local area depressed the probability of marriage among poor women but had no influence on the probability of marriage among women who are not poor.
Bibliography Citation
McLaughlin, Diane K. and Daniel T. Lichter. "Poverty and the Marital Behavior of Young Women." Journal of Marriage and Family 59,3 (August 1997): 582-594.
20. McLaughlin, Diane K.
Lichter, Daniel T.
Johnston, Gail M.
Some Women Marry Young: Transitions to First Marriage in Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas
Journal of Marriage and Family 55,4 (November 1993): 827-838.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/352765
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: National Council on Family Relations
Keyword(s): Demography; Ethnic Differences; Ethnic Groups/Ethnicity; Marriage; Modeling, Hazard/Event History/Survival/Duration; Rural/Urban Differences

We examine the extent to which the timing of first marriage differs for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan young women. Individual-level data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are matched to local marriage market conditions to estimate discrete time hazard models of transitions to first marriage. Young nonmetropolitan women marry at a younger age than metropolitan women, a difference only partially explained by variations in the attributes of the young women, their families, and the local marriage market. The effects of receipt of public assistance and local mate availability on the transition to first marriage differ for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan young women.
Bibliography Citation
McLaughlin, Diane K., Daniel T. Lichter and Gail M. Johnston. "Some Women Marry Young: Transitions to First Marriage in Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas." Journal of Marriage and Family 55,4 (November 1993): 827-838.
21. Mellott, Leanna Marie
Qian, Zhenchao
Lichter, Daniel T.
Like Mother, Like Daughter? The Intergenerational Transmission of Union Formation Patterns
Presented: Philadelphia, PA, American Sociological Association Meetings, August 2005
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Cohabitation; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Mothers and Daughters

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Research showed that young adult women whose mothers reported cohabitation were 57 percent more likely than other women to report cohabitation themselves. In addition, daughters of cohabiting mothers tended to cohabit at earlier ages than others.

Data for the study came from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a nationally representative survey of people nationwide conducted by Ohio State's Center for Human Resource Research. Men and women aged 14 to 22 in 1979 were interviewed annually from 1979 to 1994, and once every two years from 1996 forward. The NLSY also interviewed these participants' children.

This study included data on women in the NLSY who had children who were at least 18 years old by 2000. There were 2,426 of these young adults in this study.

Bibliography Citation
Mellott, Leanna Marie, Zhenchao Qian and Daniel T. Lichter. "Like Mother, Like Daughter? The Intergenerational Transmission of Union Formation Patterns." Presented: Philadelphia, PA, American Sociological Association Meetings, August 2005.
22. Morrison, Donna Ruane
Lichter, Daniel T.
Family Migration and Female Employment: The Problem of Underemployment among Migrant Married Women
Journal of Marriage and Family 50,1 (February 1988): 161-172.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/352436
Cohort(s): Young Women
Publisher: National Council on Family Relations
Keyword(s): Marital Status; Migration; Mobility; Part-Time Work; Underemployment; Unemployment

This article examines the effects of geographic mobility on changes in underemployment among married and single women. Data for the analysis are from the NLS of Young Women. Changes in various forms of underemployment for the 1968-73 and 1973-78 periods are measured with the Labor Utilization Framework of Clogg and Sullivan (1983). In general, the results reinforce findings from previous studies by showing that migration contributes to labor force nonparticipation and unemployment among married women. Migration also is linked to other forms of labor force hardship, including involuntary part-time employment and low pay. Contrary to expectations, migration also negatively affects employment adequacy among single women. The implications of these results for family decision- making models of migration are discussed.
Bibliography Citation
Morrison, Donna Ruane and Daniel T. Lichter. "Family Migration and Female Employment: The Problem of Underemployment among Migrant Married Women." Journal of Marriage and Family 50,1 (February 1988): 161-172.
23. Oropesa, R. S.
Lichter, Daniel T.
Anderson, Robert N.
Marriage Markets and the Paradox of Mexican Nuptiality
Journal of Marriage and Family 56,4 (November 1994): 889-907.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/353601
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: National Council on Family Relations
Keyword(s): Blue-Collar Jobs; Disadvantaged, Economically; Ethnic Groups/Ethnicity; Ethnic Studies; Heterogeneity; Hispanics; Marriage; Minorities; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Current research on the retreat from marriage emphasizes the economic underpinnings of family formation, especially among disadvantaged minorities. The paradox of Mexican nuptiality is that first marriage rates among Americans are similar to those among Anglos, despite circumstances that closely approximate those of African Americans. Using event histories constructed from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study extends previous analyses by investigating the roles of structural (e.g., pool of marriageable men) and cultural (e.g., familism) factors in the marriage transitions of 3,853 Mexican American, African American, and Anglo women. The results support three main conclusions. First, similarities are outweighed by differences in the marriage process these groups. Second, cultural indicators do not group differences. Third, the unique aspects of the marriage process among Mexican Americans cannot be fully understood without taking their generational heterogeneity into account.
Bibliography Citation
Oropesa, R. S., Daniel T. Lichter and Robert N. Anderson. "Marriage Markets and the Paradox of Mexican Nuptiality." Journal of Marriage and Family 56,4 (November 1994): 889-907.