Search Results

Author: Powers, Daniel A.
Resulting in 16 citations.
1. Boardman, Jason D.
Powers, Daniel A.
Low Birth Weight, Race/Ethnicity, and Developmental Outcomes among Children in the United States
Presented: Atlanta, GA, Population Association of America Annual Meetings, May 2002
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Birth Outcomes; Birthweight; Cognitive Development; Ethnic Groups/Ethnicity; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Marital Status; Modeling, Multilevel; Mothers, Education; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Poverty; Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Factors; Welfare

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

Using six waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Child Data (1986-1996), we evaluate the dynamic nature of biological and social risk factors from ages 6 to 14. We find the following: (1) birth weight is positively related to developmental outcomes, net of important social and economic controls; (2) the relative significance of moderately low birth weight status (1,500-2,500 grams) vis-a-vis race/ethnicity and mother's education is quite small; and (3) while the observed differential between moderately low birth weight and normal birth weight children decreases, the black-white differential in test scores increases in magnitude as children increase in age.
Bibliography Citation
Boardman, Jason D. and Daniel A. Powers. "Low Birth Weight, Race/Ethnicity, and Developmental Outcomes among Children in the United States." Presented: Atlanta, GA, Population Association of America Annual Meetings, May 2002.
2. Boardman, Jason D.
Powers, Daniel A.
Padilla, Yolanda Chavez
Hummer, Robert A.
Low Birth Weight, Social Factors, and Developmental Outcomes Among Children in the United States
Demography 39,2 (May 2002): 353-368.
Also: http://www.springerlink.com/content/p451770226375195/
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Birth Outcomes; Birthweight; Cognitive Development; Ethnic Groups/Ethnicity; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Marital Status; Modeling, Multilevel; Mothers, Education; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Poverty; Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Factors; Welfare

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

We used six waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Data (1986-1996) to assess the relative impact of adverse birth outcomes vis-a-vis social risk factors on children's developmental outcomes. Using the Peabody Individual Achievement Tests of Mathematics and Reading Recognition as our outcome variables, we also evaluated the dynamic nature of biological and social risk factors from ages 6 to 14. We found the following: (1) birth weight is significantly related to developmental outcomes, net of important social and economic controls; (2) the effect associated with adverse birth outcomes is significantly more pronounced at very low birth weights (< 1,500 grams) than at moderately low birth weights (1,500-2,499 grams); (3) whereas the relative effect of very low-birth-weight status is large, the effect of moderately low weight status, when compared with race/ethnicity and mother's education, is small; and (4) the observed differentials between moderately low-birth-weight and normal-birth-weight children are substantially smaller among older children in comparison with younger children.
Bibliography Citation
Boardman, Jason D., Daniel A. Powers, Yolanda Chavez Padilla and Robert A. Hummer. "Low Birth Weight, Social Factors, and Developmental Outcomes Among Children in the United States." Demography 39,2 (May 2002): 353-368.
3. Manski, Charles F.
Sandefur, Gary D.
McLanahan, Sara S.
Powers, Daniel A.
Alternative Estimates of the Effects of Family Structure During Childhood on High School Graduation
Journal of the American Statistical Association 87,417 (March 1992): 25-37.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2290448
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Statistical Association
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Family Structure; Heterogeneity; High School Completion/Graduates; Parental Influences; Racial Differences

A good deal of research in the past few years has found significant relationships between family structure during childhood and various outcomes during the teen and early adult years. There may, however, be unmeasured variables which affect both family structure and teen or early adult outcomes. The apparent effects of family structure may be due to these unmeasured variables, which affect both the likelihood of maintaining an intact marriage and parenting effectiveness. The authors estimate a model that attempts to take this unmeasured heterogeneity into account. Another weakness of past studies is that they make very strong assumptions about the relationship between family structure and early outcomes. Relaxing these assumptions, estimate nonparametric bounds on the magnitude of the relationship between family structure and early outcomes are estimated.
Bibliography Citation
Manski, Charles F., Gary D. Sandefur, Sara S. McLanahan and Daniel A. Powers. "Alternative Estimates of the Effects of Family Structure During Childhood on High School Graduation." Journal of the American Statistical Association 87,417 (March 1992): 25-37.
4. Oh, Sehun
DiNitto, Diana M.
Powers, Daniel A.
A Longitudinal Evaluation of Government-sponsored Job Skills Training and Basic Employment Services among U.S. Baby Boomers with Economic Disadvantages
Evaluation and Program Planning 82 (October 2020): 101845.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014971892030149X
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Earnings; Employment, History; Job Skills; Socioeconomic Status (SES); Training

Job skills training is a cost-effective strategy for improving employment among individuals who have low income and employment barriers, but few U.S. government-sponsored employment program participants have received such training. To better understand long-term gains from job skills training, this study compared employment and earnings trajectories between program participants who received job skills training and those who received basic services only. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we estimated 33-year employment and earnings trajectories among U.S. baby-boomer cohorts while accounting for baseline group heterogeneity using inverse propensity score weighting. We found increases in employment rates over the life course, especially among Black women. Job skills training also increased earnings by up to 69.6 % compared to basic services only. Despite the long-term gains in employment and earnings, job skills training participation is not sufficient to address gender as well as racial and ethnic gaps in full-time employment. Findings reinforce the importance of incorporating job skills training as an essential service element of government-sponsored employment programs to improve long-term labor market outcomes among Americans with economic disadvantages.
Bibliography Citation
Oh, Sehun, Diana M. DiNitto and Daniel A. Powers. "A Longitudinal Evaluation of Government-sponsored Job Skills Training and Basic Employment Services among U.S. Baby Boomers with Economic Disadvantages." Evaluation and Program Planning 82 (October 2020): 101845.
5. Oh, Sehun
DiNitto, Diana M.
Powers, Daniel A.
Spillover Effects of Job Skills Training on Substance Misuse Among Low-Income Youths With Employment Barriers: A Longitudinal Cohort Study
American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) 110,6 (June 2020): 900-906.
Also: https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305631
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: American Public Health Association
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Drug Use; Job Skills; Job Training; Substance Use

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

Objectives. To examine spillover effects of job skills training (vs basic services only [e.g., adult basic education, job readiness training]) on substance misuse among low-income youths with employment barriers.

Methods. Data came from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, a longitudinal cohort study of youths born between 1980 and 1984 in the United States. Based on respondents' reports of substance misuse (past-month binge drinking and past-year marijuana and other illicit drug use) from 2000 to 2016, we estimated substance misuse trajectories of job skills training (n = 317) and basic services (n = 264) groups. We accounted for potential selection bias by using inverse probability of treatment weighting.

Results. Compared with the basic services group, the job skills training group showed notable long-term reductions in its illicit drug misuse trajectory, translating to a 56.9% decrease in prevalence rates from 6.5% in year 0 to 2.8% in year 16.

Bibliography Citation
Oh, Sehun, Diana M. DiNitto and Daniel A. Powers. "Spillover Effects of Job Skills Training on Substance Misuse Among Low-Income Youths With Employment Barriers: A Longitudinal Cohort Study." American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) 110,6 (June 2020): 900-906.
6. Powers, Daniel A.
A Simple Approach to Assess Group Differences in Estimated Baseline Survivor Functions from Cox Proportional Hazards Models
Presented: Dallas, TX, Population Association of America Meetings, April 2010
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Event History; Methods/Methodology; Modeling, Hazard/Event History/Survival/Duration; Statistical Analysis

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

We develop a heuristic approach to generate the expected events that would occur under a Cox proportional hazards model and illustrate how the results can be used to test for group differences in the resulting risk-adjusted survivor distributions. The estimated baseline survivor functions from a Cox proportional hazards models fit separately for two groups are used to construct the expected number of events occurring at each event time, the expected number of interval-censored observations, and the adjusted risk set corresponding to the expected decrements due to events and censoring for each group. Differences in the resulting expected survival distributions can be tested using log-rank and generalized Wilcoxon tests. This method should also prove useful for making other kinds of comparisons of adjusted life tables.
Bibliography Citation
Powers, Daniel A. "A Simple Approach to Assess Group Differences in Estimated Baseline Survivor Functions from Cox Proportional Hazards Models." Presented: Dallas, TX, Population Association of America Meetings, April 2010.
7. Powers, Daniel A.
Alternative Models of the Effects of Family Structure on Early Family Formation
Social Science Research 22,3 (September 1993): 283-299.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X83710148
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Academic Press, Inc.
Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Childbearing, Premarital/Nonmarital; Endogeneity; Family Background and Culture; Family Formation; Family Structure; Fertility; Household Composition; Pregnancy, Adolescent; Regions

Data from the 1979-1985 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are used to examine the effect of residing in a nonintact family during adolescence on the probability of experiencing a teen birth and on the timing of first premarital births. Models are developed to account for possible unmeasured common factors that jointly affect family structure and early family formation. The results confirm previous research findings that, after controlling for various socio-demographic factors, living in a nonintact family at age 14 increases the likelihood of becoming a teen parent and lowers the expected age of experiencing an out-of-wedlock birth. Using differing assumptions about the process-generating nonintact family structure and early family-formation outcomes, we find no evidence of the endogeneity of family structure. However, in the absence of prior information, the effect of family structure on early adult outcomes cannot be identified. As such, estimates of family-structure effects depend on the assumptions researchers make about the processes affecting family structure and early family formation. 01993
Bibliography Citation
Powers, Daniel A. "Alternative Models of the Effects of Family Structure on Early Family Formation." Social Science Research 22,3 (September 1993): 283-299.
8. Powers, Daniel A.
Assessing Group Differences in Estimated Baseline Survivor Functions From Cox Proportional Hazards Models
Sociological Methods and Research 39,2 (November 2010): 157-187.
Also: http://smr.sagepub.com/content/39/2/157.abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Sage Publications
Keyword(s): Modeling, Hazard/Event History/Survival/Duration; Pregnancy, Adolescent; Religion

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

The author discusses the general problem of evaluating differences in adjusted survivor functions and develops a heuristic approach to generate the expected events that would occur under a Cox proportional hazards model. Differences in the resulting expected survivor distributions can be tested using generalized log rank tests. This method should prove useful for making other kinds of comparisons and generating adjusted life tables. The author also discusses alternative specifications of the classical Cox model that allow time-varying effects and thus permit a more direct assessment of group differences at various points in time. He implements recently developed semiparametric approaches for estimating time-varying effects, which permit statistical tests of group difference in effects as well as tests of time-invariant effects. He shows that these approaches can provide insight into the nature of time-varying effects and can help reveal the temporal dynamic of group differences.
Bibliography Citation
Powers, Daniel A. "Assessing Group Differences in Estimated Baseline Survivor Functions From Cox Proportional Hazards Models." Sociological Methods and Research 39,2 (November 2010): 157-187.
9. Powers, Daniel A.
Effects of Family Structure on the Risk of First Premarital Birth in the Presence of Correlated Unmeasured Family Effects
Working Paper, Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin, April 2004.
Also: http://www.prc.utexas.edu/working_papers/wp_pdf/03-04-04.pdf
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin
Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Age at First Birth; Birth Outcomes; Family Structure; Siblings; Variables, Independent - Covariate

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

This paper assesses the effects of family structure on the risk of a first premarital birth for a sample of women from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The sample reflects the family structure and family formation experiences of a cohort of women who were at risk of out of wedlock childbearing during the 1980's and early 1990's. We focus on assessing the effects of family structure in the presence of correlated unmeasured family effects, which are identified through the use of sibling data. The availability of multiple sibling respondents per family permits identification of family-level unobserved heterogeneity in a multi-level context of individuals nested within families. Our models account for family-specific sources of unobserved heterogeneity in the processes generating family structure and nonmarital hildbearing, and provide estimates of the association between these sources of unobserved heterogeneity along with the effects of family structure and other covariates. We find that accounting for the correlation between unobserved family-level effects in processes generating family structure and first premarital birth leads to attenuated estimates of the effects family structure on the risk of first premarital birth. This suggests that other family-level factors may play a mediating role in generating both family structure and nonmarital childbearing....Data from the 1993 wave of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) are used to model premarital birth outcomes.
Bibliography Citation
Powers, Daniel A. "Effects of Family Structure on the Risk of First Premarital Birth in the Presence of Correlated Unmeasured Family Effects." Working Paper, Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin, April 2004.
10. Powers, Daniel A.
Effects of Family Structure on the Risk of First Premarital Birth in the Presence of Correlated Unmeasured Family Effects
Social Science Research 34,3 (September 2005): 511-537. Als: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X04000420
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Academic Press, Inc.
Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Childbearing, Premarital/Nonmarital; Family Formation; Family Structure; Heterogeneity; Modeling; Siblings; Variables, Independent - Covariate

This paper assesses the effects of family structure on the risk of a first premarital birth for a sample of women from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The sample reflects the family structure and family formation experiences of a cohort of women who were at risk of out-of-wedlock childbearing during the 1980s and early 1990s. We focus on assessing the effects of family structure in the presence of correlated unmeasured family effects, which are identified through the use of sibling data. The availability of multiple sibling respondents per family permits identification of family-level unobserved heterogeneity in a multi-level context of individuals nested within families. Our models account for family-specific sources of unobserved heterogeneity in the processes generating family structure and nonmarital childbearing, and provide estimates of the association between these sources of unobserved heterogeneity along with the effects of family structure and other covariates. We find that accounting for the correlation between unobserved family-level effects in processes generating family structure and first premarital birth leads to attenuated estimates of the effects family structure on the risk of first premarital birth. This suggests that other family-level factors may play a mediating role in generating both family structure and nonmarital childbearing.
Bibliography Citation
Powers, Daniel A. "Effects of Family Structure on the Risk of First Premarital Birth in the Presence of Correlated Unmeasured Family Effects." Social Science Research 34,3 (September 2005): 511-537. Als: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X04000420.
11. Powers, Daniel A.
Inactivity: Transitions into and out of Idleness
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1991
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Education; Endogeneity; Exits; Geographical Variation; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Parental Influences; Poverty; Schooling; Unemployment, Youth

This dissertation argues that traditional approaches to youth joblessness are less appropriate for younger age groups whose normative activity is attending school. The usual approach of examining joblessness among out-of-school youth is also problematic since enrollment decisions depend to some extent on labor market conditions. This dissertation treats enrollment and employment as endogenous by examining the determinants of inactivity defined as not-working, not-enrolled, and not serving in the armed forces. This concept of inactivity is linked with status attainment, human capital theory, and recent research on poverty. Using data from the NLSY, the determinants of persistent idleness, of entry into first and second episodes of idleness, and of exits from first episodes of idleness for 1,731 initially active young men, aged 14-17, and living at home in 1979 are examined. Measurable ability and adjusted family income in 1978 are the strongest determinants of all the outcomes--lending support for the human capital perspective. From status attainment and poverty research perspectives, the most important background factors are parent's employment status in 1978, whether or not a family received public assistance in the previous year, living in a step-parent family in 1979, and experiencing a change in family structure between the ages of 14-18. The results suggest several possible ag
Bibliography Citation
Powers, Daniel A. Inactivity: Transitions into and out of Idleness. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1991.
12. Powers, Daniel A.
Social Background and Social Context Effects on Young Men's Idleness Transitions
Social Science Research 25,1 (March 1996): 50-72.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X96900034
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Academic Press, Inc.
Keyword(s): Ethnic Differences; Ethnic Groups/Ethnicity; Human Capital; Racial Differences; Social Influences; Unemployment

Uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to assess racial and ethnic differences in the determinants of entering inactivity for 1,731 initially active young men. Findings indicate that social context variables play a moderate role in explaining weak labor force attachment among nonwhite youth, but are relatively less important for White youth. On the other hand, the effects of social background characteristics are significant determinants of White youth idleness and less important for nonwhite youth, especially for Black youth. Moreover, Black-White differences in the effects of social background and social context are large and statistically significant. Local opportunity structure and individual human capital characteristics have large effects on the inactivity of youth as a whole. (PsycINFO Database Copyright 1997 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved)
Bibliography Citation
Powers, Daniel A. "Social Background and Social Context Effects on Young Men's Idleness Transitions." Social Science Research 25,1 (March 1996): 50-72.
13. Powers, Daniel A.
Transitions into Idleness Among White, Black, and Hispanic Youth: Some Determinants and Policy Implications of Weak Labor Force Attachment
Sociological Perspectives 37,2 (Summer 1994): 183-201.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1389319
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of California Press
Keyword(s): Employment, Youth; Hispanics; Human Capital; Labor Force Participation; Racial Differences; Sociability/Socialization/Social Interaction; Social Environment; Social Influences; Training; Transitional Programs

Explores determinants of entering labor market inactivity for 1,731 initially active young men, ages 14-17, drawing on data from 7 waves (1979-1985) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Results indicate that social context variables play a key role in explaining weak labor force attachment among young nonwhite men, but are relatively less important for white youth. Local opportunity structure & individual human capital characteristics are the most important determinants of inactivity for youth as a whole. These findings encourage a social policy solution centered around job creation & training programs that smooth the transition between school & work. 5 Tables, 2 Figures, 26 References. Adapted from the source document. (Copyright 1994, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Powers, Daniel A. "Transitions into Idleness Among White, Black, and Hispanic Youth: Some Determinants and Policy Implications of Weak Labor Force Attachment." Sociological Perspectives 37,2 (Summer 1994): 183-201.
14. Powers, Daniel A.
Unobserved Family Effects on the Risk of a First Premarital Birth
Social Science Research 30,1 (March 2001): 1-24.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X00906823
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Academic Press, Inc.
Keyword(s): Childbearing, Premarital/Nonmarital; Ethnic Differences; Fertility; First Birth; Peers/Peer influence/Peer relations; Racial Differences; Siblings

Using data from the National Survey of Youth, proportional hazards models for clustered data are used to account for shared unobserved family-level traits (or frailty) associated with non-marital childbearing. The variance in frailty can be used to evaluate a woman's conditional hazard of a first premarital birth if one or more of her sisters were to experience a premarital birth relative to her risk if none of her sisters experience a premarital birth. I find that among non-Hispanic White women, a first premarital birth by one sister doubles our estimate of another sister's risk of a first premarital birth after controlling for observed family-level & individual-level characteristics. Significant associations exist between several socioeconomic measures & the estimated frailty among White families. For a Black woman in the NLSY, the estimate of the risk of a first premarital birth would increase by only 14% if one of her sisters were to experience a first premarital birth. Low variance in frailty among Black families may be a result of the high prevalence of non-marital births in Black communities. Whether unobserved neighborhood, community, or peer-group traits contribute more to a Black woman's risk than unobserved family-level traits remains an important question for further research. 10 Tables, 1 Appendix, 41 References. [Copyright 2001 Academic Press.]
Bibliography Citation
Powers, Daniel A. "Unobserved Family Effects on the Risk of a First Premarital Birth." Social Science Research 30,1 (March 2001): 1-24.
15. Powers, Daniel A.
Ellison, Christopher G.
Conservative Protestantism and Church Attendance Effects on Teen Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes
Presented: Philadelphia, PA, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, March-April 2005
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Modeling, Multilevel; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes; Pregnancy, Adolescent; Religious Influences

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

This paper investigates the effect of conservative protestant upbringing and church attendance on teen pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes for a cohort of non-Hispanic White women who were at risk for teen pregnancy during the early 1980s. Multivariate models show that lower teen pregnancy rates are associated with frequent church attendance for all religious groups (including non-religious) and that conservative protestants generally have higher rates of teen pregnancy than other groups. However, devout conservative Protestants showed the lowest rates of teen pregnancy.
Bibliography Citation
Powers, Daniel A. and Christopher G. Ellison. "Conservative Protestantism and Church Attendance Effects on Teen Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes." Presented: Philadelphia, PA, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, March-April 2005.
16. Powers, Daniel A.
Hsueh, James Cherng-Tay
Sibling Models of Socioeconomic Effects on the Timing of First Premarital Birth
Demography 34,4 (November 1997): 493-511.
Also: http://www.springerlink.com/content/7445273624p02117/
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Age at First Birth; Childbearing; Childbearing, Premarital/Nonmarital; Family Characteristics; Family Studies; Marital Status; Marriage; Modeling; Pairs (also see Siblings); Parents, Single; Shift Workers; Siblings; Variables, Independent - Covariate

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

Data on 1,090 pairs of sisters from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are used to estimate the effects of observed individual-level factors, common family-level variables, and shared unobserved family-level traits on the timing of premarital births. Results show a moderate correlated risk of premarital childbearing among siblings after controlling for the effects of measured covariates. The effect of older sisters' out-of-wedlock childbearing on the timing of younger sisters 'premarital birth is overestimated when shared unmeasured family-level traits are ignored. Public policy measures designed to reduce premarital births have a smaller multiplier effect via reduced younger sisters 'premarital births because unmeasured family-level factors are less amenable to policy measures. However, because the older-sibling effect is large when other sources of variability in premarital birth timing are controlled, interventions may be effective in reducing premarital births among young women in high-risk families.
Bibliography Citation
Powers, Daniel A. and James Cherng-Tay Hsueh. "Sibling Models of Socioeconomic Effects on the Timing of First Premarital Birth." Demography 34,4 (November 1997): 493-511.