Search Results

Author: Reagan, Patricia Benton
Resulting in 25 citations.
1. Baumann, Robert William
Cosslett, Stephan
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Measuring Returns to Migration Using the Method of Maximum Simulated Likelihood: An Application to Migration among Poor Whites
Presented: Atlanta, GA, Population Association of America Annual Meetings, May 2002
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Disadvantaged, Economically; Employment; Endogeneity; Income; Migration; Migration Patterns; Wages

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

We estimate a three-equation model of wages, migration and employment using the method of maximum simulated likelihood for a sample of 1129 disadvantaged white males from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1979. We show that Appalachian natives experience higher returns to migration than comparably disadvantaged whites from the rest of the United States. Failure to treat migration as endogenous biases estimates of the returns to migration towards zero for both groups, with a larger bias for Appalachians. This suggests that individuals with lower earnings in their current location are more likely to migrate. Appalachian migrants experience an average increase in hourly wages of $2.29 per hour compared to an increase of $0.62 per hour (1990 dollars) for non-Appalachian poor white migrants. Although part of the large gain for Appalachian migrants reflects unmeasured differences in regional cost of living, there appears to be substantial returns to out-migration from Appalachia.
Bibliography Citation
Baumann, Robert William, Stephan Cosslett and Patricia Benton Reagan. "Measuring Returns to Migration Using the Method of Maximum Simulated Likelihood: An Application to Migration among Poor Whites." Presented: Atlanta, GA, Population Association of America Annual Meetings, May 2002.
2. Currie, Janet
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Distance to Hospital and Children's Use of Preventive Care: Is Being Closer Better, and for Whom?
Economic Inquiry 41,3 (July 2003): 378-392.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1093/ei/cbg015/abstract
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Western Economic Association International
Keyword(s): Child Health; Children, Health Care; Geocoded Data; Geographical Variation; Health Care; Neighborhood Effects; Racial Differences

This article examines the effect of distance to hospital on preventive care among children using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth's Child-Mother file matched to data from the 1990 American Hospital Association Survey. Among central-city black children, each additional mile from the hospital is associated with a 3-percentage-point decline in the probability of having had a checkup (from a mean baseline of 74%). Moreover, the effects are similar for privately and publicly insured black children. For this group, access to providers is as important as private insurance coverage in predicting use of preventive care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Patricia Benton Reagan. "Distance to Hospital and Children's Use of Preventive Care: Is Being Closer Better, and for Whom?" Economic Inquiry 41,3 (July 2003): 378-392.
3. Currie, Janet
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Distance to Hospitals and Children's Access to Care: Is Being Closer Better, and for Whom?
NBER Working Paper No. 6836, National Bureau of Economic Research, December 1998.
Also: http://nber.nber.org/papers/W6836
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Children, Health Care; Health Care; Hispanics; Insurance, Health; Racial Differences; Rural/Urban Differences

Distance to hospital may affect the utilization of primary preventative care if children rely on hospitals for such routine care. We explore this question using matched data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth's Child-Mother file and the American Hospital Association's 1990 Hospital Survey. Our measure of preventative care is whether or not a child has received a regular checkup in the past year. We find that distance to hospital has significant effects on the utilization of preventative care among central-city black children. For these children, each additional mile from the hospital is associated with a 3 percent decline in the probability of having had a checkup (from a mean baseline of 74 percent). This effect can be compared to the 3 percent increase in the probability of having a checkup which is associated with having private health insurance coverage. The size of this effect is similar for both the privately insured and those with Medicaid coverage, suggesting that even black urban children with private health insurance may have difficulty obtaining access to preventative care. In contrast, we find little evidence of a negative distance effect among white or Hispanic central-city children, suburban children, or rural children. Full text available on line.
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Patricia Benton Reagan. "Distance to Hospitals and Children's Access to Care: Is Being Closer Better, and for Whom?" NBER Working Paper No. 6836, National Bureau of Economic Research, December 1998.
4. Feng, Peihong
Reagan, Patricia Benton
The Child Asthma Epidemic: Consequences for Women's Labor Market Behavior
Working Paper, Department of Economic, The Ohio State University, 2003.
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Department of Economics, The Ohio State University
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Asthma; Child Health; Children, Illness; Disability; Maternal Employment

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

By 1995, almost 22% of disabled children were disabled by asthma, making asthma the single most common cause of childhood disability in the United States. The presence of a child disabled by asthma poses unique barriers to the labor market activity of single mothers, because the symptoms are episodic and particularly disruptive of children's routine activities. This paper develops a model that differentiates the effects on maternal labor market activity of asthma from other conditions that lead to childhood disability. The model predicts differential responses of single and married mothers. These hypotheses are tested on a longitudinal sample of mothers. We find that a child disabled by asthma reduces labor force participation of single mothers by over 7% and reduces desired annual hours by 255. No statistically significant effects are found for single mothers of children disabled by other conditions. Married mothers have similar responses regardless of the type of disability. A child disabled for any reason reduces married mother's labor force participation by a modest 2.5%.
Bibliography Citation
Feng, Peihong and Patricia Benton Reagan. "The Child Asthma Epidemic: Consequences for Women's Labor Market Behavior." Working Paper, Department of Economic, The Ohio State University, 2003..
5. Gitter, Robert J.
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Reservation Wages: An Analysis of the Effects of Reservations on Employment of American Indian Men
American Economic Review 92,4 (September 2002): 1160-1168.
Also: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/00028280260344696
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Employment; Ethnic Differences; Ethnic Studies; Wages, Men; Wages, Reservation

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

American Indians living on reservations have experienced numerous economic problems, however no previous research has examined the effects of reservations on individual employment rates, controlling for other observable attributes. In this paper, the authors explore the effects of reservations on employment using a sample of young males from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79). They compare outcomes for Indians with those of a nationally representative cross section of the same birth cohort controlling for (1) contemporaneous proximity to a reservation and (2) whether the respondent lived at age 14 in a country with a reservation. Results show that American Indian males fare worse than other men in the labor market. The authors' data suggest that controlling for other factors, including local labor-market conditions, proximity to a reservation reduces the probability of employment among Indian men by 11 percentage points. Having lived in a country with a reservation at age 14 reduces the probability of employment among Indian men by 5-10 percentage points. In addition, neither measure of proximity to a reservation reduces employment of other groups.
Bibliography Citation
Gitter, Robert J. and Patricia Benton Reagan. "Reservation Wages: An Analysis of the Effects of Reservations on Employment of American Indian Men." American Economic Review 92,4 (September 2002): 1160-1168.
6. Ham, John C.
Li, Xianghong
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Matching and Semi-parametric IV Estimation, a Distance-Based Measure of Migration, and the Wages of Young Men
Journal of Econometrics 161, 2 (April 2011): 208-227.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304407610002460
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): College Graduates; Male Sample; Migration; School Dropouts; Statistical Analysis; Wage Growth

Our paper estimates the effect of US internal migration on wage growth for young men between their first and second job. Our analysis of migration extends previous research by: (i) exploiting the distance-based measures of migration in the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1979 (NLSY79); (ii) allowing the effect of migration to differ by schooling level and (iii) using propensity score matching to estimate the average treatment effect on the treated (ATET) for movers and (iv) using local average treatment effect (LATE) estimators with covariates to estimate the average treatment effect (ATE) and ATET for compliers.

We believe the Conditional Independence Assumption (CIA) is reasonable for our matching estimators since the NLSY79 provides a relatively rich array of variables on which to match. Our matching methods are based on local linear, local cubic, and local linear ridge regressions. Local linear and local ridge regression matching produce relatively similar point estimates and standard errors, while local cubic regression matching badly over-fits the data and provides very noisy estimates.

We use the bootstrap to calculate standard errors. Since the validity of the bootstrap has not been investigated for the matching estimators we use, and has been shown to be invalid for nearest neighbor matching estimators, we conduct a Monte Carlo study on the appropriateness of using the bootstrap to calculate standard errors for local linear regression matching. The data generating processes in our Monte Carlo study are relatively rich and calibrated to match our empirical models or to test the sensitivity of our results to the choice of parameter values. The estimated standard errors from the bootstrap are very close to those from the Monte Carlo experiments, which lends support to our using the bootstrap to calculate standard errors in our setting.

From the matching estimators we find a significant positive effect of migration on the wage growth of college graduates, and a marginally significant negative effect for high school dropouts. We do not find any significant effects for other educational groups or for the overall sample. Our results are generally robust to changes in the model specification and changes in our distance-based measure of migration. We find that better data matters; if we use a measure of migration based on moving across county lines, we overstate the number of moves, while if we use a measure based on moving across state lines, we understate the number of moves. Further, using either the county or state measures leads to much less precise estimates.

We also consider semi-parametric LATE estimators with covariates (Frolich 2007), using two sets of instrumental variables. We precisely estimate the proportion of compliers in our data, but because we have a small number of compliers, we cannot obtain precise LATE estimates.

Bibliography Citation
Ham, John C., Xianghong Li and Patricia Benton Reagan. "Matching and Semi-parametric IV Estimation, a Distance-Based Measure of Migration, and the Wages of Young Men." Journal of Econometrics 161, 2 (April 2011): 208-227.
7. Ham, John C.
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Li, Xianghong
Propensity Score Matching, a Distance-Based Measure of Migration, and the Wage Growth of Young Men
Working Paper No. 05.13, Institute for Economic Policy Research, December 2004.
Also: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=671062
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Institute for Economic Policy Research
Keyword(s): College Graduates; High School Dropouts; Migration Patterns; Wage Growth

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

Our analysis of migration differs from previous research in three important aspects. First, we exploit the confidential geocoding in the NLSY79 to obtain a distance-based measure. Second, we let the effect of migration on wage growth differ by schooling level. Third, we use propensity score matching to measure the effect of migration on the wages of those who move. We develop an economic model and use it to (i) assess the appropriateness of matching as an econometric method for studying migration and (ii) choose the conditioning variables used in the matching procedure. Our data set provides a rich array of variables on which to match. We find a significant effect of migration on the wage growth of college graduates of 10 percent, and a marginally significant effect for high school dropouts of -12 percent. If we use either a measure of migration based on moving across county lines or state lines, the significant effects of migration for college graduates and dropouts disappear.
Bibliography Citation
Ham, John C., Patricia Benton Reagan and Xianghong Li. "Propensity Score Matching, a Distance-Based Measure of Migration, and the Wage Growth of Young Men." Working Paper No. 05.13, Institute for Economic Policy Research, December 2004.
8. Hersch, Joni
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Job Matching and Women's Wage-Tenure Profile
Applied Economics 26,3 (March 1994): 205-215.
Also: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00036849400000002
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Chapman & Hall
Keyword(s): Job Tenure; Job Turnover; Labor Force Participation; Labor Turnover; Quality of Employment Survey (QES); Wage Gap; Wage Growth; Wages, Women

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

The results of a study suggest that discontinuous labor force participation is not likely to be an important determinant of the wage gap between men and women. Three data sets were examined: the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth sample for 1982, the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey, and data from a prior study. Regression results reveal that job matching factors concerning job retention and satisfaction are important determinants of wages. Workers with a good match are more productive in their current jobs than they would be in alternative employment. Such workers are unlikely to receive an alternative wage offer higher than their current wages, so turnover is also lower in good matches. Results also show that previous estimates of returns to tenure are biased downward for women and that women's wages rise with tenure faster than is commonly believed.
Bibliography Citation
Hersch, Joni and Patricia Benton Reagan. "Job Matching and Women's Wage-Tenure Profile." Applied Economics 26,3 (March 1994): 205-215.
9. Olsen, Randall J.
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Expanding the Scope of the NLS Surveys: Merging Data from Other Sources Based on Geographic Identifiers
Report, Columbus OH: Center for Human Resource Research, The Ohio State University, August 2004
Cohort(s): NLS General
Publisher: Center for Human Resource Research
Keyword(s): Geocoded Data; Research Methodology; Statistical Analysis; Statistics

This segment is designed to give an overview of implementable research techniques for incorporating external data with the NLS data based on geographic identifiers. We will proceed by discussing a number of examples. For each example there is a SAS program and a list file.
Bibliography Citation
Olsen, Randall J. and Patricia Benton Reagan. "Expanding the Scope of the NLS Surveys: Merging Data from Other Sources Based on Geographic Identifiers." Report, Columbus OH: Center for Human Resource Research, The Ohio State University, August 2004.
10. Reagan, Patricia Benton
Olsen, Randall J.
You Can Go Home Again: Evidence from Longitudinal Data
Demography 37,3 (August 2000): 339-350.
Also: http://www.springerlink.com/content/b5j14454n6147r76/
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Economics, Demographic; Immigrants; Migration; Migration Patterns; Residence; Skills; Variables, Independent - Covariate; Welfare

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

In this paper we analyze the economic and demographic factors that influence return migration, focusing on generation 1.5 immigrants. Using longitudinal data from the 1979 youth cohort of the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLSY79), we track residential histories of young immigrants to the United States and analyze the covariates associated with return migration to their home country. Overall, return migration appears to respond to economic incentives, as well as to cultural and linguistic ties to the United States and the home country. We find no role for welfare magnets in the decision to return, but we learn that welfare participation leads to lower probability of return migration. Finally, we see no evidence of a skill bias in return migration, where skill is measured by performance on the Armed Forces Qualifying Test.
Bibliography Citation
Reagan, Patricia Benton and Randall J. Olsen. "You Can Go Home Again: Evidence from Longitudinal Data." Demography 37,3 (August 2000): 339-350.
11. Reagan, Patricia Benton
Salsberry, Pamela J.
Black/White Differences in Birthweight: Broadening the Social Context
Working Paper, Department of Economics, The Ohio State University, 2003
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Department of Economics, The Ohio State University
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Birthweight; Neighborhood Effects; Poverty; Welfare

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

The Black/White difference in birthweight is no smaller today than it was one hundred years ago. Recent studies suggest a direct association between neighborhood poverty rates and birthweight, concluding that understanding these multilevel processes may hold a key to understanding this difference. Moreover, other research on cardiovascular disease suggests that the contextual influence may extend beyond the neighborhood to include both state and regional influences. In this paper we report on a study done to evaluate the quantitative importance of the broader social context in explaining Black/White difference in birthweight. We develop measures of social context, broadly defined to include neighborhood non-poverty rates, maximum potential state AFDC/TANF benefit level for a family of four, and regional income inequality. The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 is used to implement these analyses, supplemented with Census data, state-level welfare benefits, and regional Gini coefficients. Two analytic approaches are used. We estimate a multi-level model of birthweight that includes individual demographic and biobehavioral variables as well as the social context measures using random effects estimation to control for the panel nature of the data. Second, we employ regression-based decomposition methods to evaluate what fraction of the percentage difference in mean birthweight is explained by differences in the means of observed characteristics. We find that neighborhood poverty rates and income inequality are negatively related to birthweight for both groups. Generosity of the state safety net was positive and significant only for Whites. An increase in income inequality reduces birthweight for both groups, but the magnitude of the effect is twice as large for Blacks. Maternal age effects become insignificant with the addition of the Gini coefficient. The decomposition analysis reveals that individual characteristics explain 28% of the percentage difference in mean birthweight and social contextual variables explain an additional 15% of the difference.
Bibliography Citation
Reagan, Patricia Benton and Pamela J. Salsberry. "Black/White Differences in Birthweight: Broadening the Social Context." Working Paper, Department of Economics, The Ohio State University, 2003.
12. Reagan, Patricia Benton
Salsberry, Pamela J.
Cross Race Comparisons Between SES Health Gradients Among African-American and White Women at Mid-life
Social Science and Medicine 108 (May 2014): 81-88.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953614001324
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Income; Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

This study explored how multiple indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) inform understanding of race differences in the magnitude of health gains associated with higher SES. The study sample, 1268 African–American women and 2066 white women, was drawn from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1979. The outcome was the Physical Components Summary from the SF-12 assessed at age 40. Ordinary least squares regressions using education, income and net worth fully interacted with race were conducted. Single measure gradients tended to be steeper for whites than African–Americans, partly because “sheepskin” effects of high school and college graduation were higher for whites and low income and low net worth whites had worse health than comparable African–Americans. Conditioning on multiple measures of SES eliminated race disparities in health benefits of education and net worth, but not income. A discussion of current public policies that affect race disparities in levels of education, income and net wealth is provided.
Bibliography Citation
Reagan, Patricia Benton and Pamela J. Salsberry. "Cross Race Comparisons Between SES Health Gradients Among African-American and White Women at Mid-life." Social Science and Medicine 108 (May 2014): 81-88.
13. Reagan, Patricia Benton
Salsberry, Pamela J.
Pathways to Adolescent Overweight: Body Mass Index and Height Percentile Change in Childhood
International Journal of Pediatric Obesity 5,1 (January 2010): 80-87.
Also: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/17477160903055929
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Keyword(s): Aikake Information Criterion (AIC); Body Mass Index (BMI); Gender Differences; Height; Life Course; Obesity; Weight

Objective. To study the magnitude and timing of changes in body mass index (BMI) and height percentiles in four groups of children defined by overweight status in early childhood and adolescence: nonoverweight-nonoverweight (N-N), nonoverweight-overweight (N-O), overweight-nonoverweight (O-N), and overweight-overweight (O-O). The aim was to determine if monitoring percentile changes can provide early warnings about risk for adolescent overweight before a chronic pattern of overweight is established. Methods. Data on 3 408 children from the US based National Longitudinal Survey of Youth's Child-Mother file were used. Each child was interviewed on average 5.7 times, with a total of 19 470 person/year observations. BMI and height percentiles were estimated as polynomial functions of age in months for each of the four groups using fixed coefficients and random coefficients models. The models were compared using the Aikake information criterion. Results. There was significant transition between initial and final weight states. Children who transitioned to overweight experienced larger increases in BMI percentile points at 2-6 years than at 7-10 years of age. N-O girls, but not boys, had significantly larger increases in height percentile than N-N girls, with the largest increases occurring by age 7. The height percentiles curves for N-O and O-O girls converged by age 8 years. O-N children experienced steeper declines in BMI percentile over longer periods of time than O-O children. Conclusions. Monitoring changes in BMI and height percentiles can give early warnings about children at risk for adolescent overweight while there is ample time for intervention.
Bibliography Citation
Reagan, Patricia Benton and Pamela J. Salsberry. "Pathways to Adolescent Overweight: Body Mass Index and Height Percentile Change in Childhood." International Journal of Pediatric Obesity 5,1 (January 2010): 80-87.
14. Reagan, Patricia Benton
Salsberry, Pamela J.
Race and Ethnic Differences in Determinants of Preterm Birth in the USA: Broadening the Social Context
Social Science and Medicine 60,10 (May 2005): 2217-2228.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953604005167
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Body Mass Index (BMI); Hispanics; Neighborhood Effects; Poverty; Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Welfare

Preterm births occur in 9.7% of all US singleton births. The rate for blacks is double that of whites and the rate is 25% higher for Hispanics than for whites. While a number of individual correlates with preterm birth have been identified, race and ethnic differences have not been fully explained. Influenced by a growing body of literature documenting a relationship among health, individual income, and neighborhood disadvantage, researchers interested in explaining racial differences in preterm birth are designing studies that extend beyond the individual. No studies of adverse birth outcomes have considered contextual effects beyond the neighborhood level. Only a handful of studies, comparing blacks and whites, have evaluated the influence of neighborhood disadvantage on preterm birth. This study examines how preterm birth among blacks, whites and Hispanics is influenced by social context, broadly defined to include measures of neighborhood disadvantage and cumulative exposure to state-level income inequality, controlling for individual risk factors. Neighborhood disadvantage is determined by Census tract data. Cumulative exposure to income inequality is measured by the fraction of the mother's life since age 14 spent residing in states with a state-level Gini coefficient above the median. The results for neighborhood disadvantage are highly sensitive across race/ethnicities to the measure used. We find evidence that neighborhood poverty rates and housing vacancy rates increased the rate of very preterm birth and decreased the rate of moderately preterm birth for blacks. The rate of very preterm increased with the fraction of female-headed households for Hispanics and decreased with the fraction of people employed in professional occupations for whites. We find direct effects of cumulative exposure to income inequality only for Hispanics. However, we do find indirect effects of context broadly defined on behaviors that increased the risk of preterm birth.
Bibliography Citation
Reagan, Patricia Benton and Pamela J. Salsberry. "Race and Ethnic Differences in Determinants of Preterm Birth in the USA: Broadening the Social Context." Social Science and Medicine 60,10 (May 2005): 2217-2228.
15. Reagan, Patricia Benton
Salsberry, Pamela J.
Fang, Muriel Z.
Gardner, William P.
Pajer, Kathleen
African-American/White Differences in the Age of Menarche: Accounting for the Difference
Social Science and Medicine 75,7 (October 2012): 1263-1270.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612004327
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Birthweight; Body Mass Index (BMI); Menarche/First Menstruation; Poverty; Racial Differences; Smoking (see Cigarette Use); Weight

Lifetime health disparity between African-American and white females begins with lower birthweight and higher rates of childhood overweight. In adolescence, African-American girls experience earlier menarche. Understanding the origins of these health disparities is a national priority. There is growing literature suggesting that the life course health development model is a useful framework for studying disparities. The purpose of this study was to quantify the influence of explanatory factors from key developmental stages on the age of menarche and to determine how much of the overall race difference in age of menarche they could explain. The factors were maternal age of menarche, birthweight, poverty during early childhood (age 0 through 5 years), and child BMI z-scores at 6 years. The sample, drawn from the US National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth Child–Mother file, consisted of 2337 girls born between 1978 and 1998. Mean age of menarche in months was 144 for African-American girls and 150 for whites.

An instrumental variable approach was used to estimate a causal effect of child BMI z-score on age of menarche. The instrumental variables were pre-pregnancy BMI, high gestational weight gain and smoking during pregnancy. We found strong effects of maternal age of menarche, birthweight, and child BMI z-score (−5.23, 95% CI [−7.35,−3.12]) for both African-Americans and whites. Age of menarche declined with increases in exposure to poverty during early childhood for whites. There was no effect of poverty for African-Americans. We used Oaxaca decomposition techniques to determine how much of the overall race difference in age of menarche was attributable to race differences in observable factors and how much was due to race dependent responses. The African-American/white difference in childhood BMI explained about 18% of the overall difference in age of menarche and birthweight differences explained another 11%.

Bibliography Citation
Reagan, Patricia Benton, Pamela J. Salsberry, Muriel Z. Fang, William P. Gardner and Kathleen Pajer. "African-American/White Differences in the Age of Menarche: Accounting for the Difference." Social Science and Medicine 75,7 (October 2012): 1263-1270.
16. Reagan, Patricia Benton
Salsberry, Pamela J.
Olsen, Randall J.
Cumulative Relative Deprivation, Race/Ethnicity and Birth Weight
Working Paper, Department of Economics, The Ohio State University. Revised, February 2006.
Also: http://www.econ.ohio-state.edu/reagan/docs/submission_revised.pdf
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Department of Economics, The Ohio State University
Keyword(s): Birthweight; Body Mass Index (BMI); Child Health; Cigarette Use (see Smoking); Family Income; Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Racial Differences

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

This paper examined three broad theoretical relationships between absolute income, relative deprivation and income inequality and how they affect health. We demonstrated that if the income distribution is log normal, as has been shown to be approximately true in U.S. data, then the three effects cannot be separately identified. We focused on testing for associations between absolute income, cumulative relative deprivation and health, using state level fixed effects to control for time-invariant state differences income inequality.

We provide empirical evidence that relative deprivation but not absolute income was associated with birth weight in full term infants, controlling for tract poverty rate, maternal education, marital status, urban residence and maternal age. The findings provided qualified support for acceptance of an independent association between cumulative relative deprivation and full term infant birth weight, when not controlling for race/ethnicity. Evaluated at mean birth weight, a one standard deviation increase in cumulative relative deprivation led to a decrease in birth weight of approximately 1.5 ounces. We also provided evidence that the association between cumulative relative deprivation and birth weight was confounded by race/ethnicity. The mechanisms emphasized in the literature for a plausible relationship between health and relative deprivation, such as psychosocial stress and diminished purchasing power of a given level of income, were equally plausible as mechanisms through which race effects individual health. We found evidence that two behaviors which reduced birth weight (decreased weight gain during pregnancy and increased smoking during pregnancy) were positively associated with cumulative relative deprivation. The negative impact of cumulative relative deprivation on birth weight operated directly, when not controlling for race/ethnicity, and indirectly through its effect on decreased weight gain during pregnancy and increased smoking during pregnancy.

Bibliography Citation
Reagan, Patricia Benton, Pamela J. Salsberry and Randall J. Olsen. "Cumulative Relative Deprivation, Race/Ethnicity and Birth Weight." Working Paper, Department of Economics, The Ohio State University. Revised, February 2006.
17. Reagan, Patricia Benton
Salsberry, Pamela J.
Olsen, Randall J.
Does the Measure of Economic Disadvantage Matter? Exploring the Effect of Individual and Relative Deprivation on Intrauterine Growth Restriction
Social Science and Medicine 64,10 (May 2007): 2016-2029.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953607000548
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Birth Outcomes; Child Health; Geographical Variation; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Income Distribution; Life Course; Mothers, Health; Poverty; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes

This paper examines the relation between health, individual income, and relative deprivation. Three alternative measures of relative deprivation are described, Yitzhaik relative deprivation, Deaton relative deprivation, and log income difference relative deprivation, with attention to problems in measuring permanent disadvantage when the underlying income distribution is changing over time. We used data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth, a US-based longitudinal survey, to examine the associations between disadvantage, measured cross-sectionally and aggregated over the life course, and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). We reject the hypotheses that any of the economic measures, whether permanent/contemporaneous or individual/relative, have different associations with IUGR in terms of sign and significance. There was some evidence that permanent economic disadvantage was associated with greater risk of IUGR than those on the corresponding contemporaneous measures. The fitted values from logistic regressions on each measure of disadvantage were compared with the two-way plots of the observed IUGR-income pattern. Deaton relative deprivation and log income difference tracked the observed probability of IUGR as a function of income more closely than the other two measures of relative deprivation. Finally, we examined the determinants of each measure of disadvantage. Observed characteristics in childhood and adulthood explained more of the variance in log income difference and Deaton relative deprivation than in the other two measures of disadvantage. They also explained more of the variance in permanent disadvantage than in the contemporaneous counterpart.

[Copyright 2007 Elsevier] Copyright of Social Science & Medicine is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts)

Bibliography Citation
Reagan, Patricia Benton, Pamela J. Salsberry and Randall J. Olsen. "Does the Measure of Economic Disadvantage Matter? Exploring the Effect of Individual and Relative Deprivation on Intrauterine Growth Restriction." Social Science and Medicine 64,10 (May 2007): 2016-2029.
18. Salsberry, Pamela J.
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Comparing the Influence of Childhood and Adult Economic Status on Midlife Obesity in Mexican American, White, and African American Women
Public Health Nursing 26,1 (January-February 2009): 14-22
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Childhood; Disadvantaged, Economically; Economic Well-Being; Economics of Minorities; Education, Adult; Ethnic Differences; Obesity; Racial Differences

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

Objective: This research addresses the following 2 questions. What is the effect of childhood and adult economic status on midlife obesity in Mexican American women? How do these economic patterns in Mexican American women compare with patterns seen in White women and in African American women? Method: Data were drawn from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youths 1979-2002 waves. The sample consisted of 422 Mexican Americans, 2,090 Whites, and 1,195 African Americans. The economic indicator used for childhood economic status was parent education; for adult economic status, the participant's own education and adult per capita income were used. Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios were estimated for the relationship between midlife obesity and economic indicator, stratified by race/ethnic group. Results: There was an increased risk for midlife obesity with disadvantaged economic status measured during childhood and at midlife in Mexican American women. The economic effects on midlife obesity in Mexican American women were similar to those found for White, but not African American women. Few economic influences on obesity at midlife were found for African American women. Conclusions: Strategies that broadly improve the economic conditions of Mexican American women may be one important way to address the obesity epidemic in this population.
Bibliography Citation
Salsberry, Pamela J. and Patricia Benton Reagan. "Comparing the Influence of Childhood and Adult Economic Status on Midlife Obesity in Mexican American, White, and African American Women." Public Health Nursing 26,1 (January-February 2009): 14-22.
19. Salsberry, Pamela J.
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Dynamics of Early Childhood Overweight
Pediatrics 116,6 (December 2005): 1329-1338.
Also: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/116/6/1329
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: American Academy of Pediatrics
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Breastfeeding; Child Development; Child Health; Cigarette Use (see Smoking); Data Analysis; Ethnic Differences; Height, Height-Weight Ratios; Infants; Markov chain / Markov model; Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes; Racial Differences; Smoking (see Cigarette Use); Statistical Analysis; Weight

Objective. To study the dynamic processes that drive development of childhood overweight by examining the effects of prenatal characteristics and early-life feeding (breastfeeding versus bottle feeding) on weight states through age 7 years. We test a model to determine whether prenatal characteristics and early-life feeding influence the development of a persistent early tendency toward overweight and/or whether prenatal characteristics and early-life feeding factors influence the likelihood that children will change weight states as they get older.

Methods. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth's Child-Mother file were used to implement these analyses. A total of 3022 children were included in this sample. For inclusion in this sample, valid information on height and weight during 3 consecutive interviews when the child was aged 24 to 95 months as well as valid data on prenatal and birth characteristics were needed. The primary outcome measure was childhood overweight (BMI <95th percentile). Multivariate logistic models and first-order Markov models were estimated.

Results. Early development of childhood overweight was associated with race, ethnicity, maternal prepregnancy obesity, maternal smoking during pregnancy, and later birth years. In later years, the factor that contributed the most to being overweight was having been overweight in the previous observation period. However, with conditioning on the child's having been overweight in the previous observation period, the prenatal factors that contributed to early childhood overweight, except for birth cohort, were also associated with development of overweight among children who had previously been normal weight and perpetuated the persistence of overweight over time.

Conclusions. This research suggests that prenatal characteristics, particularly race, ethnicity, maternal smoking during pregnancy, and maternal prepregnancy obesity, exert influence on the child's weight states through an early. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bibliography Citation
Salsberry, Pamela J. and Patricia Benton Reagan. "Dynamics of Early Childhood Overweight." Pediatrics 116,6 (December 2005): 1329-1338.
20. Salsberry, Pamela J.
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Taking the Long View: The Prenatal Environment and Early Adolescent Overweight
Research in Nursing and Health 30,3 (June 2007): 297–307.
Also: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/114265451/ABSTRACT
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Breastfeeding; Child Development; Child Health; Cigarette Use (see Smoking); Ethnic Differences; Height; Height, Height-Weight Ratios; Obesity; Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes; Smoking (see Cigarette Use); Weight

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

The purpose of this study was to assess the independent effects of the prenatal environment and cumulated social risks on the likelihood of being overweight at age 12/13 years. Maternal prepregnancy weight and smoking during pregnancy were the measures of prenatal exposures. Average lifetime per capita income and mother's lifetime marital status were the measures of cumulative social risks. Analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth's Child–Mother file indicated that exposures to tobacco smoke in utero, maternal prepregnancy overweight/ obesity, and maternal unmarried status were significant risks for adolescent overweight. The risk for overweight was reduced by breastfeeding if the mother was overweight/obese prepregnancy. Prenatal and early life factors were related to adolescent overweight, providing an important window for intervention.
2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Bibliography Citation
Salsberry, Pamela J. and Patricia Benton Reagan. "Taking the Long View: The Prenatal Environment and Early Adolescent Overweight." Research in Nursing and Health 30,3 (June 2007): 297–307. A.
21. Salsberry, Pamela J.
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Fang, Muriel Z.
Disparities in Women’s Health Across a Generation: A Mother–Daughter Comparison
Journal of Women's Health 22,7 (July 2013): 617-624
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
Keyword(s): Age at Menarche/First Menstruation; Body Mass Index (BMI); Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Height; Height, Height-Weight Ratios; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Obesity; Racial Differences; Weight

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

Background: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has set national goals to eliminate health disparities by race, sex, and socioeconomic status. Progress in meeting these goals has been mixed. This paper provides a different view on the evolving health of U.S. women by examining a sample of daughters and their mothers.

Methods: The aim was to determine if the health risk profiles of daughters (born 1975–1992) were different from their mothers (born 1957–1964) measured when both were between the ages of 17 and 24 years. The U.S.-based National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and associated Children and Young Adult Surveys were used. The sample was 2411 non-Hispanic white and African American girls born to 1701 mothers. Outcomes were height, weight, body mass index (BMI), age of menarche, and self-reported health.

Results: In both races, daughters were taller but entered adulthood at greater risk for the development of chronic illness than their mothers. Racial differences were greater in the daughters’ generation than in the mothers’. Whites in both generations experienced educational differences in health based upon the mother’s educational level, with fewer years of maternal education associated with poorer health. African Americans of both generations experienced differences by maternal education in self-reported health. However, when African American daughters were compared with their mothers, daughters born to college educated women gained more weight and had higher BMI and earlier menarche than did daughters born to high school dropouts.

Conclusion: Health deterioration across generations in both races suggests that much work is needed to meet Healthy People 2020 goals of health equity.

Bibliography Citation
Salsberry, Pamela J., Patricia Benton Reagan and Muriel Z. Fang. "Disparities in Women’s Health Across a Generation: A Mother–Daughter Comparison." Journal of Women's Health 22,7 (July 2013): 617-624.
22. Salsberry, Pamela J.
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Pajer, Kathleen
Growth Differences by Age of Menarche in African American and White Girls
Nursing Research 58,6 (November-December 2009): 382-90.
Also: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19680162?dopt=Abstract
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Keyword(s): Age at Menarche/First Menstruation; Body Mass Index (BMI); Height; Obesity; Racial Differences

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

BACKGROUND:: Because of the rapid increases in childhood obesity coupled with decreases in the median age of menarche, there is interest in how growth (body mass index [BMI] and height) in childhood may be associated with timing of menarche.

OBJECTIVES:: Two research questions were addressed in this article: (a) Within each race, at what ages were BMI and height differences evident among the early-, the mid-, and the late-onset groups? And (b) within each timing group, at what ages were BMI and height differences evident between White and African American girls?

METHODS:: The mother/child files of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were used for this study. Menarcheal timing groups were identified using the 25th and the 75th percentile of the age distribution for each race. Longitudinal statistical techniques were used to estimate BMI and height as polynomial functions of age and age relative to menarche for African American and White girls.

RESULTS:: Significant differences in BMI by timing group were found. By 3 years of age, significant differences were found between early- and mid-onset African American girls, by 5 years of age between mid- and late-onset African American girls, and by 6 years of age among the three timing groups of White girls. Significant height differences were evident by 5 years of age when comparing early- to mid-onset and mid- to late-onset girls in both race groups. Comparing across race and within timing group, BMI and height differences were evident. African American girls were more likely than White girls to experience accelerated growth and earlier menarche.

DISCUSSION:: This is one of the few longitudinal studies of differences in growth by timing of menarche that includes data on girls younger than 5 years with large samples of both African American and White girls. Understanding when differences are first apparent is critical in establishing the critical period for prevention of these high-risk growth patterns.

Bibliography Citation
Salsberry, Pamela J., Patricia Benton Reagan and Kathleen Pajer. "Growth Differences by Age of Menarche in African American and White Girls." Nursing Research 58,6 (November-December 2009): 382-90.
23. Salsberry, Pamela J.
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Pajer, Kathleen
Gardner, William
Fang, Muriel Z.
Currie, Lisa
Choosing a Measure of Birth Size in Longitudinal Studies: How Do Various Measures Compare?
Presented: Dublin, Ireland, Society for Longitudinal and Life Course Studies (SLLS) International Conference, October 2015
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Society for Longitudinal and Life Course Studies
Keyword(s): Adolescent Health; Age at Menarche/First Menstruation; Birthweight; Body Mass Index (BMI); Health Factors; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Methods/Methodology

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

As the fetal origins hypothesis has gained support over the past two decades, an increasing number of studies have used birth size as a predictor for later life health. Birth size is thought to matter because it is a marker of adverse intrauterine conditions that results in various structural, physiological and metabolic changes in the fetus. Empirical tests of the fetal origins hypothesis have generally provided support, but not all studies have found a relationship. This may be related to methodological differences across studies, with wide variation in how birth size is measured. For example, birth size has been captured using birth weight as a continuous measure as well as in categories of low and high weight; others capture gestational age or birth length as part of the measure. Little justification is generally provided regarding the choice of measure. But are these measures the same? Clinical research in maternal-fetal medicine indicates that different birth size measures provide different information about fetal development, thus suggesting that these measures may not be interchangeable. The purpose of this study is: i) to investigate how different birth size indexes predict young adult health outcomes, including age at menarche and BMI, outcomes that are related to adult health; and ii) whether different indexes identify the same group of high risk infants. The US based NLSY79 mother, child and young adult files are used in these analyses. Sample inclusion requires birth data and young adult outcomes on the participants. Regression analyses will be completed. Results from these analyses will help inform researchers about how various measures of birth size compare, providing empirical results to inform decisions regarding the choice of birth size measure in future studies.
Bibliography Citation
Salsberry, Pamela J., Patricia Benton Reagan, Kathleen Pajer, William Gardner, Muriel Z. Fang and Lisa Currie. "Choosing a Measure of Birth Size in Longitudinal Studies: How Do Various Measures Compare?" Presented: Dublin, Ireland, Society for Longitudinal and Life Course Studies (SLLS) International Conference, October 2015.
24. Tanda, Rika
Salsberry, Pamela J.
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Fang, Muriel Z.
The Impact of Prepregnancy Obesity on Children’s Cognitive Test Scores
Maternal and Child Health Journal 17,2 (February 2013): 222-229.
Also: http://www.springerlink.com/content/800p605l320n7861/
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Springer
Keyword(s): Birthweight; Body Mass Index (BMI); Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Obesity; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Pre/post Natal Behavior; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes; Weight

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

To examine the association between maternal prepregnancy obesity and cognitive test scores of children at early primary school age. A descriptive observational design was used. Study subjects consist of 3,412 US children aged 60–83 months from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Mother and Child Survey. Cognitive test scores using the Peabody Individual Achievement Test reading recognition and mathematics tests were used as the outcomes of interest. Association with maternal prepregnancy obesity was examined using the ordinary least square regression controlling for intrauterine, family background, maternal and child factors. Children of obese women had 3 points (0.23 SD units) lower peabody individual achievement test (PIAT) reading recognition score (p = 0.007), and 2 points (0.16 SD units) lower PIAT mathematics scores (p < 0.0001), holding all other factors constant. As expected, cognitive test score was associated with stimulating home environment (reading: β = 0.15, p < 0.0001, and math: β = 0.15, p < 0.0001), household income (reading: β = 0.03, p = 0.02 and math: β = 0.04, p = 0.004), maternal education (reading: β = 0.42, p = 0.0005, and math: β = 0.32, p = 0.008), and maternal cognitive skills (reading: β = 0.11, p < 0.0001, and math: β = 0.09, p < 0.0001). There was a significant association between maternal prepregnancy obesity and child cognitive test scores that could not be explained by other intrauterine, family background, maternal, and child factors. Children who live in disadvantaged postnatal environments may be most affected by the effects of maternal prepregnancy obesity. Replications of the current study using different cohorts are warranted to confirm the association between maternal prepregnancy obesity and child cognitive test scores.
Bibliography Citation
Tanda, Rika, Pamela J. Salsberry, Patricia Benton Reagan and Muriel Z. Fang. "The Impact of Prepregnancy Obesity on Children’s Cognitive Test Scores ." Maternal and Child Health Journal 17,2 (February 2013): 222-229.
25. Weinberg, Bruce A.
Reagan, Patricia Benton
Yankow, Jeffrey Jon
Do Neighborhoods Affect Hours Worked? Evidence from Longitudinal Data
Journal of Labor Economics 22,4 (October 2004): 891-825.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/423158
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Education; Educational Attainment; Ethnic Differences; Labor Force Participation; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Mothers, Education; Neighborhood Effects; Racial Differences; Record Linkage (also see Data Linkage); Social Environment; Social Influences; Work Attachment; Work Experience

Using a confidential version of the NLSY79, we estimate large effects of neighborhood social characteristics and job proximity on labor market activity. A variety of neighborhood social characteristics are associated with less market work. Social characteristics have nonlinear effects, with the greatest impact in the worst neighborhoods. Social characteristics are also more important for less-educated workers. Exploiting the panel aspects of our data, we find that estimates that do not account for neighborhood selection on the basis of time-invariant and time-varying unobserved individual characteristics substantially overstate the social effects of neighborhoods but understate the effects of job access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Bibliography Citation
Weinberg, Bruce A., Patricia Benton Reagan and Jeffrey Jon Yankow. "Do Neighborhoods Affect Hours Worked? Evidence from Longitudinal Data." Journal of Labor Economics 22,4 (October 2004): 891-825.