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Author: Ryan, Sarah
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Cohen, Alison K.
Ryan, Sarah
Smith, Louisa H.
Ream, Robert K.
Glymour, M. Maria
Lopez, Andrea
Yen, Irene H.
Educational Attainment Past the Traditional Age of Completion for Two Cohorts of US Adults: Inequalities by Gender and Race/Ethnicity
Race and Social Problems published online (16 December 2021): DOI:10.1007/s12552-021-09352-1.
Also: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12552-021-09352-1
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97
Publisher: Springer
Keyword(s): Childhood Adversity/Trauma; Education, Adult; Educational Attainment; Ethnic Differences; Family Background and Culture; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Life Course; Mobility, Social; Racial Differences

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

The vast majority of studies investigating participation in, persistence through, and consequences of postsecondary education focus on educational attainment status among the so-called traditional population of collegegoers between the ages of 18 and 24. This narrow focus leaves largely invisible the role that an expanding set of educational trajectories throughout adulthood plays in shaping social stratification. Using 35-plus and 20 years of follow-up data from the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY)'s 1979 and 1997 cohorts, we find that a substantial share within each cohort is attaining education well into adulthood, and that these trajectories are patterned according to key social and demographic characteristics. In both cohorts, racial/ethnic differences in educational attainment grew over time and, for those attaining the same degree, members of historically disadvantaged groups did so at an older age. Cohort differences in trajectories emerged, however, when considering the intersection of race/ethnicity and socialized gender. Through careful descriptive analysis of two generational cohorts, our study makes clear the role of educational trajectories in the process of cumulative (dis)advantage across the life course, as well as across generations.
Bibliography Citation
Cohen, Alison K., Sarah Ryan, Louisa H. Smith, Robert K. Ream, M. Maria Glymour, Andrea Lopez and Irene H. Yen. "Educational Attainment Past the Traditional Age of Completion for Two Cohorts of US Adults: Inequalities by Gender and Race/Ethnicity." Race and Social Problems published online (16 December 2021): DOI:10.1007/s12552-021-09352-1.