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We draw on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement (1988/1990 n= ~ 2,700 children ages 3-5), the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Supplement (1997; n = ~ 800) and National Household Education Surveys covering the period 1991-2007 n = ~ 30,000). In this paper we document over-time class-based gaps in children's home environments in the three different data sets. The measure of the home environment is multifaceted, including measures of parents' time inputs, emotional support, and provision of a physical environment conducive to children's learning and emotional well-being.

The findings unveil a nuanced picture of the connections between marriage and motherhood postponement, the development of childlessness intentions, and permanent childlessness. Preference for marriage delay and remaining childless emerge early in the life course, at times as early as during adolescence. Thus, the processes of selection into marriage delay and into preferences for childlessness start very early and set young women on trajectories of motherhood postponement which ultimately increase their chances of permanent childlessness. In addition, the prevalence of intentions to remain childless is on the rise, potentially leading to a spread of a childfree lifestyle among future generations. By addressing the associations between motherhood delay and childlessness intentions, this dissertation contributes to scholarly conversations about parenthood delay, childlessness, and family change.

We first characterize trends in parent services versus child services in Head Start over the past decade by conducting mean-level difference tests at the national level in each year. For parents, we focus primarily on programming that directly targets their skill development, including adult education, job training, English as a Second Language training, and parenting education. For children we focus on ECE quality, including staff-child ratios, staff qualifications, and teacher salaries

The first essay examined the association between information search behaviors and retirement planning actions upon two dimensions of self-esteem, consisting of efficacy and worth. Both information search behaviors and retirement planning actions were found to be associated with both dimensions. Attained levels of education and the masculine gender were also found to be significantly associated with each self-esteem dimension.

Essay two explored creditworthiness as part of the identity self-verification (Stryker, 1980) and self-esteem buffer mechanism, and its association with pre-retirement planning behaviors. Higher levels of self-esteem, attained level of education, net worth, and net income were all found to be associated with individuals who were likely to engage in one or more pre-retirement planning behavior. Creditworthy practices, however, were not found to be associated with pre-retirement planning behaviors in this study.

Essay three postulated that respondents who possessed a composite psychosocial profile consisting of Rosenberg's self-esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965), Pearlin's mastery scale (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978), and Rotter's locus of control scale (Rotter, 1966) would be associated with engaging in one or more retirement planning behavior. Results showed that a composite psychosocial profile is associated with individuals likely to engage in one or more retirement planning behaviors. Attained levels of education, net worth, net income, and age were found to be associated with individuals likely to engage in one or more retirement planning behaviors.

In the second chapter, a joint work with Professor Maurizio Mazzocco, we propose a method to tests efficiency even when households have different preferences for risk. The method is composed of three tests. The first test is a test of homogeneous risk preferences. The second and third tests are tests of efficient risk sharing. We use this method to test efficient risk sharing in rural India. Using the first test, we strongly reject the hypothesis of identical risk preferences. We then test efficiency with and without the assumption of preference homogeneity. In the first case we reject efficient risk sharing at the village and caste level. In the second case we still reject efficiency at the village level, but we cannot reject this hypothesis at the caste level. This finding suggests that the relevant risk-sharing unit in rural India is the caste and not the village.

The third chapter estimates effect of working while in college on drop out probability. The model is estimated using data from the NLSY 1979. The estimates show that higher ability individuals are less likely to drop out of college and that the net cost of education decreases with an increase in parents' education. The policy experiments suggests that a policy which provides aid to college students and later taxes the income of college graduates increases the enrollment rate and decreases the dropout rate.

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.

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.

Using Ordinary Least Squares earnings regressions, with controls for ability and attitude, the results show that women who work about 15 hours per week while in college are found to experience significantly higher wages five years after education completion than their counterparts. No such effect is found when income is measured two years after education completion. Women who were employed more than an average of five hours a week in college had a longer time to completion of their bachelor's degree, holding constant other factors.

A Tobit analysis of the determinants of hours worked indicates that the number of children have a positive but insignificant effect on hours worked. An increase in the number of children significantly lengthens the woman's time to degree completion, however, and decreases future earnings. The addition of attitude variables to the regressions has no significant effect.

Methods: Father involvement was conceptualized as accessibility (cohabitation), engagement, responsibility or other complex measures of involvement. Both biological fathers and father figures were included. We searched all major databases from the first dates. Data on father involvement had to be generated at least 1 year before measuring offspring outcomes.

Results: N = 24 publications were included in the overview: 22 of these described positive effects of father involvement, whereof 16 studies had controlled for SES and 11 concerned the study population as a whole [five socio-economic status (SES)-controlled]. There is certain evidence that cohabitation with the mother and her male partner is associated with less externalising behavioural problems. Active and regular engagement with the child predicts a range of positive outcomes, although no specific form of engagement has been shown to yield better outcomes than another. Father engagement seems to have differential effects on desirable outcomes by reducing the frequency of behavioural problems in boys and psychological problems in young women, and enhancing cognitive development, while decreasing delinquency and economic disadvantage in low SES families.

Conclusions: There is evidence to support the positive influence of father engagement on offspring social, behavioural and psychological outcomes. Although the literature only provides sufficient basis for engagement (direct interaction with the child) as the specific form of 'effective' father involvement, there is enough support to urge both professionals and policy makers to improve circumstances for involved fathering.

Using both duration analysis and panel data methods, the results indicate that drinking is positively related to improved socioeconomic outcomes as compared to total abstention, when endogeneity has not been taken into account. In contrast, under the duration analysis, estimation via instrumental variables approach indicates that alcohol consumption shortens employment duration. Panel data estimation indicates that the relationship between alcohol consumption and socioeconomic outcomes is rather an inverted U-shaped for some specifications, when endogen eity has been taken into account. Additionally, the effects of drinking on retirement wealth and earnings tend to diminish with the instrumental variables approach. The findings were unchanged even with abstainers partitioned into lifetime abstainers and infrequent or light drinkers (less than one drinking day per week). The results also confirm the positive association between human capital measures such as the level of education and economic outcomes and also the negative relationship between alcohol consumption and taxes on alcoholic beverages.

This dissertation contributes to the literature on alcohol-socioeconomic outcomes nexus and has implications for policies related to health, social capital and alcohol since a more inclusive alcohol and/or health policy could improve civic responsibility and narrow the health capital and social capital gap, both of which are critical to individual level socioeconomic success.

The purposes of the project are threefold: to provide guidance to investigators in their search for useful databases; to highlight gaps in available research regarding the effects of living in poor urban areas on families and individuals, particularly young children; and to identify opportunities for adding neighborhood/community-level variables to databases lacking that type of information.

The narrative summaries of the more than 150 entries will include substantive as well as technical information on topics such as subject emphases, sample characteristics, attrition, instruments used, periodicity, principal investigators, sources of funding/support, and data accessibility and availability.

NCCP will publish the inventory on behalf of SSRC. William Scarbrough, associate director for research, is directing the project. Copyright, 1997, National Center for Children in Poverty

Our research goal was twofold. First we wanted to gauge the degree of relative income mobility over the 1989-2004 period. That is, we wanted to ascertain how often and to what degree individuals change intra-cohort income ranks in this age and time space. That would allow us to determine whether general mobility in the U.S. economy is changing over time. Our second goal was to isolate the role of small business exposure in the mobility process. Specifically, does small business experience – either as owner or employee – significantly affect the degree of income mobility?

Methods: Mobility was measured using data from NLSY79 (where NLSY is National Longitudinal Survey of Youth) for the years 1989–2004.

Results: Results show that hierarchical (relative) mobility has remained substantial and pervasive from the 1970s through the 1990s for male workers, with no evidence of any attenuation. In view of the increased distance between (absolute) income ranks, this observation is both surprising and reassuring.

Conclusion: Despite substantial increase in cross-sectional inequality, long-term mobility rates have not changed since the 1960s.

Participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) reached an all-time high of 40.2 million persons in March 2010, which means the program affects a substantial fraction of Americans. A significant body of research has emerged suggesting that participation in SNAP increases the probability of being obese for adult women and has little effect on the probability for adult men. However, studies addressing the effects of participation on children have produced mixed results. This paper examines the effect of long-term SNAP participation on the Body Mass Index (BMI) percentile and probability of being overweight or obese for children ages 5 through 18 using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Children and Young Adults data set. An instrumental variables identification strategy that exploits exogenous variation in state-level program parameters, as well as state and federal expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), is used to address the endogeneity between SNAP participation and obesity. SNAP participation is found to significantly reduce BMI percentile and the probability of being overweight or obese for boys and girls ages 5 through 11 and boys ages 12 through 18. For girls ages 12 through 18, SNAP participation appears to have no significant effect on these outcomes.

(Previously circulated and presented as "Norms and Nuptials: The Changing Social Price of Marriage.")
Presentations:
Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP), Annual Meeting. August 2009.
Population Association of America (PAA), Annual Meeting. April 2009.
Eastern Sociological Society (ESS), Annual Meeting. March 2009.
Princeton University, Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Workshop. September 2008.

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There is also a link in the news article to other research on social inequality, sponsored by the Russell Sage Foundation, that is also based on the NLS, such as a recent Harvard paper by Ellwood, Wilde, and Batchelder on the impact of motherhood on wages.

Full-text available on-line, PDF, http://www.csss.washington.edu/Papers/wp14.pdf

In the first part of the essay, data on young men from the National Education Longitudinal Survey is utilized to determine the relation of education and labor market outcomes to childhood behavior. The main finding is that eighth grade behavior is of the same order of importance to earnings as eighth grade test scores. Moreover, childhood behavior is associated with earnings at all educational levels. By contrast, achievement test scores are only related to earnings for young men with postsecondary degrees. Furthermore, behavior is persistent. Although school and family characteristics do relate to behavior, these factors explain only a small part of behavior.

In the second part, the relationships of motivation to test scores are investigated. Plenty of inferences regarding test scores and economic outcomes are drawn from tests administered to surveys participants, in which no performance-based incentives are supplied. Thus, the issue of effort, or motivation, might be crucial to the interpretation of the empirical findings. To illustrate the problem the black-white test score gap is examined. Given that blacks score lower than whites on standardized tests, a common conclusion drawn is that blacks are less capable than whites. If test scores are produced by two inputs, human capital and effort, where effort is costly, it is possible that the root of the test score gap is lack of effort, and not lack of knowledge. This lack of effort on the part of minorities might be the result of either actual or perceived lack of future opportunities. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth supporting indirect evidence are provided. To directly investigate the effect of incentives on the black-white test score gap, an experiment was conducted. The experimental results, however, are inconclusive regarding the roots of the black-white test score gap.

This paper suggests that scores of simple tests administered without performance-based incentives may depend on test-takers' personality traits associated with their level of intrinsic motivation. As an example of a simple test, I use the coding speed test that was administered without incentives to participants in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). I show that controlling for an extensive set of cognitive ability measures, the coding speed scores are correlated with the future earnings of male NLSY participants. The coding speed scores of the highly-motivated, though less-educated, group (potential recruits to the military), are higher than the NLSY participants' scores. I use controlled experiments to show directly that intrinsic motivation is an important component of the unincentivized coding speed scores. These results suggest that unincentivized test scores relate to economic success because they indicate favorable personality traits and not only cognitive skills.

Methods. The NLS of Mature Women (1989 and 1995), of Young Women (1993 and 1995), and Youth (NLSY, 1992 and 1994) provide data for all 20 items of the CESD in the earlier surveys and for 7 CESD items in the later surveys. Analyses of internal consistency (coefficient alpha) and of factor structure (principal components) are conducted separately for blacks and non-blacks using data from the earlier surveys. Items from the later surveys are correlated with items from the earlier surveys to examine the integrity of items over time.

Results. The CESD showed internal consistency ranging from .75 for non-blacks to .78 for blacks. The three factors that resulted are consistent with those that have been reported in the past, for both blacks and non-blacks, with the exception that no apparent distinction between the depressed affect and enervation factors emerged for either group. Females reported higher frequencies of depression than did males (youth cohort); blacks reported higher frequencies of depression than did non-blacks.

Conclusions. The NLS offers researchers an opportunity to study certain public health issues in this case the CESD, using large panels of Americans over time.

Methods: Using a longitudinal dataset of almost 16,000 neighbourhoods, we examine the relationship between neighbourhood disadvantage and functional disability. Leveraging a series of cross-lagged panel models, we account for reciprocal dynamics and a range of pertinent covariates while assessing differences across age- and sex-specific groups.

Results: Accounting for reciprocal effects, we found that the association between concentrated disadvantage and functional disability varies across age and sex groups. Concentrated disadvantage is most consistently associated with increased functional disability among boys (5–17 years), young men (18–34 years) and middle-aged men (35–64 years). Similar associations are found among girls (5–17 years) and middle-aged women (35–64 years).

Conclusion: Local neighbourhood economic conditions are significantly associated with functional disability among relatively young populations of males and females. Exposure to neighbourhood disadvantage and deprivation may accelerate disablement processes and shift the age curve of disability risk. social disinvestment

Study design: A prospective cohort design was employed to assess early-life literacy and subsequent childbearing, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. The US youth aged 14-22 years in 1979, including 6283 women, were surveyed annually through 1994 and biannually thereafter. Literacy was assessed in 1980 using the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery Reading Grade Level (RGL). Cumulative childbearing and grand multiparity (≥5 births) were assessed in 2010.

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I focus on two aspects of remarriage formation to understand how remarriage patterns compare to first marriage formation. First, I analyze the individual characteristics associated with the likelihood of remarriage for men and women. I pay particular attention to socioeconomic status (income, labor force status, and educational attainment), first marriage ties (co-residential children) and time since divorce as important factors in the remarriage market. Second, I examine educational and age assortative mating patterns in second marriages to identify whether remarriage follows a more contemporary homogamous pattern or a more traditional form where men marry less-educated and younger women. I use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 cohort (NLSY79) to answer these questions.

The results show remarriage formation patterns consistent with traditional first marriages where current and long-term economic status has a positive effect on remarriage for men, but not for women. For women, family background, race/ethnicity, age and parental status are associated with remarriage. The analysis of assortative mating shows that high-status men tend to marry less-educated, young women and both educational and age homogamy is unlikely for both men and women, regardless of socioeconomic status. These patterns are different from those present in contemporary first marriages where both men and women emphasize on spousal economic status as valuable traits. These findings suggest that remarriage differs from first marriage in its likelihood and assortative mating patterns and provide a foundation for future work to incorporate gender dynamics in research on remarriage.

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In this paper, we examine the effects of maternal imprisonment on children's educational outcomes using data from the Children of the NLSY. These data include a rich set of variables related to both the mother and the child, including maternal criminal history and a set of standardized child cognitive assessments. We employ both child and sibling fixed effects specifications to address the presence of unobservable characteristics that may be correlated with both maternal imprisonment and child outcomes. These fixed effects estimates attempt to identify the independent effect of maternal imprisonment on child outcomes -- independent, that is, from the effects of the nonrandom selection into the population of kids whose moms are in prison. Preliminary results show that both reading scores and behavioral problems worsen significantly for every year of maternal imprisonment. Math scores also worsen though the effect is not significant.

In this paper, we examine the effects of maternal imprisonment on children's educational outcomes using data from the Children of the NLSY. These data include a rich set of variables related to both the mother and the child, including maternal criminal history and a set of standardized child cognitive assessments. We employ both child and sibling fixed-effects specifications to address the presence of unobservable characteristics that may be correlated with both maternal imprisonment and child outcomes. These fixed-effects estimates attempt to identify the independent effect of maternal imprisonment on child outcomes -- independent, that is, from the effects of the nonrandom selection into the population of kids whose moms are in prison. Preliminary results show that both reading scores and behavioral problems worsen significantly for every year of maternal imprisonment.

This study builds upon previous research using data from an on-going longitudinal study. Specifically, this study will compare pre-adolescent and adolescent smokers to non-smokers to understand: a) if there are maternal characteristics related to children's cigarette use, b)if there are child characteristics related to cigarette use, and c) if there are unique models predicting cigarette used across gender and racial groups

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RECENT FINDINGS: Obesity increases the prevalence, incidence, and possibly severity of asthma, while weight loss in the obese improves asthma outcomes. Obesity also influences asthma control and the response to standard asthma therapeutics. Moreover, obese mice exhibit innate airway hyperresponsiveness and increased responses to common asthma triggers. The biological basis for the relationship between obesity and asthma may be the result of common etiologies, comorbidities, effects of obesity on lung volume, or adipokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha, leptin, and adiponectin.

SUMMARY: Understanding the mechanistic basis for the relationship between obesity and asthma may lead to new therapeutic strategies for treatment of this susceptible population.

Data are from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY)

This paper will explore how the economic structure of a marriage determines the viability of the marriage over time. More specifically, it will attempt to test a hypothesis implied by Gary Becker's theory of the family that the lack of division of labor between two spouses, that is both spouses working full time outside the home, causes a greater probability of divorce. Hence, a "traditional family", with only one spouse as the primary wage earner and the other spouse primarily producing nonmarketable commodities within the home is "better off" than a non-traditional family because that family unit is more likely to realize economies from divisions of labor and to remain permanent.

Chapter two uses an audit study to determine the existence and extent of caste-based discrimination in the Indian private sector. The study also has policy implications for recent debates regarding introduction of caste-based quotas in Indian private sector jobs. Resumes with caste-specific names are sent to employers for entry-level jobs and callback rates measured. On average, low-caste applicants need to send 20% more resumes than high-caste applicants to get one callback. There is also heterogeneity in callback gaps by recruiter characteristics and firm size which indicates the presence of prejudice against low-caste workers and is consistent with commitments made by large firms to hire actively from among low-caste groups.

In chapter three I find partially identified treatment effect for arrest and other treatments by looking at recidivism for a sample of domestic assault offenders. The treatment effects are not fully identified due to non-compliance with assigned treatment and the possibility of a non-random treatment assignment. Partially identified treatment effects are estimated by making minimal assumptions on the counterfactual probabilities.

Chapter four (based on joint work with Wallace Mok) examines the difference in non-wage compensation between African Americans and whites in the US. Using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), we find that without controlling for the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) scores, white men are more likely to receive non-wage compensation and white women are not more likely to get non-wage compensation. With controls for AFQT scores we find that white men are not more likely to receive non-wage compensation but black women are more likely to get non-wage compensation. We also find that the percentage differences in total compensation and the percentage differences in wages across racial groups are essentially the same.

For the study itself, see, citation number 4656 "Religion and Wealth: The Role of Religious Affiliation and Participation in Early Adult Asset Accumulation" by Lisa Keister in this bibliography.

The aim of this study is to measure whether there is any consumption value of college education. This is done by combining previous approaches and applying them on a detailed dataset of American college students. By means of the theory of compensating values we provide a measurement of the lower bound for the individual valuation of the consumption component of college education.

Individuals in my model make different career and family decisions due to observed characteristics that affect consumption and nonconsumption utility of choices. Choices differ also due to randomness in realizations of wages, translation of educational inputs into attainment, and choice-specific time shocks to utility. The human capital accrued through postsecondary education is modeled such that actual attainment is the measure of interest. The main education choice facing a woman in this model is how much effort to put towards completing additional schooling if she chooses to enroll. While a woman cannot directly choose to complete an additional year of school, her chances of doing so increase with the amount of effort she puts forth.

Using maximum likelihood estimation, I estimate a structural model of women's choices using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth in years prior to welfare reform. The results from the structural model are qualitatively consistent with the relationships found in the non-structural portion of this research but suggest an important role for unobserved heterogeneity.

Specific plans exist and are under way to use maximum simulated likelihood estimation to estimate an empirical model that includes unobserved heterogeneity in women's tastes and ability. I will use estimated parameters from that model to simulate the effect of welfare reform on the collegiate attainment of low-income women.

Materials and Methods: Data from academic databases (1900–2019) were analyzed using two methods. First, topic modeling (a text-mining tool that utilized Bayesian statistics to extract hidden patterns in large volumes of texts) was used to understand the topical coverage in peer-reviewed abstracts (n = 988) on student debt. Second, using PRISMA guidelines, 46 manuscripts were systematically reviewed to synthesize literature linking student debt and mental health.

Results: A model with 10 topics was selected for parsimony and more accurate clustered representation of the patterns. Certain topics have received less attention, including mental health and wellbeing. In the systematic review, themes derived were categorized into two life trajectories: before and during repayment. Whereas stress, anxiety, and depression dominated the literature, the review demonstrated that the consequences of student loans extend beyond mental health and negatively affect a person’s wellbeing. Self-efficacy emerged as a potential solution.

Discussion and Conclusion: Across countries and samples, the results are uniform and show that student loan burdens certain vulnerable groups more. Findings indicate diversity in mental health measures has resulted into a lack of a unified theoretical framework. Better scales and consensus on commonly used terms will strengthen the literature. Some areas, such as impact of student loans on graduate students or consumers repaying their loans, warrant attention in future research.

Analyses were carried out using survey data from the Luxemburg Income Study (LIS), the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS, NLSY79, NLSY97), and the Multipurpose ISTAT (FSS 2003). A first main finding of this study is that the transition to economic independence has been delayed together with all the other events of the transition to adulthood. This process has occurred in all developed Western countries even if with some differences. A second finding is that parental social class can explain some of the variation in life courses, and that a higher social class is associated with a postponement in the transition. Also the role of family background, however, differentiates based on welfare state regimes, institutions, and the strength of family ties.

This research examines the sequence of transitions, highlighting in a comparative perspective how life trajectories are influenced by parental social class in the United States and Italy. The main result of the analysis is that the effect of parental status is in fact different across countries, however in an unforeseen way based on what the literature on the topic has found so far.

Methods. We classified individuals on the basis of their drinking frequency patterns with data from the 1982 to 1984 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (respondents aged 19–27 years). We assessed alcohol consumption from the 1991 reinterview (respondents aged 26–34 years) and midlife outcomes from the 2006 reinterview (respondents aged 41–49 years).

Results. Black men who consumed 12 or more drinks per week at baseline had lower earnings at midlife, but no corresponding relation for Black women or Whites was found. Black men and Black women who consumed 12 or more drinks per week at baseline had lower occupational attainment than did White male non-drinkers and White female non-drinkers, respectively, but this result was not statistically significant.

Conclusions. The relation between alcohol consumption in young adulthood and important outcomes at midlife differed between Blacks and Whites and between Black men and Black women, although Blacks’ alcohol consumption at baseline was lower on average than was that of Whites.

Method: Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we grouped individuals into three baseline drinking categories using data on the number of occasions they consumed six or more drinks on one occasion from the 1982-1984 surveys. Categories were frequent heavy episodic drinker, occasional heavy episodic drinker, and other drinker/abstainer. We used propensity score matching to compare baseline drinking groups on midlife alcohol consumption, educational attainment, and labor market and health outcomes.

Results: Frequent heavy episodic drinkers substantially reduced alcohol consumption between baseline and follow-up 25 years later. However, they were much more likely to abuse alcohol and be alcohol dependent in 1994 and be heavy episodic drinkers at the 25-year follow-up compared with the other drinking groups. After matching, there was little indication that being in a higher consumption baseline alcohol group was adversely associated with years of schooling completed by middle age, the probability of being employed, earnings conditional on being employed in midlife, and health problems in midlife. Results on the probability of surviving to follow-up were mixed.

Conclusions: Frequent heavy episodic drinking at ages 17-25 years was associated with higher rates of alcohol dependence and abuse at a 10-year follow-up and alcohol consumption 25 years following baseline but not with other study outcomes at midlife. Lack of differences in outcomes at midlife may be because of decreased heavy episodic drinking among the heaviest baseline drinkers. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 72, 459–470, 2011)