Search Results

Design/methodology/approach: This work utilizes a difference equation to estimate the returns to education for workers who pursue additional education after time spent out of school and in the labor force.

Findings: The results indicate a sheepskin return of approximately 14% for those who remain in the labor force and a return of approximately 9% to years of additional education for those who drop out of the labor force. This contrasting pattern of returns is robust to sample selection correction and a variety of checks.

Research limitations/implications: This work does not fully account for all threats to causation. Further research could pursue these and make use of data from more clearly defined periods of education.

Practical implications: This work finds key differences between the internal labor market faced by those remaining in the labor force and the external labor market faced by those dropping out of the labor force. A policy focused on re-training workers should account for these differences.

Originality/value: This is the first work to compare workers who pursue additional education while remaining in the labor force to workers who pursue additional education and drop out of the labor force.

METHODS: Integrative data analysis was performed that combined baseline data from the 1994-1995 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (from 17,606 respondents in grades 7-12) and the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (from 7,752 respondents aged 12-16). Using six sexual behaviors measured in both data sets (age at first intercourse, various measures of contraceptive use and number of partners), cluster analysis was conducted that identified five distinct behavior clusters. Multivariate ordinal logistic regression analysis examined associations between adolescents' weight status (categorized as underweight, normal-weight, overweight or obese) and weight perception and their cluster membership.

RESULTS: Among males, being underweight, rather than normal-weight, was negatively associated with membership in increasingly risky clusters (odds ratio, 0.5), as was the perception of being overweight, as opposed to about the right weight (0.8). However, being overweight was positively associated with males' membership in increasingly risky clusters (1.3). Among females, being obese, rather than normal-weight, was negatively correlated with membership in increasingly risky clusters (0.8), while the perception of being overweight was positively correlated with such membership (1.1).

CONCLUSIONS: Both objective and subjective assessments of weight are associated with the clustering of risky sexual behaviors among adolescents, and these behavioral patterns differ by gender.

While most adults prefer that teens under age 18 not have sex, consensus is even stronger for “middle school” youth -- those age 14 and younger (Moore & Stief, 1991). There is good reason to be especially concerned about sexual activity among these very young adolescents.

In this study the training of young adults after their high school experience is analyzed. Using data from a national longitudinal survey, the amount of training and the type of training they receive are reviewed. Different family background characteristics and school outcome information are also used in the analysis. [For complete proceedings, see ED491487.] (Abstract by the author.)

Methods: We use two data sets -- the pooled 2010-2015 American Community Surveys (ACS) and the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY-97) -- and produce estimates using life tables techniques.

Results: Results indicate that nearly 30% of US children ever coreside with grandparents. Both three-generation and grandfamily living arrangements are more prevalent among racial and ethnic minority groups, with three-generation coresidence particularly common among Asian children. Black children are nearly two times as likely to ever live in a grandfamily as compared to Hispanic and white children, respectively. Children are much more likely to experience grandparental coresidence during their first year of life than in any other year.

Methods: We rely on negative binomial regression analyses and group-based trajectory modeling of data drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to determine the relationship between future event expectations and criminal engagement. We assess continued criminal involvement through self-reported arrests and offending variety.

Results: We find that future expectations regarding negative events (arrest, victimization, and drunkenness) are associated with future self-reported arrest while future positive expectations (parenthood, education, and employment) are unrelated to future offending behavior. Higher expectations of being arrested and getting drunk in the following year were associated with a greater likelihood of being classified as a persister relative to a nonoffender. We also find that Blacks are more likely to be classified as persisters. Yet, future expectations in late adolescence appear to be poor predictors of whether an individual will desist from offending over the long term.

The first two chapters of this dissertation examines the labor supply effects of fertility incentives by making use of two major policy changes that occurred in Canada over the past 25 years: the Quebec Parental Insurance Program which provides generous parental leave benefits and the series of cash-transfer fertility incentives introduced in Quebec in the 1980s. The empirical work for these projects was conducted using confidential versions of the Canadian Census and the Labour Force Surveys on-site at Statistics Canada. I find that while increases in the generosity of parental leave benefits substantially increase the birth rate and induce increases in labor supply among women of child bearing age, cash-transfer fertility incentives only slightly increase birth rates and decrease female labor supply. The cost of each additional birth due to an increase in the generosity of parental leave programs is $15,828 in 2008 Canadian dollars, whereas the cost of an additional birth due to cash-transfer fertility incentives is $223,625 in 2008 Canadian dollars. Therefore, paid parental leave is a low-cost way to increase fertility whereas the price per additional birth due to cash-transfer fertility incentives is quite high.

The third chapter studies the effect of parental income changes on students who have already matriculated into college. From my empirical analysis using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, I find that individuals who experience large year-to-year declines in parental income while they are in college respond mainly by increasing their term-time labor supply and do not adjust their use of financial aid significantly. Students who encounter large parental income losses are also more likely to experience periods of non-enrollment prior to receiving their degrees, but by the end of the survey period studied are also more likely to have completed their baccalaureate or associates degrees. Responses to parental income declines do not vary substantially by parental income levels at age 18.

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Think your job hunt is long? For those who have been to prison, it is probably even longer.

In one recently published study, an economics professor said it took more than twice as long for people who had been in jail to find employment than those who had never been to jail. Criminals also earn about 20 to 30 percent less than those not convicted of a crime, and were about twice as likely to lose a job as those who had not been to jail.

"The job market for those previously incarcerated is significantly different, and tougher, than for those not incarcerated," said College of the Holy Cross professor Bryan Engelhardt in a report from the Journal of Labor Economics' July edition.

Engelhardt also found that those who found work faster were less likely to go back to jail. He said a job placement program that could place those released from jail in a job in half the time -- three months rather than six months, for example -- could reduce recidivism by more than 5 percent. Recidivism, or a relapse into crime, is common. The Department of Justice has said that about half of adult released inmates are convicted of a crime again within three years.

Engelhardt analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a government survey of 24- to 32-year-olds from 1989 to 1993. During that period, there was a recession from July 1990 to March 1991. More recently, other studies have shown that finding a job is hard for those fresh out of jail. A study by the Urban Institute think tank tracking former male prisoners from 2002 to 2005 found that only 45 percent of those who were eight months out of prison were employed. That study also found that holding a job made reincarceration less likely in the first year out of prison, said Nancy La Vigne, an expert with the institute. The higher the person's wages were, the less likely he was to commit another crime, the report said.

While data from the downturn and current period isn't yet available, it is likely that with more competition for jobs, it is even harder now for former prisoners to find employment, La Vigne said.

NEW GRADS PAID LESS: Recent college graduates lucky enough to nab jobs are earning even less than their counterparts did a year ago, according to a recent survey.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers said in its quarterly report on salaries that 2010 graduates' average starting salary was $48,661, down 1.3 percent from the initial salaries of 2009 graduates.

People majoring in general studies saw some of the biggest drops in compensation, said Mimi Collins, communications director for NACE. The average offer for them tumbled 17.7 percent to $37,356.

A few industries bucked the trend, however, raising compensation for new hires. Offers for economics majors rose 2.1 percent to $50,885, while those studying finance got a 0.8 percent bump to $50,356.

In the technology field, salaries dropped slightly for computer science majors and those studying engineering. Information sciences grads' salaries increased 5.7 percent, however, to $55,084.

The biggest increase was in hospitality services management, where the average offer rose 10.6 percent to $44,397, said Collins.

NACE received information from the career services offices of 115 colleges nationwide in the nine months through June.

A JOBLESS SENTENCE: Think your job hunt is long? For those who have been to prison, it is probably even longer.

In one recently published study, an economic professor said it took more than twice as long for people who had been in jail to find employment than those who had never been to prison.

Criminals also earn about 20 to 30 percent less than the unconvicted, and were about twice as likely to lose a job as those who had not been to jail.

"The job market for those previously incarcerated is significantly different, and to ugher, than for those not incarcerated," said College of the Holy Cross professor Bryan Engelhardt in a report from the Journal of Labor Economics' July edition.

Engelhardt also found that those who found work faster were less likely to go back to jail.

He said a job placement program that could place those released from jail in a job in half the time -- three months rather than six months, for example -- could reduce recidivism by more than 5 percent.

Recidivism, or an alleged relapse into crime, is common. The Department of Justice has said that about half of adult released inmates are convicted again within three years. Engelhardt analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a government survey of 24- to 32-year-olds from 1989 to 1993. During that period, there was a recession from July 1990 to March 1991.

More recently, other studies have shown that finding a job is hard for those fresh out of jail. A study by the Urban Institute think tank tracking former male prisoners from 2002 to 2005 found that only 45 percent of those who were eight months out of prison were employed.

That study also found that holding a job made reincarceration less likely in the first year out of prison, said Nancy La Vigne, an expert with the institute. The higher the person's wages on the job, the less likely he was to commit another crime, the report said.

While data from the downturn and current period isn't yet available, it is likely that with more competition for jobs, it is even harder now for former prisoners to find employment, La Vigne said.

Design/methodology/approach: The quantitative study design leverages two separate USA data sources to analyze the gender gap in quits over time. Two separate cohorts confirm the study's results in Logit, ordinary least squares (OLS) and fixed effects estimations, using the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY).

Findings: After controlling for demographic and job characteristics, individual and geographic fixed effects and local unemployment rates, the study finds that the gender gap in voluntary turnover has declined over time and that parenthood's effect on quit behavior has converged between genders.

Originality/value: Women earn less than men. One common explanation is women's propensity to interrupt their careers, often voluntarily, more so than men. Yet, the determinants and trends of this gender gap in quit behavior has not been given much attention in the literature, including the role of parenthood.

An implicit goal of Congress, the Department of Defense, and the armed services is that diversity in the armed services should approximate diversity in the general population. A key aspect of that diversity is the representation of Hispanics. Although polls of Hispanic youth show a strong propensity to serve in the military, Hispanics are nevertheless underrepresented among military recruits. The authors discuss the major characteristics that disproportionately disqualify Hispanic youth and explore the following questions: If recruiting standards were relaxed, what would be the effect on military performance? What actions could be taken to increase Hispanic enlistments? Finally, they examine several approaches to increasing enlistments -- increasing the number of Hispanic youth who are eligible and would meet the military's entry standards, increasing interest and recruiting more intensively among the qualified Hispanic population, and targeting recruiting toward less-qualified Hispanics.

Hispanics are a growing segment of the youth population, yet they have historically been underrepresented among military recruits. A widely cited reason is Hispanics’ below-average rate of graduation from high school, combined with the services’ preference for recruits with high school diplomas. But other, less studied, factors may also contribute. Such factors might include lack of language proficiency as reflected in aptitude test scores; fertility choices; health factors, such as obesity; and involvement in risky activities, such as the use of illegal drugs. These factors, to the extent they are present in the Hispanic population, could adversely affect the services’ ability to meet their enlistment standards.

Our project, “Hispanic Youth in the U.S. and the Factors Affecting Their Enlistment,” analyzed the factors that lead to the underrepresentation of Hispanic youth among military enlistments. To help policymakers evaluate the feasibility of improving Hispanic enlistments by recruiting more intensively from among the population that is qualified for service and the implications of recruiting Hispanics who are less qualified, we also analyzed both the nonmilitary opportunities available to qualified Hispanic youth and the consequences of recruiting less-qualified Hispanic youth.

Data for this dissertation were drawn from five waves (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010) of interview data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997) consisting of 16,868 person-waves constructed from 6,392 adolescents enrolled in the study. Using a temporal ordering data analysis technique, stressful events from a previous interview wave were utilized as explanatory variables in predicting current depression and substance use. Other variables in the analysis, like social support, were believed to be acting contemporaneously to reduce depression and substance use. Using generalized least squares regression (GLS) for panel data for depression and generalized estimating equations (GEE) for panel data in STATA for the dichotomous substance use outcomes, results indicated that stressful events measured in the past were significantly associated with current depression, and with current substance use, controlling even for prior depression and substance use. Results also indicated that social support exerts a protective effect against the strain-depression and strain-substance use relationship. Race-specific and gender-specific modeling of each outcome demonstrated marked differences among relevant factors, with gender-specific models better explaining depression, and race-specific models better predicting substance use. Moderation analysis of relevant predictors and these key social statuses indicated that several salient and significant differences existed among the effects of the explanatory variables. Theoretical and policy contributions from this study are related to empirical support for the inclusion of depression as a negative affective state in general strain theory, while also reflecting important social structural conditions, like poverty, in predicting these relationships.

This dissertation is one attempt at an answer. Using two sets of publicly available survey data, I examined U.S. wage differentials for males and females of the 1983-84 birth cohort shortly after their completion of a bachelor's degree in the late-mid to early-late 2000s and for several years thereafter. The effects of individual choices on employment and wage outcomes are relevant to young adults at the start of their careers, especially those who invested time, money, and effort to improve their employment and career prospects through higher education. Empirical analyses were guided by a conceptual framework using a life course approach to integrate the human capital model of wage-setting (epitomizing the individual choice argument) and social determinants theory (representing the believers' position on discrimination). Results showed college educated females earned lower wages and experienced less wage growth than their equally qualified male counterparts despite conditioning or controlling for measures of individual choice and notwithstanding a labor market environment more equitable to women than any that came before. These divergent trajectories constituted a pattern that transcended the relationship between high levels of human capital and small wage gaps at early career outset and suggest that even for recent cohorts of educationally advan taged young adult female workers, individual choice is an inadequate explanation for the wage disparities they experienced in the aggregate.

Data: A total of 34,030 individual/year observations on 3,786 women aged 18 and older were extracted from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 from October 1999 through November 2009.

Study Design: We modeled three binary outcome variables: any sexual activity; sexual activity with more than one partner; and any sex without a condom for women with multiple partners for women in states with state-level policy changes (prior to the 2006 FDA ruling) and for women in states subject to only the national policy change both jointly and separately.

Findings: We found different results when estimating the state and federal changes separately. The national change was associated with a reduction in the probability of sexual activity, a reduction in the likelihood of reporting multiple partnerships, and there was no relationship between the national policy change and unprotected sexual activity. There was no relationship between the probability of sexual activity or multiple partnerships for women in states with their own policy changes, but we did find that women in these states were more likely to report unprotected sex.

The first section of this paper describes the patterns of wave non-response, first attrition, and return in the NLSY97. The second section estimates (1) the probability of first attrition, and (2) among attritors, the probability of return in a subsequent round as functions of employment, schooling, and demographic events at the most recent interview thus we can assess whether certain groups of individuals (e.g. the unemployed, students, the married) are more likely to leave and return to the NLSY97. In the third section, we estimate quantile regressions in an attempt to examine whether attritors and returnees differ from those who remain in the survey with respect to the distribution of wage rates and total earnings. Lastly, we conclude by summarizing what the estimates presented here tell us about the nature and implications of attrition in the NLSY97.

This Beyond the Numbers article examines some of the findings from this new supplement related to work during the pandemic, measured over the past week and past year, including nonwork due to the pandemic, changes in employment, telework, and frequency of contact with others during in-person work.

A group-level analysis is performed using linear probability models on aggregate national-origin groups to ascertain whether the welfare use of an immigrant group affects the average level of high school graduation, college enrollment, and welfare participation of the second generation, net of immigrant groups education level. An additional analysis assesses the relationship between prior parental welfare legacy and subsequent outcomes at the micro-level of the individual using binary and multinomial logit models.

Results from the CPS analysis provide no evidence of an intergenerational correlation in welfare receipt across immigrant generations, but do provide descriptive evidence of a positive correlation between immigrant first generation welfare receipt and the young adult second generation educational attainment. The NLSY97 analysis shows a persistent negative association between welfare legacy and high school graduation; a negative association that is most pronounced for children of natives. Results of this study also show the largest effect of welfare receipt among the most disadvantaged group, the young adult children of immigrants from Mexican and Central American countries. The main finding of this study suggests that the negative impacts of welfare receipt might be lessened and in some cases reversed among the young adults from immigrant families. Such findings challenge the common notion that immigrant families use welfare as a crutch across generations and raise serious concern about U.S. immigration and welfare policies.

While it was clear that race and gender were significant attributes in identifying career choice and job satisfaction in this study, workforce training exhibited significant effects on work-life and and occupation type specifically for our target groups. Workforce training significantly impacted the variability of occupation type and work life specifically for minorities. Women showed minor changes in the variability of occupation type as an effect of workforce training. Both women and minority job satisfaction showed significant variability as a condition of workforce diversity. Job satisfaction was significantly less influential in determining work-life for minorities while White work-life was much more effected by job satisfaction. Workforce development and training show promising results as conditions to improve occupational choice for women and minorities, specifically in non-traditional industries.

Methods: We used the NLSY97 longitudinal study containing a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents. The NLSY assesses adolescents' development in several areas; educational, labor market experiences, mental health, alcohol and other drug use, among other factors. NLSY measures of depression/anxiety are available only in waves 4, 6 and 8. Thus the analyses included data from these three waves. A total of 8,544 adolescents (Mean age at wave 4 = 17.9, SD=1.44, 49% female) were included in the analyses. To investigate the co-morbidity between depression/anxiety and cigarette use, latent factors of depression/anxiety and cigarette consumption were constructed at each wave. The depression/anxiety latent factors were based on five items measuring how often participants felt down, depressed, nervous, calm and happy. The cigarette use latent factors were based on two items measuring, in the previous month, the number of days they had smoked and the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Finally, we estimated a three wave Bivariate Autoregressive Cross-Lagged Effect Model to test the conjoint trajectory of depression/anxiety and smoking. The fit of the final model was very good (CFI = 0.948, TLI=0.970 and RMSEA=0.059). Results: Prior depression/anxiety status influenced future depression/anxiety status between waves (0.685, p<0.001; 0.794, p<0.001) and previous cigarette use was a strong predictor of future cigarette use across waves (.925, p<0.001; 912, p<0.001). The model also suggested cross-lagged effects between waves 4 and 6. The greater depression/anxiety problems at wave 4, the more likely adolescents were to use cigarettes in the future (.268, p<0.01).The more cigarette use at wave 4 the more depression/anxiety at wave 6 (0.009, p<0.001). Separate models were tested by gender revealing same patterns between males and females.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings of this study showed that, both mental health and cigarette consumption influence each other during late adolescence. These findings could be explained by two hypotheses. First, adolescents with more depression/anxiety problems would use nicotine to treat their symptoms (self medication hypothesis). Second, common genetic factors may account for both the addiction to nicotine and vulnerability to depression/anxiety problems. Further research is needed to explore in more detail the mechanics of the co-morbidity of depression/anxiety and nicotine addiction. Major implications for prevention and treatment programs include considering both nicotine dependence and depressive-anxious disorders as two factors that jointly affect each other.

Methods: Data for this study consisted of Waves 4, 6, and 8 of the NLSY97 longitudinal study containing a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents and young adults. A total of 7,979 adolescents (Mean age at Wave 4 = 17.98, SD = 1.44, 49% female) were included in the analyses. To investigate the co-morbidity between negative affect and cigarette use, a latent factor of negative affect and single indicator of cigarette consumption were examined at each wave. A three wave Bivariate Autoregressive Cross-Lagged Effect Model was estimated to test the conjoint trajectory of negative affect and smoking.

Results: For all racial/ethnic groups prior negative affect status influenced future negative affect between waves and prior negative affect was positively related to increases in smoking in subsequent waves. The longitudinal trajectory of negative affect for the three racial/ethnic groups was the same, but racial/ethnic group differences were observed in the strength of the longitudinal relationship between previous and future cigarette use. Specifically, the following racial/ethnic differences were observed, even after controlling for the effect of SES; White young adults were found to exhibit the strongest association between cigarette use in the first two waves, followed by Hispanic individuals and lastly by African Americans. In the last two waves, African American young adults were found to have the strongest association between cigarette use at the latter two waves, followed by White individuals.

Conclusions: Both negative affect and cigarette consumption influence each other during the transition between late adolescence and young adulthood but the magnitude of the associations between cigarettes use across waves differed bet ween racial/ethnic groups. Implications for prevention and treatment programs include considering both cigarette use and negative affect as two factors that jointly impact each other and that should be targeted simultaneously.

The present study utilizes the Bureau of Labor Statistics National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 to examine and compare the occupational and financial outcomes of those who earned bachelor's degrees and those who earned certifications. I make sense of these results by observing the ways in which more education provides lower discrepancies in wages for male and female respondents in the study. My findings suggest that certifications from CTE do not lower the wage gap or occupational sex segregation to the same amount as that of bachelor's degrees. Ultimately, I argue that sex-based disparities in occupational and financial outcomes are less pronounced for those who attain a bachelor's degree than those who gain certifications as an equalizing effect evens the outcomes for prospective employees with more advanced credentials.

Background: Upon reintegration into society, formerly incarcerated individuals (FIIs) experience chronic financial stress due to prolonged unemployment, strained social relationships, and financial obligations. This study examined whether marriage and perceived social status can mitigate financial stress, which is deleterious to the well-being of FIIs. We also assessed whether sociodemographic factors influenced financial stress across marital status. We used cross-sectional data from 588 FIIs, collected in the 2023 Survey of Racism and Public Health. The financial stress outcome (Cronbach’s = 0.86) comprised of five constructs: psychological distress, financial anxiety, job insecurity, life satisfaction, and financial well-being. Independent variables included marital and social status, age, race/ethnicity, gender identity, educational attainment, employment status, and number of dependents. Multivariable models tested whether financial stress levels differed by marital and perceived social status (individual and interaction effects). Stratified multivariable models assessed whether social status and sociodemographic associations varied by marital status.

Results: We found that being married/living with a partner (M/LWP, b = -5.2) or having higher social status (b = -2.4) were protective against financial stress. Additionally, the social status effect was more protective among divorced, separated, or widowed participants (b = -2.5) compared to never married (NM, b = -2.2) and M/LWP (b = -1.7) participants. Lower financial stress correlated with Black race and older age, with the age effect being more pronounced among M/LWP participants (b = -9.7) compared to NM participants (b = -7.3). Higher financial stress was associated with woman gender identity (overall sample b = 2.9, NM sample b = 5.1), higher education (M/LWP sample b = 4.4), and having two or more dependents (overall sample b = 2.3, M/LWP sa mple b = 3.4).

Conclusions: We provide novel insights into the interrelationship between marriage, perceived social status, and financial stress among FIIs. Our findings indicate the need for policies and programs which may target the family unit, and not only the individual, to help alleviate the financial burden of FIIs. Finally, programs that offer legal aid to assist in expungement or sealing of criminal records or those offering opportunities for community volunteer work in exchange for vouchers specific to legal debt among FIIs could serve to reduce financial stress and improve social standing.

We simultaneously estimate the effects of the various socio-economic factors on weight status, considering in our analysis many of the socio-economic factors that have been identified by other researchers as important influences on caloric imbalance: employment, physical activity at work, food prices, the prevalence of restaurants, cigarette smoking, cigarette prices and taxes, food stamp receipt, and urbanization. We use 1979- and 1997-cohort National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) data, which allows us to compare the prevalence of obesity between cohorts surveyed roughly 25 years apart. Using the traditional Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique, we find that cigarette smoking has the largest effect: the decline in cigarette smoking explains about 2% of the increase in the weight measures. The other significant factors explain less.

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The first chapter focuses on the skill accumulation of workers who have completed their formal education. Skills are acquired through work experience in the learning-by-doing (LBD) model. This model predicts that once hours of work are accounted for, there should be no systematic variation in wage growth. I use this prediction to test the LBD model by estimating, conditional on hours worked, the correlation between wage growth and variables affecting the incentives to accumulate skills. This correlation is found statistically significant and suggests a rejection of the LBD model for a sample of male and female workers from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) 1979.

The second chapter is co-authored with Lance Lochner. We use the NLSY 1979 and NLSY 1997 to estimate the effects of family income on educational attainment in the early 1980s and early 2000s. The effects of family income on college attendance increase substantially over this period. We develop an educational choice model that incorporates both borrowing constraints and a "consumption value" of schooling. The model cannot explain the rising effects of family income on college attendance in response to rising costs and returns to college without appealing to borrowing constraints.

The third chapter is co-authored with Marc Frenette and Lance Lochner. We conduct a parallel empirical analysis of the effects of parental income on post-secondary (PS) education attendance for recent high school cohorts in both the U.S. and Canada using data from the NLSY 1997 and Youth in Transition Survey. We estimate smaller post-secondary education attendance gaps by parental income in Canada relative to the U.S., even after controlling for family background and adolescent cognitive achievement. We develop an intergenerational schooling choice model that sheds light on the role of potentially import ant determinants of the family income - post-secondary education attendance gap. We document Canada - U.S. differences in financial returns to PS schooling, tuition policy, and financial aid, discussing the extent to which these differences contribute to the stronger family income - attendance relationship in the U.S.

To interpret our empirical findings on college attendance, we develop an educational choice model that incorporates both borrowing constraints and a 'consumption' value of schooling - two of the most commonly invoked explanations for a positive family income - schooling relationship. Without borrowing constraints, the model cannot explain the rising effects of family income on college attendance in response to the sharply rising costs and returns to college experienced from the early 1980s to early 2000s: the incentives created by a 'consumption' value of schooling imply that income should have become less important over time (or even negatively related to attendance). Instead, the data are more broadly consistent with the hypothesis that more youth are borrowing constrained today than were in the early 1980s.

Two broad questions motivate this research. First, how do the patterns of offending over the life course differ across immigrant and native-born groups? Second, what factors explain variation in offending over time for immigrants and does the influence of these predictors vary across immigrant and native-born individuals? These questions are examined using two separate datasets capturing information on immigration and crime during two distinct waves of immigration in the United States. Specifically, I use the Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency data and subsequent follow-ups to capture early 20th century immigration and crime, while contemporary data come from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997.

Three particularly salient conclusions are drawn from this research. First, patterns of offending (i.e., prevalence, frequency, persistence and desistance) are remarkably similar for native-born and immigrant individuals. Second, although differences are observed when examining predictors of offending for native-born and immigrant individuals, they tend to be differences in degree rather than kind. That is, immigrants and native-born individuals are influe nced similarly by family, peer, and school factors. Finally, these findings are robust and held when taking into account socio-historical context, immigrant generation, immigration nationality group, and crime type. In sum, based on the evidence from this research, the simple answer to the question of whether immigrants are crime prone is no.

Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this dissertation compared the transition outcomes of foster and non-foster care youth. Youth were matched using propensity score methodology, which models the likelihood to be in foster care based on a set of pre-existing characteristics, and traditional matching methods based on demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, race, age, parent's education, income, and having a stepparent). Bivariate and multivariate analysis revealed that foster youth fared worse than unmatched youth in all transition domains. However, outcomes were similar for foster youth and youth matched using propensity scoring in all domains except housing. This suggests that the pre-existing characteristics that put youth at risk for foster care may contribute to their difficulties in emerging adulthood rather than the experience of foster care itself. Findings using the traditionally matched samples showed some group differences suggesting that a larger set of attributes than those matched on contribute to foster youth difficulties. Analyses examining interaction effects between foster care and characteristics associated with negative transition outcomes did not identify any particularly vulnerable subgroups of foster youth. These findings are a substantive departure from past research, which suggested that foster youth were falling behind youth in the general population and comparison youth. Findings from this dissertation are used to provide policy and practice recommendations for foster youth and other vulnerable youth.

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