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Title: Causation, Selection, and the Impact of Educational Attainment on Mastery
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Lynch, Jamie L.
Causation, Selection, and the Impact of Educational Attainment on Mastery
Presented: Chicago IL, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2017
Cohort(s): NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Locus of Control (see Rotter Scale); Modeling, Fixed Effects; Modeling, OLS; Pearlin Mastery Scale

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

This study investigates whether selection or causation can better explain why well-educated young adults report high levels of sense of control and mastery. Using longitudinal data from young adults age 14 to 25 in the NLSY79-child and young adult cohort (N=2,653), we find mixed support for selection and causation; more-educated young adults have higher mastery and are more educated primarily because of social and developmental advantages established in childhood or earlier. However, educational attainment does have a positive effect on mastery. OLS and fixed-effects regression models show the educational attainment gradient in mastery is large and persistent, but is in place long before educational attainment is completed. Among young adults, our results indicate that the educational gradient in mastery is primarily a product of mastery in childhood and socioeconomic status rather than the causal effect of educational attainment.
Bibliography Citation
Lynch, Jamie L. "Causation, Selection, and the Impact of Educational Attainment on Mastery." Presented: Chicago IL, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2017.