Hannon, Lance
Poverty, Delinquency, and Educational Attainment: Cumulative Disadvantage or Disadvantage Saturation?
Sociological Inquiry 73,4 (November 2003): 575-595.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1475-682X.00072/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Keyword(s): Adolescent Behavior; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Disadvantaged, Economically; Educational Attainment; Poverty; School Dropouts; School Suspension/Expulsion;

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

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) were analyzed to test two competing hypotheses regarding how poverty affects the relationship between delinquency and educational attainment. The cumulative-disadvantage perspective argues that poor youth suffer greater consequences for their involvement in delinquency than middle- and upper-class youth in terms of their educational attainment. Contrary to this perspective, the disadvantage-saturation thesis predicts that delinquency is less consequential for the educational attainment of poor youth than it is for nonpoor youth. Results from ordinary least squares and logistic regression analyses support the latter hypothesis. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heflin, Colleen M.
Pattillo, Mary
Kin Effects on Black-White Account and Home Ownership
Sociological Inquiry 72,2 (Spring 2002): 220-239.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1475-682X.00014/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Assets; Black Studies; Family Structure; Home Ownership; Kinship; Poverty; Racial Differences; Siblings; Socioeconomic Factors; Wealth;

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

This article combines the literature on kin networks and racial disparities in asset ownership. Specifically, we examine the effects of kin characteristics—sibling poverty and parental poverty, education, and occupation—on financial account ownership and home ownership. We find that kin matter for these outcomes. Having a poor sibling and coming from a poor family are negatively associated with account and home ownership while mother's education has a positive effect. Separate analyses by race suggest that kin characteristics matter for both Blacks and Whites for account ownership, but for home ownership they are significant for Whites only. Racial differences in kin characteristics account for over half of the racial gap in account ownership, but are not important for understanding the racial gap in home ownership. The significant effects of extended family characteristics on socioeconomic well-being make a case for the inclusion of kin variables in the growing literature on wealth disparities among Blacks and Whites.

McDonald, Steve
Patterns of Informal Job Matching Across the Life Course: Entry-Level, Reentry-Level, and Elite Non-Searching
Sociological Inquiry 75,3 (August 2005): 403-429.
Also: http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=17428803
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Keyword(s): Job Search; Life Course; Work Experience;

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

The character and outcomes of informal job matching vary at different stages during people's lives. This is illustrated through an examination of non-searchers—people who get their jobs without searching thanks to receiving unsolicited information about job openings. Examining data from the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, I identify three distinct patterns of non-searching. Early in the work career, "entry-level" non-searchers acquire their first few jobs often while still in school. During the mid-career, "reentry-level" non-searchers tend to be women with little work experience who have been out of the labor market taking care of family responsibilities. Finally, "elite" non-searchers tend to be male, highly experienced in their field, with very short gaps between employment. All three lack an economic urgency to get a job, but only the elite non-searchers match prevailing assumptions of non-searchers as the best connected and most advantaged workers. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating a life course perspective into the study of informal job matching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitra, Aparna
The Allocation of Blacks in Large Firms and Establishments and Black-White Wage Inequality in the U.S. Economy
Sociological Inquiry 69,3 (August 1999): 382-403.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-682X.1999.tb00877.x/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Keyword(s): Racial Differences; Wage Differentials; Wage Gap; Wages;

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

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) for 1988, this study analyzes the allocation of African Americans in large firms and establishments and the effects of the allocation process on Black-White wage inequality. The results show that Blacks are disproportionately employed in large establishments while being underrepresented in supervisory positions. The Black-White wage differential, however, remains significant only in the large establishments, despite this study's use of detailed controls for worker quality.