Gary D. Sandefur

Alternative Estimates of the Effect of Family Structure during Adolescence on High School Graduation

Abstract Many studies have reported significant empirical associations between family structure during childhood and childrens outcomes later in life. It may be that living in a nonintact family has adverse consequences for children. On the other hand, it may be that some unobserved process jointly determines family structure and childrens outcomes. How then should one interpret the empirical evidence on the relationship between family structure and childrens outcomes? The answer depends on the question asked and on the prior information available to the researcher. We seek to interpret the association between family structure and high school graduation found among respondents in the National Longitudinal Study of Youth. We seek to answer the traditional question of the literature on treatment effects: How would the probability of high school graduation vary with family structure if family structure were not selected by parents but were, instead, an exogenously assigned “treatment,” as in a clinical tr...

A dynamic analysis of migration: an assessment of the effects of age, family and career variables

This paper examines the utility of viewing migration in the context of work careers and family life cycles. We do this by studying migration as a discrete state, continuous time process. We find that the inverse relationship between age and migration is due almost completely to the effects of family life cycle and work career variables. Further, we find that job- or locationspecific resources, prestige and wage deter migration.

Gender differences in the exchange of social support with friends, neighbors, and co-workers at midlife

Abstract People have always relied on their friends, neighbors, and co-workers as well as family members for social support, but support from outside the family may be increasingly important as high divorce rates persist and high levels of residential mobility continue to take people away from their relatives. Past research suggests that women give and receive more emotional support than do men, but little research has explored gender differences in overall patterns of exchanging social support. We use latent class analysis of data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study to show that there are four major patterns of social support exchange for both men and women at midlife. Three of these patterns—high exchange, emotional support exchange, and low exchange—are very similar for men and women. However, almost half of men can be characterized as low exchangers while almost half of women can be characterized as emotional support exchangers. Around 10% of both men and women are high exchangers. Multivariate analyses show that among both men and women, the unmarried are the most likely to be high exchangers after controlling for other factors that might possibly be related to the exchange of social support.

American Indian intermarriage

Abstract An analysis of intermarriage patterns with data from the Public Use Microdata Sample of the 1980 Census shows that there is considerably more intermarriage between Indians and whites than between blacks and whites. Indians who live in traditional Indian areas are more likely to be endogamous than those who live in areas where Indians have not traditionally lived, though Indians in traditional Indian areas are also more likely to be married to whites than are Indians in nontraditional Indian areas (after adjustments are made to take into account the number of men and women in the different racial groups). The results also indicate that endogamous American Indians are poorer and less educated than any other type of couple, including endogamous black Americans.

The postdivorce family : children, parenting, and society

The Postdivorce Family - Ross A Thompson and Paul R Amato An Introduction to the Issues PART ONE: THE CONSEQUENCES OF DIVORCE FOR CHILDREN Postdivorce Family Life for Children - Robert E Emery An Overview of Research and Some Implications for Policy Causes and Consequences of Divorce - Alan Booth Reflections on Recent Research PART TWO: PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY AFTER DIVORCE The Custody of Children of Divorcing Families - Eleanor E Maccoby Weighing the Alternatives Improving the Law Relating to Postdivorce Arrangements for Children - Katharine T Bartlett PART THREE: NONRESIDENTIAL PARENTING Noncustodial Fathers and Their Impact on the Children of Divorce - Michael E Lamb Compliance with Child Support Orders in Paternity and Divorce Cases - Daniel R Meyer PART FOUR: DIVORCE AND SOCIETY The Postdivorce Society - Paul R Amato shaping the Family and Other Forms of Social Organization Values, Policy and Research on Divorce - Ross A Thompson and Jennifer M Wyatt Seeking Fairness for Children

Divided Opportunities: Minorities, Poverty, and Social Policy.

This volume examines the socioeconomic status of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States their experiences with poverty and the effects of federal social policies on these groups. Specific chapters cover the economic status of different minority groups family and intergenerational processes and social policies toward minority groups from 1787 to 1987. Several chapters present original data analyses and discuss the policy implications of this information for minorities. (EXCERPT)

Minority group status and the wages of Indian and black males

Abstract Using the 1976 Survey of Income and Education the differences in the wages of Indian, black, and white males are examined. The results indicate that the differences in characteristics between Indians and whites largely account for the difference in the average wage of these two groups. On the other hand, minority status, as well as characteristics, are important in understanding the differences in the average wage of blacks and whites. These findings illustrate the importance of understanding the different historical experiences of minority groups to an understanding of current racial inequality.

Variations in interstate migration of men across the early stages of the life cycle.

This paper examines the impact of job characteristics and of length of residence in one place on the likelihood of interstate migration for young men at different points in the early life course. An event history analysis of a sample of U.S. white males between the ages of 14 and 39 indicates that job rewards and location-specific resources vary at different stages of the life cycle, that the effects of some of these job-related factors differ according to marital status, and that the rate of interstate migration is significantly more dependent on length of residence for married men with children than for single men.

The demography of American Indian families

This paper uses data from the decennial censuses to examine family structure and changes in family structure over time among American Indians. The information about the national Indian population indicates that the trends in family structure among American Indians are parallel in many respects to those in the general US population. That is, the percentage of young American Indian women who have never married has increased over time, the percentage of American Indian women who are divorced has increased over time, and the percentage of American Indian children who reside with a single parent has increased as well. The percentage of American Indian women who have never married and who are divorced and the percentage of American Indian children who live with a single parent are higher than those among the general population. The incidence of children living with single parents is especially high on some reservations which also have high levels of poverty and unemployment. Family patterns, however, vary considerably across reservations in ways that are not easily explained by differences in other demographic characteristics. These variations may be due to cultural and historical differences that are not captured in data collected in the censuses.

Organizational boundaries and upward job shifts

Abstract Recent research has examined the role of organizations in the stratification system and the functioning of stratification systems in organizations. In this analysis, we examine the implications of organizational boundaries for upward job changes within and across organizations. To perform our analysis, we utilize a nonstationary, modified Markov model that allows consideration of individual and job heterogeneity. The data are life histories of a sample of U.S. males between the ages of 30 and 39. Our results indicate that organizational boundaries create two kinds of resources: (1) general resources, and (2) organization-specific resources. General resources have a positive effect on upward movement within and across organizational boundaries. Organization-specific resources have a positive effect on upward movement within organizational boundaries, and a negative effect on upward movement across organizational boundaries—a situation of great benefit to organizations.