Johanne Boisjoly

Sibling, peer, neighbor, and schoolmate correlations as indicators of the importance of context for adolescent development

We use nationally representative data to calculate correlations in achievement and delinquency between genetically differentiated siblings within a family, between peers as defined by adolescents’ “best friend” nominations, between schoolmates living in the same neighborhood, and between grademates within a school. We find the largest correlations between siblings, especially identical twins. Grademate and neighbor correlations are small. Peer-based correlations are considerably larger than grademate and neighbor correlations but not larger than most sibling correlations. The data suggest that family-based factors are several times more powerful than neighborhood and school contexts in affecting adolescents’ achievement and behavior.

Access to Social Capital

Defining social capital as perceived access to time and money help from friends and family, this article examines (a) the stock of social capital to which families have access, (b) the trade-off between access to money and time help, and (c) the association between perceived access to time and money help and conventional measures of family economic well-being. Data come from the 1980 wave of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, an ongoing longitudinal survey of U.S. households. More than 9 out of 10 families reported access to social capital. Some evidence for isolation from social capital among families with a less-educated or older head was found. Surprisingly, families in very poor neighborhoods reported more access to social capital, primarily in friend-based networks. Finally, geographic mobility leads to increased social isolation, because it reduces family ties.

The Shifting Incidence of Involuntary Job Losses from 1968 to 1992

Risks of involuntary job losses among male workers are examined with data spanning 1968 to 1992 from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We find that the incidence of involuntary job losses among prime-age men with strong links to the labor market rose substantially over the period under investigation and about as much for college-educated and older workers as for less educated and less experienced workers. The only labor market group not sharing the burden of higher job-loss risks were government workers. Overall, involuntary job losses were distributed more evenly across skill groups during periods of macroeconomic expansion than during periods of contraction.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL

This paper investigates whether a familys access to social capital— defined here as perceived access to time and money help in an emergency from kin and friends—depends upon the familys past time and money investments in those kin and friends. It also examines the potential tradeoffs between money and time help from friends and relatives. Data come from parents of children under age 18 who responded to a supplement on time and money assistance included in the 1980 wave of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The results suggest that while parents who invest primarily in friend-based help networks have greater potential access to assistance from friends, there is no significant link between investment in family and access to family-based assistance. Thus, while exchange describes social-capital linkages to friends, it does not describe family-based behaviors. Other findings are that time and money appear to be complements while investments in friends or family are substitutes.

Economic mobility of young workers in the 1970s and 1980s

This paper uses longitudinal data to estimate cohort changes in the earnings trajectories of young adult males. Levels of earnings are uniformly lower for male workers turning 21 between 1980 and 1991 than in 1970-1979, although rates of earnings growth are roughly comparable. Among males turning 21 before 1980, six in 10 (60%) of all men and seven in 10 (71%) college-educated men attained earnings levels by age 30 that were at least twice the poverty level. Corresponding fractions for workers turning 21 between 1980 and 1991 were considerably lower (42% and 56%). Recent cohorts from all demographic subgroups appeared to have more difficulty than older cohorts in attaining middle-class earnings.

Time limits and welfare reform: New estimates of the number and characteristics of affected families

0Using Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data, we estimate the number and characteristics of recipient families likely to be affected by the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Acts 60‐month time limit. We find that approximately 40 percent of the current caseload is likely to hit the 60‐month limit on total receipt. In the case of states with a 24‐month time limit, the fraction of those likely to hit the time limits increases to two‐thirds.

Adverse Adolescent Relationship Histories and Young Adult Health: Cumulative Effects of Loneliness, Low Parental Support, Relationship Instability, Intimate Partner Violence, and Loss

PURPOSE To examine the associations between adverse interpersonal relationship histories experienced during adolescence and health in young adulthood in a large, nationally representative sample. METHODS Using data from Waves I, II, and III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, multiple adverse relationship experiences were examined, including high loneliness, low perceived parental support, frequent transitions in romantic relationships (relationship instability), exposure to intimate partner violence, and loss by death of important relationship figures. These histories are assessed, both individually and in a relationship risk index, as predictors of self-reported general health and depressive symptoms at Wave III (ages, 18-27), controlling for baseline (Wave I) health and for demographic and health behavior covariates. RESULTS Net of baseline health and covariates, each type of relationship risk (experienced between Wave I and Wave III) was related to either depression or general health at Wave III, with the strongest effects seen for exposure to intimate partner violence. In addition, a cumulative relationship risk index examining the extent to which youth experienced high levels of multiple relationship risk factors revealed that each additional adverse relationship experience increased the odds of reporting worse mental and general health at Wave III, with increases occurring in an additive manner. CONCLUSION Multiple types of adverse relationship experiences predicted increases in poorer general health and depressive symptoms from adolescence to early adulthood. Consistent with a cumulative risk hypothesis, the more types of adverse relationship a youth experienced, the worse were their young adult health outcomes.

Trends, Events, and Duration of Initial Welfare Spells

A mothers initiation of welfare receipt is a key event for understanding the dynamics of welfare receipt and the likely consequences of welfare reform legislation passed in1996. Using 28 years of data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we examine trends in the number and duration of first welfare spells and in events and demographic characteristics associated with their initiation. We then estimate the extent to which state welfare benefit levels and economic conditions influence caseload dynamics and account for cohort trends. We find increases in the late 1980s both in the number of initial spells and in the duration of those spells. Young age, out‐of‐wedlock first births, and, in particular, never‐married status predict longer welfare receipt. However, trends neither in the frequency of these conditions and events nor in the welfare durations associated with them account for the increasing caseloads of the late 1980s.