Mikaela J. Dufur

Capital at Home and at School: Effects on Student Achievement

We investigate the effects of both family and school capital on student math and reading achievement. We use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) merged Child-Mother Data for 1992 and 1994, to which indicators of capital in the childrens schools for 1993-94 and 1994-95 have recently been added. We study children who attended first through eighth grades in both 1992 and 1994, with samples of 2034 for math achievement and 2203 for reading recognition. Findings suggest that school capital effects are modest in size while family capital effects are stronger; combinations of school and family capital boost or modify additive findings. We sketch directions for future research and discuss the usefulness of analyzing school and family capital as parallel concepts.

Capital and Context: Using Social Capital at Home and at School to Predict Child Social Adjustment∗

Research examining the influence of social relationships on child outcomes has seldom examined how individuals derive social capital from more than one context and the extent to which they may benefit from the capital derived from each. We address this deficit through a study of child behavior problems. We hypothesize that children derive social capital from both their families and their schools and that capital from each context is influential in promoting social adjustment. Using a large national data set and structural equation modeling, we find that social capital at home and at school can be measured as separate constructs and that capital at home is more influential than is capital at school. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research on social capital and for practical interventions promoting social adjustment.

Family and School Capital Effects on Delinquency: Substitutes or Complements?

Studies imply that family and school resources independently affect delinquency. Yet research has not developed a conceptual or analytic framework for exploring how these variables may interact to affect delinquent behavior. The authors propose that certain family and school variables may serve as substitute or complementary forms of capital in equations designed to predict delinquency. In particular, school capital may substitute for low family capital to decrease involvement in delinquent behavior. Using data from the 1990 National Educational Longitudinal Study and the 1994–1995 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), the authors find that high-quality school environments serve as substitutes for poor parental attachment and a lack of parental involvement in childrens schooling, especially among adolescents who experience low academic achievement or report a lack of academic values. Hence, school-based social capital attenuates involvement in delinquency partly by compensating for high-risk family environments.

The rise of the underdog? The relative age effect reversal among Canadian-born NHL hockey players: A reply to Nolan and Howell:

The relative age effect associated with cut-off dates for hockey eligibility has been an ongoing debate in certain academic circles and in the popular media. The effect is primarily found in Canadian Major Junior Hockey, where a disproportionate share of birthdays fall in the first three months of the year. But when the National Hockey League rosters of Canadian-born players are examined, the pattern is less pronounced. Using publically available data of hockey players from 2000–2009, we find that the relative age effect, as described by Nolan and Howell (2010) and Gladwell (2008), is moderate for the average Canadian National Hockey League player and reverses when examining the most elite professional players (i.e. All-Star and Olympic Team rosters). We also find that the average career duration is longer for players born later in the year. In sum, there is a surprising ‘relative age effect reversal’ that occurs from the junior leagues to the most elite level of hockey play. This supports an ‘underdog’ hypothesis, where the relatively younger players are thought to benefit by more competitive play with their older counterparts.

Race Logic and “Being like Mike”: Representations of Athletes in Advertising, 1985–1994

Abstract Although participation in sports by black athletes has increased, evidence remains that these athletes still face discriminatory practices. One arena in which black athletes are treated differently from their white counterparts is the advertising of products by athletic spokespersons. This paper examines the stereotypes used in portraying black athletes in advertising by scrutinizing advertisements in Sports Illustrated from 1985 to 1994. I hypothesize that advertisers will draw on stereotypes from both sport and more general society to depict athletes. Two hundred ten advertisements in the sample contain well-known athletes; content analysis reveals that black athletes are more likely to be portrayed as succeeding because of innate physical abilities, while white athletes are more often portrayed as succeeding because of hard work, intelligence or leadership qualities. In addition, black athletes are more Likely to be portrayed as angry, violent or hypersexual.

Examining the Effects of Family and School Social Capital on Delinquent Behavior

In this article we evaluate and compare the effects of social capital at home and social capital at school on the frequency of involvement in delinquent behavior in the previous year. Using data from the first wave of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health, 1994–95; N = 8,100), a nationally representative survey of youth in the United States, we find that social sources of capital in the family exert a stronger negative influence on delinquency than school-based sources of capital, net the effects of other common correlates of this type of adolescent behavior.

The Effects of Parental Work and Maternal Nonemployment on Children's Reading and Math Achievement

James Colemans theory regarding family social capital and Mel Kohns ideas regarding work and personality suggest that parental work may affect child cognition. Using a sample of 1,067 9-to 12-year-old children of working and nonworking mothers from the 1992 National Longitudinal Survey of Youths Child-Mother data set, we found that the most important determinants of childrens reading and math achievement were characteristics of the children and parents themselves. Paternal work hours had some effects on math achievement, and maternal work influenced reading achievement under some conditions. Policies allowing parents of either sex to schedule work flexibly may facilitate child cognitive achievement.

Does capital at home matter more than capital at school? The case of adolescent alcohol and marijuana use

Following Coleman’s analysis of social capital, the norms that discourage adolescent substance use should be more successfully transmitted to young people who enjoy greater stores of social capital. We hypothesize that youth derive social capital from their families and from their schools, and test whether higher levels of capital from each context are influential in resisting substance use and abuse. Using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, we show that social capital in the family is helpful in protecting adolescents from using alcohol and marijuana, whereas social capital built at school has essentially no effect on the same outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research on social capital as well as for policy interventions using schools as sites to discourage adolescent drug use.

Drug Use and Job Quits: A Longitudinal Analysis

Voluntary job separation, or quitting, occurs for a variety of reasons. Although it is often a positive move, it may also lead to periods of unemployment. Studies suggest that one factor that may be implicated in the likelihood of quitting is illicit drug use: Adult drug users may not only quit more frequently but also have a heightened probability of unemployment following a quit. Yet, prior research has not taken a sufficient longitudinal perspective, considered contemporary research on job mobility, nor examined gender differences. We assessed the association using longitudinal data on 8,512 individuals followed from 1984 to 1995. The results indicated that marijuana and cocaine use were associated with a higher probability of quitting. Moreover, marijuana use among males, but not females, was associated with a higher likelihood of experiencing periods of unemployment following a quit. We discuss the implications of these results for understanding gender-distinct patterns of drug use and occupational trajectories.

Why infer? The use and misuse of population data in sport research

While the use of inferential statistics is a nearly universal practice in the social sciences, there are instances where its application is unnecessary or, worse, misleading. This is true for most research on the Relative Age Effect (RAE) in sports. Given the limited amount of data needed to examine RAE (birth dates) and the availability of complete team rosters, RAE researchers are in a unique position—inference is not needed when interpreting findings because the data is from a population. We reveal, over the course of five years, the misapplication of inferential statistics using census data in 10 of 13 RAE studies across 12 sports journals. Thus, perhaps by inertia, the majority of RAE researchers use inferential statistics with their census data, misusing analytic techniques and, in some cases, undervaluing meaningful patterns and trends.