Search

This commentary reinforces a central commitment of life course research: to make visible how social change matters in human lives. This paper captures a moderated conversation with four senior scholars about how they came to study the intersection between social change and life experience, why this intersection is so important to life course studies, and theoretical and methodological imperatives and challenges that come with it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Living on the Edge: An American Generation's Journey through the Twentieth Century (University of Chicago Press, 2021) tells the story of the rarely studied 1900 generation, from their social origins to their old age, as they coped with and adapted to the revolutionary changes of the last century. Using longitudinal data from the Berkeley Guidance Study, the authors followed 420 parents (210 couples) born between 1885 and 1908, all of whom had children born in Berkeley between 1928–29. The analyses, which often challenge conventional wisdom, reveal their status as a "hinge generation," or bridge, between past and present in their educational, work, and family experiences. Following highlights from the authors, four scholars offer critical commentary on the book. Matt Nelson addresses challenges related to analyzing kinship networks and patterns of economic assistance across the Great Depression era, pointing to measurement limitations that obscure important forms of aid. Kelly Condit-Shrestha raises concerns related to race and ethnicity, especially the absence of Black, American Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Hispanic persons in the original study, as well as to westward migration, American Empire, and white-settler colonialism. Silvia Pedraza addresses crucial social class differences (middle class versus working class) in the expectations and experiences of women, calling for greater clarity in the relationship between women's roles and notions of "respectability." Finally, Evan Roberts takes up some of the complex methodological issues involved in leveraging historical data to understand the life course and identifying the uniquely disruptive nature of social change across generations and countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. Armed Forces offer educational and training benefits as incentives for service. This study investigates the influence of status configurations on military enlistment and their link to greater educational opportunity. Three statuses (socioeconomic status of origin, cognitive ability and academic performance) have particular relevance for life course options. We hypothesize that young men with inconsistent statuses are more likely to enlist than men with consistent status profiles, and that military service improves access to college for certain configurations. Analyses of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) show (1. that several status configurations markedly increased the likelihood of military enlistment and (2. within status configurations, recruits were generally more likely to enroll in higher education than nonveterans, with associate degrees being more likely., Introduction Historically, the American military has been viewed as a bridge to greater opportunity (Browning et al. 1973; Sampson and Laub 1996). In this all-volunteer era, the military recruits through [...]

Previous research into the social distribution of early life depression has yielded inconsistent results regarding the causes and course of subgroup depression disparities. This study examines the topic by analyzing National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data, modeling gender and racial/ethnic differences in early life depression trajectories and investigating the influences of stress and socioeconomic status. Results indicate females and minorities experience elevated depressive symptoms across early life compared to males and whites. SES and stressful life events explain much of the racial/ethnic disparities. Blacks, Hispanics and females show greater sensitivity to the effects of low SES, and in the case of females, SLEs. Overall, this study develops a nuanced, dynamic model of the multiplicative effects of social disadvantage on early life depression disparities., For nearly three decades, the social determinants of depression have remained a dominant theme in the mental health literature. During this period, studies providing greater conceptual clarity and more nuanced [...]

The measurement of Hispanics in the 2000 U.S. Census significantly skews the racial identification of the Hispanic population in America. The literature on racial and ethnic identification, however, lacks serious engagement with the social psychology of self-identification. We draw on social identity theory to demonstrate how the process of individual self-categorization reinforces a society structured along racial and ethnic lines. This understanding of the psychological processes through which individuals categorize themselves and others leads to the conclusion that academic distinctions between "race" and "ethnicity" do not adequately reflect the social categories employed by Americans responding to the current U.S. government format for racial self-identification. Using a nationally representative sample, we demonstrate that a significant portion of self-reported Hispanics treat that identity as a race, most often by choosing "other" when asked for their racial classification. Ultimately, we advocate including "Hispanic" as one of the choices in what is currently called the "race question." This approach more accurately captures the lived experience of those who claim an Hispanic identity., Introduction Social scientists have moved beyond essentialist notions of race toward what Martin and Yeung (2003) suggest is a 'broad but shallow' conception. Race is seen as omnipresent, infused in […]

Non-searchers--people who get their jobs without engaging in a job search--are often excluded from investigations of the role of personal relationships in job finding processes. This practice fails to capture the scope of informal job matching activity and underestimates the effectiveness of social capital. Moreover, studies typically obtain average estimates of social capital effectiveness across broad age ranges, obscuring variation across the life course. Analysis of early career and mid-career job matching shows that non-searching is associated with significant advantages over formal job searching. However, these benefits accrue only during mid-career and primarily among highly experienced male non-searchers. The results highlight the need to examine life course variations in social capital effectiveness and the role of non-searching as an important informal mechanism in the maintenance of gender inequality., Social capital theorists have long argued that personal relationships provide people with labor market opportunities. Conventional wisdom suggests that by relying on personal contacts with friends, relatives and acquaintances, workers [...]

Pathways to attainment are modified through historical time, reflecting the progressive consolidation of the educational trajectory in the life course, as well as changing patterns of social class and the economy. Using data from the Occupational Changes in a Generation surveys, this study examines a series of hypotheses that interrelate educational attainment with historical change, expansions and contractions in labor market sectors, and socioeconomic status. Consistent with expectations, opportunities in manufacturing drew students from primary school before World War II, while expansions in the government sector increased the likelihood of drop-out at the secondary and tertiary levels after the war. In this later period, students from the lower and middle classes often were more likely to leave school because of economic expansion. Thus, through historical time the capacity of the economy to draw students from school has progressed upward through the educational career and has affected the lower and middle classes disproportionately., Successive cohorts encounter diverse historical worlds defined by changing social institutions, norms, and opportunity structures (Elder & O'Rand 1995). In turn, the shifting life course gives rise to new pathways [...]

This study examines the association between educational attainment and grandparenting attitudes and behaviors. The sample of 884 grandparents comes from two related studies of rural families, the Iowa Youth and Families Project and the Iowa Single Parent Project. Rather than simply indicating greater or lesser involvement, education differentiates the types of roles that grandparents play. Some facets of grandparenting are more common among the less educated (e.g., contact, playing the role of friend), while others are more common among grandparents with higher education (e.g., discussing the grandchild's future with him or her). The implications of these findings are discussed in light of the seemingly contradictory findings of previous research., Individuals bring to the role of grandparent a unique set of historical and experiential events that shape the ways that this role is enacted (Hagestad 1985). Yet, surprisingly little is [...]

Developmental and life course studies of young adult identities have focused on 2 dimensions: subjective age and psychosocial maturity. This study examines the developmental synchrony of these 2 processes. In a longitudinal sample of young adults from Add Health (ages 18-22), a person-centered analysis of indicators of these dimensions identified 4 identity profiles. Two depict early and late patterns of identity; the others represent contrasting types of discordance: pseudo-adult, with subjective age more advanced than maturation level, and anticipatory, with subjective age less advanced than maturational level. The profiles vary by gender, socioeconomic status, and race-ethnicity, as well as by adolescent (ages 12-16) pubertal maturation, psychosocial adjustment, and family context. These results provide support for a more holistic, interdisciplinary understanding of adult identity and show that young adult identities in the Add Health sample follow differentiated paths into the adult years, with largely unknown consequences for the subsequent life course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies have examined the impact of mentoring (developing a special relationship with a nonparental adult) on educational achievement and attainment in the general population. In addition, prior research has yet to clarify the extent to which mentoring relationships reduce inequality by enabling disadvantaged youths to compensate for the lack of social resources or to promote inequality by serving as a complementary resource for advantaged youths. The results of a nationally representative sample of youths show (1) a powerful net influence of mentors on the educational success of youths and (2) how social background and parental, peer, and personal resources condition the formation and effectiveness of mentoring relationships. The findings uncover an interesting paradox—that informal mentors may simultaneously represent compensatory and complementary resources. Youths with many resources are more likely than are other young people to have mentors, but those with few resources are likely to benefit more from having a mentor—particularly a teacher mentor—in their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this longitudinal study of American veterans, the authors investigated the mortality risks of five World War II military experiences (e.g., combat exposure) and their variation among veterans in the postwar years. The male subjects (n = 854) were members of the Stanford-Terman study, and 38% served in World War II. Cox models (proportional-hazards regressions) were used to compare the relative mortality risk associated with each military experience. Overseas duty, service in the Pacific theater, and exposure to combat significantly increased the mortality risks of veterans in the study. Individual differences in education, mental health in 1950, and age at entry into the military, as well as personality factors, made no difference in these results. In conclusion, a gradient was observed such that active duty on the home front, followed by overseas duty, service in the Pacific, and combat exposure, markedly increased the risk for relatively early mortality. Potential linking mechanisms include heavy drinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We review research published in the past 15 years that explores the relationship between military service and the life course, focusing on criminal careers, marital status, lifelong health, and socioeconomic attainment. Throughout the review, we note the extent to which studies find that veterans experienced different outcomes in different historical periods, ranging from World War 11 to the more recent voluntary armed forces. The effects of military service depend on whether health, criminal, socioeconomic, or marital outcomes are considered. They also depend on the timing and era of service, and veterans' family background and individual characteristics such as race and delinquency. Nevertheless, the evidence to date suggests one general conclusion: Veterans exposed to combat have suffered worse outcomes than noncombat veterans and than nonveterans. We conclude with suggestions for future research including a tighter integration of the research questions and strategies that have been employed to examine the different outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context and Purpose: This study's objectives are to: investigate potential additive and multiplicative influences of rurality and race/ethnicity on chronic physical illness in a nationally representative sample of youth; and examine intra-Latino processes using a Latino sub-sample. Specifically, we examine how rurality and individual psychosocial processes reflected by acculturation proxies (generational status and use of the English language at home) link to chronic physical illness of Latino youth. Finally, we examine whether these associations and the levels of chronic illness differ across Latino subgroups. Methods: Logistic-normal (binomial) modeling analyses examine multilevel influences on physical health using longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample (N = 13,905) of white, African American, Latino, Asian, and Native American adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 participating in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Findings: Prevalence rates of certain chronic illnesses (obesity, asthma, and high cholesterol) among Latino adolescents exceed rates for the same illnesses among white adolescents. Comparisons between rural and non-rural youth reveal a rurality disadvantage in terms of any chronic illness likelihood among Latino, Asian, and Native American youth not evident among whites or African Americans. Among Latino youth (N = 2,505), Mexican Americans show lower health risk for any chronic illness compared to other Latino groups. However, third generation Latinos and those who primarily speak English at home experience higher risk for any chronic illness than do those of first or second generation status, with amplification of the risk linked to English use at home among Latino youth living in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agency is a core life course principle that represents individual influences within structured pathways. Discussions of agency are rarely related to empirical indicators. We offer an empirical model that joins together previous treatments of agency and adds a subjective sense of one's life chances ("optimism"). Using nationally representative data, we present a series of models supporting this construct's measurement properties and utility for predicting social psychological and behavioral outcomes. Our model represents how social actors understand their own skills as well as their life chances and take both into account as they construct their life courses within constrained options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of ambivalence represents an interactional process in which individuals evaluate social relations as simultaneously positive and negative. This study investigates ambivalence in interpersonal relations through an empirical analysis of relationships between aging mothers and their adult children from their joint perspectives. Multilevel models examine the influence of dependence on levels of ambivalence in relationship dyads as well as differences in levels of ambivalence between mothers and their adult children. Results suggest that ambivalence increases under conditions of potential dependence, rather than through the help that is more routinely exchanged among family members. Within the relationship, mothers experienced less ambivalence than their sons and daughters; overall findings demonstrate the importance of analyzing multiple perspectives in social relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We hypothesize that divorce immediately increases psychological distress and has long-term negative consequences for the physical health of divorced people. In addition, we hypothesize that divorce indirectly causes long-term increases in distress through stressful midlife events. The hypotheses are tested using data from 416 rural Iowa women who were interviewed repeatedly in the early 1990s when they were mothers of adolescent children; the women were interviewed again in 2001. The data support the hypotheses. In the years immediately after their divorce (1991-1994), divorced women reported significantly higher levels ofpsychological distress than married women but no differences in physical illness. A decade later (in 2001), the divorced women reported significantly higher levels of illness, even after controlling for age, remarriage, education, income, and prior health. Compared to their married counterparts, divorced women reported higher levels of stressful life events between 1994 and 2000, which led to higher levels of depressive symptoms in 2001. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The objective was to investigate whether increasing health heterogeneity during the middle years is attributed, at least in part, to the influence of varying levels of, and changes in, work control of the current midlife cohort. Method: The study used four waves of data collected from 372 employed rural women and 320 employed men of the midlife cohort during a 10-year period. Variables included self-reported work control, stressful nonwork life events, and mental and physical health. The analyses used latent growth curve modeling. Results: The results partially supported the hypothesized pathways. For middle-aged men, work control directly influences health outcomes, whereas for middle-aged women work control indirectly influences health outcomes through the occurrence of stressful life events. Discussion: Through understanding these processes, work can be better designed to promote positive health outcomes, minimize negative health outcomes, and allow for better formulation and more effective implementation of health promotional programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are family experiences early in life related to patterns of adjustment and functioning in later life? This study builds on past research with the decades-spanning Terman sample of talented children to explore this basic question. Multinomial logistic models identified three family experiences in childhood and adolescence--socioeconomic status of the family of origin, early parental divorce, parent-child attachment--that predicted membership in holistic profiles of aging in the later years, as generated by cluster analysis of five social psychological factors. These associations from early to later life reflected both mediational pathways (adult experiences and current circumstances explained the observed influence of early experiences) and supplemental pathways (the significance of experiences in each stage were independent of each other). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the significance of social integration in the educational system, this study examined whether student-teacher relationships predicted two important student behavioral outcomes (academic achievement and disciplinary problems); whether these within-school intragenerational relationships were predicted by the structural, compositional, and climate-related characteristics of schools; and how the behavioral and contextual correlates of student-teacher relationships varied by race-ethnicity. Our findings, based on nationally representative panel data, indicated that stronger intergenerational bonding in school was associated with higher academic achievement, especially for Hispanic American girls, and with a lower likelihood of disciplinary problems, especially for white girls. Moreover, these intragenerational bonds were stronger in schools with several characteristics (private sector, greater racial-ethnic matching between students and the student body, greater perceived safety, and lower socioeconomic status), although these associations also differed by race-ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of ambivalence emphasizes the complexity of family relations and the potential for individuals to evaluate relationships as both positive and negative. Using multilevel models, we investigate ambivalence in adult children's relationships with their aging parents and in-laws (N = 1,599). We focus on factors predicting adult children's ambivalence toward parents and in-laws within a gendered kinship structure that shapes these relations. We conclude that ambivalence is a useful concept for representing the complexity of parent-child relationships and is produced within the context of social relations structured by gender and kinship. Results show greater ambivalence among dyads of women, toward in-laws, among those in poor health, for daughters providing assistance, and for adult children with poor parental relations in early life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]