Educational Engagement and Early Family Formation: Differences by Ethnicity and Generation

Abstract

This paper examines how school engagement influences the timing of family formation for youth. We pay particular attention to variation across four racial/ethnic groups and by generation status, variation that reflects the diversification of U.S. society through immigration. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS), we employ discrete-time multinomial logistic regression models examining the likelihood of childbearing or marriage in late adolescence. We find that the delaying effects of school enrollment and engagement vary by race/ethnicity, suggesting that strategies for socioeconomic success that focus on delaying family roles are more important among some groups than others. The results also indicate that controlling for school enrollment and school engagement reduces differences in early marriage and non-marital childbearing by generation status.

Partnership dynamics across generations of immigration in France: Structural vs. cultural factors

“…Changes in behavior take time. It took several generations for cohabitation to diffuse in European countries, and not surprisingly it will take time for immigrants' descendants to adopt such behavior (Glick et al 2006).…”

“…Moreover, some groups of secondgeneration immigrants face discrimination in the labor market and suffer from high unemployment levels (Meurs, Pailhé, and Simon 2006). These unequal living conditions among groups shape social relations and affect partnership formation (Crissey 2005;Smock and Manning 1997;Glick et al 2006). Living in segregated areas limits contact with the native population and thus behavioral adaptation to the norms of the settlement society.…”

“…This time-dependent variable is lagged by one year. A time-varying dummy variable for school enrollment is also added, as school enrollment may be incompatible with union formation (Glick et al 2006). It is expected to delay the entrance into union, education level being controlled for.…”

The transition to early fatherhood

“…The more limited research on early male fertility indicates that men with fewer opportunities are similarly more likely to experience early fertility than their counterparts from more advantaged backgrounds (Glick, Ruf, White, and Goldscheider 2006;Hanson, Morrison, and Ginsburg 1989;Pears et al 2005;Rindfuss, Morgan, and Swicegood 1988). As men's family roles are changing, however, defining opportunity costs for men is arguably less straightforward than it is for women and will likely depend on whether the birth occurs within marriage.…”

“…Some studies indicate that the effects of socioeconomic status or maternal education on early fertility may be weaker for men than for women (Michael and Tuma 1985;Xie, Cairns, and Cairns 2001), though others find roughly equivalent effects of socioeconomic status on fertility for women and men (Barber 2001;Rindfuss, Morgan, and Swicegood 1988;Glick, Ruf, White, and Goldscheider 2006). Studies also have inconsistent conclusions about whether family structure during youth is associated with early fertility for men, with some studies corroborating the link between single parent households and early fertility found for women Ku, Sonenstein, and Pleck 1993), but others finding no association between family structure and early male fertility (Glick, Ruf, White, and Goldscheider 2006;Hanson, Morris, and Ginsburg 1989;Pears et al 2005).…”