DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Complex Family Backgrounds: A Latent Class Approach

论文研究：复杂的家庭背景：潜在的阶级方法

• 批准号: 0403401
• 负责人: Michael Hout
• 金额: $ 0.29万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-04-01 至 2005-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0403401&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Complex; Family; Backgrounds

This dissertation reanimates an unresolved debate among intergenerational social mobility researchers about how to measure social class background at the family level. The debate concerns whether or not the social status of both parents, as opposed to that of the father or the head of household only, define the status of the family unit as a whole. The dissertation takes a new approach to resolving this debate and in doing so makes a methodological contribution to social mobility research. At the same time, the dissertation extends beyond concerns with this debate per se to focus on ways in which superior measures of overall family class can advance knowledge about how other aspects of families shape children's outcomes. Specifically, the dissertation illustrates that prior measures of overall family social class include significant measurement error; it also shows that findings on issues ranging from divorce to changes in mobility patterns over time have suffered from omitted variable bias as a result. The dissertation utilizes publicly available national survey data including the General Social Survey and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Strategies of analysis primarily include log-linear and log-multiplicative models and latent class models of social mobility and attainment. The central research hypotheses of the dissertation are the following: First, the joint influence of spouses on overall family class background is of a cumulative nature, meaning that the status of both spouses must be included for accuracy. Second, information about the exact nature of the joint parent influence can be used to create a parsimonious measure of family background that includes the effects of both spouses. Third, use of the comprehensive measures(s) in new investigations of change over time in social mobility patterns and effects of non-intact family types and of race on children's outcomes will improve the accuracy of knowledge about these important topics. The broader impacts of this research include the following: This research will be beneficial to both the scientific and policy-making communities. Other social scientists will benefit from the ability to use the joint measure of family status designed in this project rather than one defined by the fathers' status only. The research will inform theoretical debates in sociology around the mechanisms behind negative effects of family disruption as well as behind social mobility processes more generally. Finally, I will work to disseminate the findings to a policy audience as they will potentially inform discussion on pro-marriage anti-poverty policies, or policies to promote non-residential parent involvement in non-intact families.

本论文重新激发了代际社会流动研究者关于如何在家庭层面测量社会阶层背景的争论。 辩论涉及到父母双方的社会地位，而不仅仅是父亲或户主的社会地位，是否决定了整个家庭单位的地位。本文采用了一种新的方法来解决这一争论，并在这样做的社会流动性研究的方法论贡献。与此同时，本论文超越了关注这场辩论本身的方式，其中整体家庭阶级的上级措施可以提前了解家庭的其他方面如何塑造儿童的结果。 具体而言，论文说明，以前的措施，整体家庭社会阶层包括显着的测量误差，它也表明，调查结果的问题，从离婚到流动模式的变化，随着时间的推移，遭受遗漏变量偏差的结果。本论文利用公开的国家调查数据，包括一般社会调查和全国青年纵向调查。 分析策略主要包括对数线性和对数乘法模型和社会流动性和成就的潜在阶级模型。本论文的主要研究假设如下：第一，配偶对整体家庭阶级背景的共同影响是累积性的，这意味着为了准确起见，必须包括配偶双方的地位。 第二，关于共同父母影响的确切性质的信息可以用来创建一个包括配偶双方影响的家庭背景的简约衡量标准。第三，在对社会流动模式随时间的变化以及不完整家庭类型和种族对儿童结果的影响进行新的调查时使用综合措施，将提高对这些重要专题的认识的准确性。这项研究的更广泛的影响包括：这项研究将有利于科学界和决策界。其他社会科学家将受益于使用本项目设计的家庭状况联合衡量标准的能力，而不是仅根据父亲的地位来定义。 这项研究将为社会学中围绕家庭破裂负面影响背后的机制以及更普遍的社会流动过程背后的理论辩论提供信息。 最后，我将努力向政策受众传播研究结果，因为它们可能会为有关支持婚姻的反贫困政策或促进非完整家庭中非居住父母参与的政策的讨论提供信息。