DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Complex Family Backgrounds: A Latent Class Approach

本文重新激活了代际社会流动研究者之间关于如何在家庭层面衡量社会阶层背景的悬而未决的争论。辩论的问题是，父母双方的社会地位，而不是父亲或一家之主的社会地位，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，并在此过程中为社会流动性研究做出了方法论贡献。与此同时，本文超越了对这场辩论本身的关注，重点关注了整体家庭阶级的优越衡量标准如何推进有关家庭其他方面如何影响儿童结果的知识。具体而言，本文表明，整体家庭社会阶层的先验测量存在显著的测量误差；它还表明，从离婚到流动模式随时间变化等问题的研究结果，都受到了被忽略的可变偏差的影响。本文利用公开的全国调查数据，包括综合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模型和对数乘法模型以及社会流动和成就的潜在阶级模型。本文的中心研究假设如下：首先，配偶对整个家庭阶级背景的共同影响具有累积性，这意味着必须包括配偶双方的地位才能准确。其次，关于父母共同影响的确切性质的信息可以用来创建一个包括夫妻双方影响的家庭背景的简约衡量标准。第三，在社会流动模式随时间变化的新调查中使用综合措施，以及非完整家庭类型和种族对儿童结果的影响，将提高对这些重要主题知识的准确性。本研究的广泛影响包括：本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这个项目中设计的家庭地位的联合衡量标准，而不是仅仅由父亲的地位来定义。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，我将努力将这些发现传播给政策受众，因为它们可能会为支持婚姻、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。

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.