FAMILY & SOCIOECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF MILITARY SERVICE

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Using data from four large survey efforts, the research described herein provides an examination of the determinants of military service and its subsequent socioeconomic and family-related consequences. Particular attention wi11 be directed toward sequencing and timing variations introduced by military service (e.g., alterations in patterns of education, family and career) and how such variations are interrelated and cumulative (e.g., how variations in family outcomes affect subsequent career attainments). The work being proposed extends beyond prior research by postulating a set of causal sequences by which preexisting background differences and military service affect subsequent life-course patterns. Specifically, the following will be accomplished: 1) the determinants of military service wi11 be examined over a period of time that covers the war in Vietnam and the all volunteer force, 2) the effects of military service on the occurrence and timing of numerous important life-course events will be examined using longitudinal data and appropriate dynamic statistical models, 3) the effects of current military service will be separated from prior military service, 4) the effects of Vietnam vs. other military service will be assessed, and 5) the effects of mode of entry into the military (voluntarily, by the draft) and timing of entry will be ascertained. The research will provide valuable information on the structure of socioeconomic and family careers and their consequences among veterans. It will also be possible to examine historical shifts in the determinants and consequences of military service. This is an important objective given changes in the past twenty years in the conditions surrounding military service.