Suchergebnisse

Contents -- Foreword - Eric Wanner -- Introduction - Kathryn M. Neckerman -- Part I: Family and Neighborhood -- Chapter 1. The Uneven Spread of Single-Parent Families: What Do We Know? Where Do We Look for Answers? - David T. Ellwood and Christopher Jencks -- Chapter 2. Women's Education and Family Timing: Outcomes and Trends Associated with Age at Marriage and First Birth - Steven P. Martin -- Chapter 3. Neighborhoods, Poverty, and Children's Well-Being - Anne R. Pebley and Narayan Sastry -- Part II: Investment in Children

The increase in economic disparities over the past 30 years has prompted extensive research on the causes and consequences of inequality both in the United States and, more recently, globally. This review provides an update of research on the patterns and causes of economic inequality in the United States, including inequality of earnings, wealth, and opportunity. We also explore the social and political consequences of inequality, particularly in the areas of health, education, crime, social capital, and political power. Finally, we spotlight an emerging literature on world inequality, which examines inequality trends within as well as across nations. Sociologists can advance research on inequality by bringing discipline-based expertise to bear on the organization and political economy of firms and labor markets, the pathways through which inequality has an effect, and the social, political, and cultural contingencies that might modify this effect.

Data from the Urban Poverty & Family Structure Survey of 2,490 inner-city residents in Chicago, Ill, are used to examine the effect of employment on the likelihood that single fathers marry. The results show that employed fathers are twice as likely as nonemployed fathers to marry the mother of their first child. These results run contrary to Charles Murray's argument (Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980, New York: Basic Books, 1984) that welfare discourages employed, low-income men from marrying, but are consistent with William Julius Wilson's hypothesis (The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy, Chicago, U of Chicago Press, 1987) that the rise in male joblessness is linked to the rise in never-married parenthood in the inner city. The analysis also shows that couples are more likely to marry when the woman is a high school graduate. In this population, the enhanced earnings potential of a woman increases, not decreases, the likelihood of marriage; thus this result is inconsistent with the hypothesis that the closer a woman's earnings potential is to a man's, the less likely the couple is to marry. However, neither employment nor education fully accounts for the racial & ethnic differences observed in marriage rates of fathers in inner-city Chicago. 5 Tables. HA

This article uses data from the Urban Poverty and Family Structure Survey of inner-city residents in Chicago to examine the effect of employment on the likelihood that single fathers marry. Our results show that employed fathers are twice as likely as nonemployed fathers to marry the mother of their first child. These results run contrary to Charles Murray's argument that welfare discourages employed, low-income men from marrying. They are consistent with William Julius Wilson's hypothesis that the rise in male joblessness is linked to the rise in never-married parenthood in the inner city. Our analysis also shows that couples are more likely to marry when the woman is a high school graduate. In this population, the enhanced earnings potential of a woman increases, not decreases, the likelihood of marriage. This result is inconsistent with the hypothesis that the closer a woman's earnings potential is to a man's, the less likely the couple is to marry. Neither employment nor education fully accounts for the racial and ethnic differences we observe in the marriage rates of fathers in inner-city Chicago.

Purpose. To determine whether body mass index (BMI) is associated with proximity to neighborhood parks, the size of the parks, their cleanliness, and the availability of recreational facilities in the parks. Design. Cross-sectional. Setting. New York City. Subjects. Adults (13,102) were recruited from 2000 to 2002 (median age 45 years, 36% male). Measures. Anthropometric and sociodemographic data from study subjects were linked to Department of Parks & Recreation data on park space, cleanliness, and facilities. Neighborhood-level sociodemographic and park proximity metrics were created for half-mile–radius circular buffers around each subject's residence. Proximity to park space was measured as the proportion of the subject's neighborhood buffer area that was total park space, large park space (a park > 6 acres) and small park space (a park #6 acres). Analysis. Hierarchical linear models were used to determine whether neighborhood park metrics were associated with BMI. Results. Higher proximity to large park space was significantly associated with lower BMI (beta = −1.69, 95% confidence interval = −2.76, –.63). Across the population distribution of proximity to large park space, compared to subjects living in neighborhoods at the 10th percentile of the distribution, the covariate-adjusted average BMI was estimated to be .35 kg/m2 lower for those living in neighborhoods at the 90th percentile. The proportion of neighborhood area that was small park space was not associated with BMI, nor was park cleanliness or the availability of recreational facilities. Conclusion. Neighborhood proximity to large park spaces is modestly associated with lower BMI in a diverse urban population.

Purpose. To examine whether urban form is associated with body size within a densely-settled city. Design. Cross-sectional analysis using multilevel modeling to relate body mass index (BMI) to built environment resources. Setting. Census tracts (n = 1989) within the five boroughs of New York City. Subjects. Adult volunteers (n = 13,102) from the five boroughs of New York City recruited between January 2000 and December 2002. Measures. The dependent variable was objectively-measured BMI. Independent variables included land use mix; bus and subway stop density; population density; and intersection density. Covariates included age, gender, race, education, and census tract–level poverty and race/ethnicity. Analysis. Cross-sectional multilevel analyses. Results. Mixed land use (Beta = 2.55, p < .01), density of bus stops (Beta = −.01, p < .01) and subway stops (Beta = −.06, p < .01), and population density (Beta = −.25, p < .001), but not intersection density (Beta = −.002) were significantly inversely associated with BMI after adjustment for individual- and neighborhood-level sociodemographic characteristics. Comparing the 90th to the 10th percentile of each built environment variable, the predicted adjusted difference in BMI with increased mixed land use was −.41 units, with bus stop density was −.33 units, with subway stop density was −.34 units, and with population density was −.86 units. Conclusion. BMI is associated with built environment characteristics in New York City.

This volume places the welfare debates of the 1980s in the context of past patterns of U.S. policy, such as the Social Security Act of 1935, the failure of efforts in the 1940s to extend national social benefits and economic planning, and the backlashes against "big government" that followed reforms of the 1960s and early 1970s. Historical analysis reveals that certain social policies have flourished in the United States: those that have appealed simultaneously to middle-class and lower-income people, while not involving direct bureaucratic interventions into local communities. The editors suggest how new family and employment policies, devised along these lines, might revitalize broad political coalitions and further basic national values. The contributors are Edwin Amenta, Robert Aponte, Mary Jo Bane, Kenneth Finegold, John Myles, Kathryn Neckerman, Gary Orfield, Ann Shola Orloff, Jill Quadagno, Theda Skocpol, Helene Slessarev, Beth Stevens, Margaret Weir, and William Julius Wilson