Abstract/Details

FACTORS INFLUENCING YOUNG WOMEN'S TRANSITIONS AMONG MULTIPLE ROLE COMBINATIONS: U.S. 1968-73 (LABOR FORCE, SCHOOL, MARRIAGE; UNITED STATES)

DENTON, NANCY ANNE.   University of Pennsylvania ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1984. 8417286.

Abstract (summary)

While interrupted marriage, labor force and education histories of young U.S. women have received much attention in the literature, little attempt has been made to analyze these roles as competing but not necessarily mutually exclusive options and to include all women.

Using a pooled data set of 18,916 one-year transitions for women aged 14 to 30 from the National Longitudinal Surveys (Young Women, 1968-1973), this dissertation addresses two main issues: the frequency of and movement among various combinations of these three roles and the effect of background and current characteristics on the probability of making particular transitions. OLS is used to estimate the marginal change in the underlying transition probability associated with having a particular characteristic.

Results show that role combination is a major feature in the lives of young women. At Time t, over one third are in two of the three roles, but only 1.2 percent are in all three simultaneously, with the combination of wife and student least prevalent. In the bivariate analysis, combining roles is strongly associated with being white and having at least some college education. While there is clear association between origin and destination role combinations, it is also clear that young women change role combinations often--over forty percent of the young women changed roles during the one year interval, a proportion which increased over time. Thus the normative serial ordering pattern of school, work, then marriage needs to be expanded to include combinations of adjacent roles and allow for back and forth movement among the combinations.

The more proximate current characteristics of the women change their transition probabilities by greater absolute amounts than do the more remote background characteristics. More specifically, the birth of a new child, compared to not having one, and higher education, compared to women who have not finished high school, have the largest significant effects for the greatest number of transitions. Yet the strength of the background characteristics, even after controlling for the current characteristics, is impressive. Being black as opposed to white, higher parental education, and more encouragement to attend college remain important determinants of the transitions.

Indexing (details)


Subject
Demographics;
Demography
Classification
0938: Demography
Identifier / keyword
Social sciences
Title
FACTORS INFLUENCING YOUNG WOMEN'S TRANSITIONS AMONG MULTIPLE ROLE COMBINATIONS: U.S. 1968-73 (LABOR FORCE, SCHOOL, MARRIAGE; UNITED STATES)
Author
DENTON, NANCY ANNE
Number of pages
399
Degree date
1984
School code
0175
Source
DAI-A 45/05, Dissertation Abstracts International
Place of publication
Ann Arbor
Country of publication
United States
ISBN
979-8-204-35048-9
University/institution
University of Pennsylvania
University location
United States -- Pennsylvania
Degree
Ph.D.
Source type
Dissertation or Thesis
Language
English
Document type
Dissertation/Thesis
Dissertation/thesis number
8417286
ProQuest document ID
303306607
Copyright
Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works.
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/docview/303306607