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Gang membership is believed to impede success in the legitimate economic market while simultaneously supporting success in the illegal market. We extend the study of the economic effects of gang membership by using a within-and between-individual analytic design, decomposing gang membership into multiple statuses (i.e., entering a gang,continuously in a gang, leaving a gang, and inactive gang membership), examining legal and illegal earnings simultaneously, and accounting for factors endogenous to gang membership that may contribute to economic achievement.By using panel data from 1,213 individuals who participated in the Pathways to Desistance Study to conduct a multi level path analysis, we find that active gang membership status is unrelated to legal earnings. Alternatively,entering a gang is associated with increased illegal earnings, attributable to changes in delinquent peers and drug use, whereas leaving a gang has a direct relationship with decreased illegal earnings. Our results indicate that the positive economic effect of gang membership (i.e., illegal earnings and total earnings) is short-lived and that, on balance,the sum of the gang membership experience does not “pay”in terms of overall earnings.

This chapter reviews the theoretical perspectives used to understand immigrant assimilation, the challenges to studying assimilation and current research on diverse immigrant origins and across diverse locations of settlement. The authors review recent research on the integration and involvement of immigrants and their descendants into several key structural domains: education, labor markets and residential patterns. This review also focuses on variations in these outcomes among immigrants and their descendants in diverse contexts and policy regimes with cross-national comparisons from several immigrant receiving countries. Understanding how immigrants fare and the extent to which their children and grandchildren succeed requires an examination of immigrant characteristics, the migration process and the changes that occur in the context of reception.

In many urban communities, unemployment, substance misuse, violence, and mass incarceration among African-American males has reduced the number of conventional adult male role models. These role models could potentially serve as positive sources of social capital for at-risk adolescent African-American males. An understudied population of black men has a long tradition in the black community as conventional adult male role models, mentors, and social fathers for black male youth. Black male coaches have played a significant role in reducing crime and delinquency among at-risk youth as well as influencing positive youth outcomes. Yet this population of African-American men in disadvantaged communities has received little attention. Using in-depth interviews, community-based participant observations, intensive home observations, and auto-ethnography, this study found that black male coaches serve as a critical form of social capital for black male youth and single parents in high-risk neighborhoods. The results suggest that research needs to focus more on the role of coaches as mentors and in some instances social fathers who provide quality adult supervision, guidance, information, support, encouragement, and community bridges to other forms of social, human, and cultural capital for inner-city black male youth.

Objective: Cardiometabolic disease is the leading cause of mortality in the United States. Cardiometabolic function during adolescence predicts future cardiometabolic disease, yet few studies have examined early determinants of cardiometabolic function. Informed by evidence of sex differences in the prevalence and severity of cardiometabolic disorders and evidence of sexual dimorphism in the stress response, we examined sex differences in the association between living in poverty and cardiometabolic function during adolescence, a precursor of later cardiometabolic disorders. Methods: We linked data from 10 415 adolescents aged 12-19 in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2012) with US Census–tract data on area-level poverty (percentage of the population living in poverty, grouped into quartiles). We parameterized cardiometabolic dysfunction by summing the z scores of 6 cardiometabolic biomarkers, grouped into quintiles. Hierarchical ordinal models estimated associations. Results: Compared with residents in low-poverty areas, residents in high-poverty areas had elevated odds of cardiometabolic dysfunction (highest quartile of poverty odds ratio [OR] = 1.27; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08-1.50). This association was more pronounced among boys than girls (highest quartile of poverty for boys: OR = 1.36; 95% CI, 1.10-1.70; highest quartile of poverty for girls: OR = 1.17; 95% CI, 0.94-1.47). Conclusion: Our study supports the existence of sex-specific associations. These results highlight the potential for community-based programs, such as housing assistance, to improve population health.

Student loans have become a social-financial issue in the United States. This study uses a nationally representative dataset to examine the association between financial socialization and student loan borrowing behavior of individuals after controlling a number of different socio-demographic factors. Results show that the financial burdens of college education, such as borrowing and the dollar amounts of a loan, are higher for Blacks, however, their college attendance is significantly lower than Whites. Blacks are more independent and receive less financial support from family and relatives than Whites. The wealth gap that exists between Black and White parents may contribute to the disparity. Additional financial resources for higher education as well as financial education and counseling may be needed to create better academic access for the vulnerable underserved groups including minority students.

Study by Faculty Associate Craig Fryer links racial discrimination, coping strategies, and tobacco / cannabis use.

Katharine Abraham’s comments featured in a story about how unemployment rates are calculated

BACKGROUND: Preliminary evidence suggests that sexual minority (e.g. lesbian, gay, bisexual, and same-sex attracted) youth are overrepresented in child welfare services. Yet, no study to date has been able to test this hypothesis with national data. OBJECTIVE: Using a two-study design, we test whether sexual minority youth are overrepresented in child welfare, foster care, and out-of-home placement using nationally representative data from the United States. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Study 1 data are from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (n = 14,154; Mean age = 15.4). Study 2 data are from wave three of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II (n = 1309; Mean age = 15.0). METHODS: For Study 1, we use adjusted logistic regression models to test differences in lifetime foster care involvement between sexual minority and heterosexual youth. In Study 2, we calculate a Disproportionality Representation Index (DRI) - a ratio of sample prevalence relative to the general population - to estimate whether sexual minority youth were overrepresented in child welfare and out-of-home care. RESULTS: Study 1 results indicate that sexual minority youth are nearly 2.5 times as likely as heterosexual youth to experience foster care placement (aOR = 2.43, 95% CI 1.40, 4.21, p = .002). Results from Study 2 show that sexual minority youth were largely overrepresented in child welfare services (DRI = 1.95-2.48) and out-of-home placement (DRI = 3.69-4.68). CONCLUSIONS: Findings are the first to demonstrate sexual minority youth's overrepresentation in child welfare, foster care, and out-of-home placement using nationally representative data and emphasizes the need for focused research on sexual minority youth involved in the child welfare system.

Abstract Sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth face marginalization and oppression on the basis of their SGM identity, and they often lack traditional support systems to deal with these minority stressors. SGM community resources may alleviate the impact of the stressors that SGM youth face, but these have not been studied in relation to the size and climate of SGM youth's communities. This mixed-methods study examined the relationship between community size and the climate toward SGM individuals and the availability and utilization of SGM community resources. Survey findings indicate that nonmetropolitan communities were associated with less availability and utilization; hostile communities were associated with lower availability only. Interview findings reveal nuanced complexities on the relationship between community and resource provision. Implications for future research and community practice are discussed.