Search results

Rural youth in economically troubled regions develop plans for their future in a context in which opportunities for educational and occupational success generally lie elsewhere, prompting the need to migrate. This study investigates the links between rural adolescents' residential preferences and their plans for the future, perceptions of local opportunity, and ties to family and community. We examine whether residential preferences shape the pathways to adulthood through decisions about where to live as well as educational and occupational attainments. Residential preferences are indeed related to adolescents' academic achievements and future educational plans, their relationships with parents, and perceptions of local job opportunities, but they are not associated with family socioeconomic background and social ties to the community. For the most part, residential preferences are linked to where young people live and pursue higher education in the years after high school, but generally not to their socioeconomic attainment.

A set of scales is described which, consistent with theoretical perspectives, operationalizes acculturation & structural assimilation among Mexican Americans as multidimensional processes. Household interview data collected between 1975 & 1982 from residents of San Antonio, Tex (N = 2,336) are presented to establish the psychometric properties of the scales & examine their interrelationships. Several hypotheses derived from Milton M. Gordon's seven-stage model of the assimilation process (see, eg, "Toward a General Theory of Racial and Ethnic Group Relations," in Glazer, Nathan, & Moynihan, Daniel H. [Eds], Ethnicity: Theory and Experience, Cambridge: Harvard U Press, 1975, 84-110) are tested. The results of these analyses not only provide evidence of the scales' construct validity but offer rich information about the acculturation & assimilation experience of an important segment of the Mexican-American population. Sex differences are also examined. Modified HA

Using U.S. data from 1950 to 2010, we analyze to what extent inflation raises the incidence of property crime. To match our theoretical predictions, we consider different types of property crime (larceny, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and robbery) and broad and narrow definitions of inflation separately. We control for the state of the business cycle and demographic changes over time explicitly. Unobserved or difficult‐to‐measure determinants of property crime are captured through a stochastic‐trend specification within a state‐space framework. We find a robust statistical link between inflation and each of the four property crime rates. Our findings are robust to alternative definitions of inflation and the inclusion or exclusion of different control variables. In terms of policy, our findings suggest that monetary policy that creates inflation has costly spillover effects. (JEL J10, J11)

Background. Smoking-related disease and injury is prominent among the numerous health problems on the U. S.-Mexico border, but little is known about the methods that might help promote smoking cessation among the low-income populations in this region. Method. Media campaigns were combined with different forms of intensive and community-wide interpersonal communication to encourage smoking cessation in a border U. S. city and in a Mexican city. Panels of moderate to heavy smokers were followed in four groups to allow quasi-experimental comparison of smoking cessation rates. Results. Over a five-year study period smoking cessation rates of 17% (self-reported) and 8% (verified) were observed in panels in the program community (N = 160). In the comparison community (N = 135) corresponding rates of smoking cessation were 7% (self-reported) and 1.5% (verified). Within the program community, no differences were observed in smoking cessation among smokers exposed to a community-wide program and those assigned to receive personal counseling. Discussion. Although the observed changes in smoking were unexpectedly small in the treatment and comparison groups, the approximately 8% effect size for the community-wide program was close to what was predicted. Results indicate that such programs may yield effects similar to those of more intensive approaches, but further research with greater statistical power will be necessary to confirm that point.