The implications of recent weight gain trends for widening social disparities in body weight in the United States are unclear. Using an intersectional approach to studying inequality, and the longitudinal and nationally representative American's Changing Lives study (1986-2001/2002), we examine social disparities in body mass index trajectories…

Policy reforms and rising income inequality transformed educational and economic opportunities for Americans approaching midlife in the 1990s. Rising income inequality may have reduced mobility, as income gaps increased between rich and poor children. Against the effects of rising inequality, Civil Rights reforms may have increased mobility, as…

Researchers hypothesize that social capital in the United States is not just declining, but that it is declining across "generations" or birth cohorts. Testing this proposition, we examine changes in social capital using age-period-cohort intrinsic estimator models. Results from analyses of 1972-2010 General Social Survey data show (1)…

Social characteristics that differ by place of residence are consequential for health. To study implications of this among older adults in rural vs. urban China, this study employs data from the Beijing municipality, a region that has witnessed growth and gaps in development. Life and active life expectancy is assessed using a multistate life…

While income inequality among college graduates is well documented, inequality in occupational status remains largely unexplored. We examine whether and how occupational specificity of college majors is related to college graduates' transition into the labor market and their subsequent occupational trajectories. Analyses of NLSY79 indicate that…

We use the National Violence against Women (and Men) Survey to examine the effects of region and race on the tendency to carry weapons for protection. We find that Southern and Western whites are much more likely than Northern whites to carry guns for self-protection, controlling for their risk of victimization. The difference between Southern and…

Qualitative and quantitative research has suggested that married couples handle the increasing demands of intensive parenting norms and work expectations by reducing spousal time (e.g., the time that spouses spend alone with each other). Using nationally representative time-diary data, this study examined whether married individuals with children…

Using data from two waves of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (N = 8,054), I examine gender differences in psychological adjustment to cancer among older white adults. Results from different types of longitudinal models reveal that cancer has more adverse psychological implications for men than women. Men's higher levels of depression are reduced…

Many youth in the United States lack clear occupational aspirations. This uncertainty in achievement ambitions may benefit socio-economic attainment if it signifies "role exploration," characterized by career development, continued education and enduring partnerships. By contrast, uncertainty may diminish attainment if it instead leads…

In this article I argue that evolutionary theorizing can help sociologists and feminists better understand gender inequality. Evolutionary theory explains why control of the sexuality of young women is a priority across most human societies both past and present. Evolutionary psychology has extended our understanding of male violence against…

This study examined whether the transition into adolescence, proxied by pubertal timing, shaped the transition into adulthood, proxied by union formation behaviors, among contemporary American women. In a sample drawn from Add Health (n = 7,523), early maturing girls reported an accelerated transition to marriage and cohabitation in young…

We employ newly developed methods to disentangle age, period and cohort effects on non-marital fertility ratios from 1972 through 2002 for black and white women ages 20-44 in the United States. We focus on three cohort factors: family structure, school enrollment and the sex ratio. For both blacks and whites, cohorts with less traditional family…

In this article, the authors clarify and provide additional tests of the key elements of their age-period-cohort analysis of non-marital birth rates in this March 2009 issue of "Social Forces." Where Steve Martin, in his commentary, has suggested specific alternative specifications or interpretations of their findings, the authors have…

To investigate the role of body size in social networks, this study estimated cross-nested multilevel network models (p2) with longitudinal data from the 16 saturated schools in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. As body mass index increased, the likelihood of being nominated by schoolmates as friends--but not the likelihood of…

Social contexts in which confidants get to know each other affect the composition of their personal networks, inter alia the similarity among confidants. Results from analyses on a representative sample of the Dutch population between 18 and 65 years of age (SSND 2000), support the idea that differences in similarity among confidants can be…