Recent studies have found a large earnings premium to attending a more selective college, but the mechanisms underlying this premium have received little attention and remain unclear. In order to shed light on this question, I develop a multidimensional signaling model relying on college grades and selectivity that rationalizes students' choices…

The evolving influence of student financial aid on year-to-year persistence for three student cohorts, the high school classes of 1972, 1980, and 1982 are examined. A comparative analysis of the National Longitudinal Study and High School and Beyond Survey is presented. (Author/MLW)

This study used data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 with a model of educational attainment for whites (n=6,512) and blacks (n=699) that explicitly measured for a father's presence in the household. No substantial differences were found in the process of educational attainment between these groups when…

An extension of the methods of path analysis to include studies of categorical data was described and exemplified in a causal study of college dropouts. The usual models and methods of causal (path) analysis were designed for the study of quantitative variables and are not appropriate when the variables under investigation are categorical.…

Adolescent parenthood was investigated based on a large panel study known as the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) which has tracked over 22,000 adolescents who are now in their early 20's and have experienced many of the near-term consequences of early parenthood. Procedures for creating variables that mark entry…

The present study, based on recent data and methods that control for estimated measurement error structures, finds that social background plays a similar role for Whites and Blacks in determining educational attainment. (Author/LMO)

This study evaluates a model predicting that school size affects student participation in extracurricular activities and that these leisure interests will continue in young adult life. High school social participation, it is hypothesized, also is influenced by curriculum track placement and academic performance, which are affected by student…

Although a number of studies have been conducted to examine the status attainment process, very few have focused on differences in educational attainment for black, white, and Hispanic females. The primary purpose of this study was to test predictive models of attainment for these subgroups. Variables considered potentially important to the…

A prototype model was developed to estimate the effect of various variables on the internal rate of return to starting college. The model arose out of observations that there is a nonlinear relationship between education and earnings, that many students who begin college never finish, that there are large differences across fields of…

Results of a study of trends in college-going decisions of new high school graduates between 1972 and 1980 are presented, along with a model of college choice. The focus is the choice between college and noncollege options. Based on a review of empirical and theoretical work on college choice over the past 25 years, information is provided on key…

The conceptual model of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) has been modified from James Trent's General Educational Development Model. The NLS model is presented and briefly compared with the General Educational Development Model. The major portion of this document consists of NLS questionnaire items or…

Racial differences in the reporting accuracy of parental status characteristics by White and Black high school seniors were investigated using Joreskog's general framework for simultaneous covariance structure analyses of multiple populations. Reliability estimates for Whites were significantly higher than for Blacks due to differences in true…

Characteristics and attendance patterns of persisters and dropouts from college and vocational/technical schools were studied, and a model of the persistence process was tested using data from the National Longitudinal Study (NLS), which surveyed high school seniors in 1972, with followup surveys in 1973 and 1974. Student persistence was defined…

Data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) including the 1976 follow-up were used to examine the effects of interrupting or delaying school attendance on the eventual educational attainment of white male students. Background variables include socioeconomic and other family characteristics. Achievement test…

This study was conducted to explore the relationship between participation in secondary marketing and distributive education (MDE) and economic attainment after high school. Specifically, the study sought to develop a model of economic attainment, i.e., job status attainment, unemployment, and wages for secondary MDE students. The study used the…