While interest in career optimism has grown steadily in the last 15 years, most of its investigations rely on cross-sectional convenience samples that prevent exploring how earlier optimism matters for later educational and vocational outcomes. To address this issue, I use structural equation modelling to assess measurement invariance and the…

This paper focusses on how careers advice provided to Australian secondary school students varies according to students' socio-economic background. National data for students in Years 11 and 12 from five cohorts of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth initiated between 1998 and 2015 are analysed. Students from higher socio-economic…

Childhood overweight and obesity are major public health problems in the United States. Children who experience poverty are 1.5 times more likely to suffer with overweight and 1.6 times more likely to have obesity. The extent to which overweight or obesity exacerbates the negative influence of socioeconomic inequality on child academic outcomes…

The Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) 2023 Program Longitudinal Study 2009-2022 evaluates the kindergarten through 12th grade outcomes of participation in pre-k services in Arkansas for ABC participants from 2009 to 2021 compared to low-income students not participating in pre-K. ADE DESE data is analyzed to determine outcomes for these two core groups…

Research consistently shows that higher-education participation has positive impacts on individual outcomes. However, few studies explicitly consider differences in these impacts by socio-economic background (SEB), and those which do fail to examine graduate trajectories over the long run, non-labor outcomes and relative returns. We address these…

Over the last decades, various policies at national and local levels have been implemented to widen participation in higher education (HE) in Scotland and more widely in the UK. Despite this, the acquisition of a HE qualification is still largely determined by the family in which individuals are born. Our study provides new evidence on the extent…

Background/Context: Although dual enrollment (DE) programs have indicated positive impact on various high school and postsecondary outcomes, access to DE programs remains unequal; historically marginalized students are less likely than other students to attempt college credits in high school. Despite DE being a widely adopted program at the state…

Intrusive parenting has been traditionally considered a negative parenting style and includes actions that are overly directive and controlling of children's behavior. However, current research aims to contextualize this parenting behavior. This study examined the relation between intrusive parenting and early childhood behavior problems or…

This article pinpoints the mathematic performance gaps among high-socioeconomic background (SES) students from different racial groups in the United States. By doing so, it sheds light on how racial and socioeconomic privilege intersects thus creating different educational outcomes among high-SES children. In short, it illuminates who are the…

Less privileged students disproportionately aim low with their university applications and often fail to apply to the institutions that match their academic qualifications. Little attention, however, has been directed toward the converse phenomenon, that of aiming high. These kinds of applications are commonly called 'reaches,' meaning an…

Students with aligned educational and occupational expectations have improved college and labor market outcomes. Despite extensive knowledge about the ways social background and school context contribute to educational expectations, less is known about the role of social intuitions in shaping expectational alignment. Drawing on data from the 2009…

Why do Black men and women have such different average levels of educational attainment? One explanation may be inequalities in experiences with punishment through in-school suspensions, arrests, and incarcerations. Drawing on intersectional frameworks and theories of social control, I examine the long-term impacts of institutional punishment on…

Previous research assessing consequences of interpregnancy intervals (IPIs) on child development is mixed. Utilizing a population-based US sample (n = 5339), we first estimate the associations between background characteristics (e.g. sociodemographic and maternal characteristics) and short ([less than or equal to]1 year) and long (>3 years)…

We ask whether patterns of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic stratification in educational attainment are amplified or attenuated when we take a longer view of educational careers. We propose a model of "staged advantage" to understand how educational inequalities evolve over the life course. Distinct from cumulative advantage, staged…

We ask whether patterns of racial ethnic and socioeconomic stratification in educational attainment are amplified or attenuated when we take a longer view of educational careers. We propose a model of staged advantage to understand how educational inequalities evolve over the life course. Distinct from cumulative advantage, staged advantage…