CPC News and Announcements

Science Daily announces new research by CPC Fellow Glen Elder about mentorship of disadvantaged teens

06 Nov 2009 06:04:24 GMT

A new study in Sociology of Education has found that when a teacher mentors a disadvantaged student, the student's odds of attending college nearly doubles. For all teen students, having an adult mentor means a 50 percent greater likelihood of attending college.

The study's lead author is Lance Erickson, now a sociology professor at Brigham Young University and formerly a CPC Predoctoral Trainee. Steve McDonald, now a sociology professor at North Carolina State University and formerly a CPC Postdoctoral Scholar, is the study's co-author. CPC Faculty Fellow Glen Elder is also a co-author.

Science Daily published a story on the research, which used data from more than 14,000 adolescents who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a CPC project.

"Benefit Of A Mentor: Disadvantaged Teens Twice As Likely To Attend College," (Science Daily, November 5, 2009).

An excerpt from the story:
"Potential is sometimes squashed by the social environment, and the data show that mentors can overcome those forces," said Lance Erickson, a sociology professor at Brigham Young University and the study's lead author.
...
"Youth who are most likely to need mentors are least likely to have them," McDonald said.

Read the entire story:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104161837.htm

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CPC Fellow Philip M. Cohen featured in WRAL-TV story about mothers during the recession

05 Nov 2009 11:29:20 GMT

Philip N. Cohen, faculty fellow at the Carolina Population Center and UNC associate professor of sociology, is featured in a news story on WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh) discussing mothers in the current recession. Cohen is quoted in the text of the story and also appears in the accompanying video.

The recession has put increased pressure on mothers, in part because three-quarters of the jobs lost in the recession were jobs filled by men.

"Recession puts more pressure on mothers," (WRAL-TV, November 4, 2009).

An excerpt from the story:
Women who take on the role of being the primary breadwinner are under increased the pressure balance the demands of work and home, said Philip Cohen, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill who studies women's roles.

"The pressure falls on them, and all the progress that we've made has not so far alleviated that pressure," Cohen said.

Read the entire story and watch the video:
http://www.wral.com/lifestyles/family/story/6346285/

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Nature story features CPC's National Children's Study vanguard center in Duplin County, NC

04 Nov 2009 13:54:43 GMT

The NIH-funded National Children's Study was the focus of an article that appeared today in Nature. The reporter, Meredith Wadman, visited the NCS vanguard center in Duplin County, NC to learn about the study. The Carolina Population Center implements the study in Duplin County and in four other counties in North Carolina. See this website for more information: http://centers.nationalchildrensstudy.gov/unc/Pages/default.aspx.

Children's study fights to survive (Nature, November 4, 2009).

"Late last month, in a former Blockbuster Video store in tiny Kenansville, North Carolina, an insulated cardboard box awaited a placenta...Many more specimens may soon be coming from rural Duplin County, North Carolina. Over the next several years, investigators in this land of hog farms and cotton fields hope to enrol half the new pregnancies in what is arguably the most ambitious study ever of how the environment affects children's health."

CPC Director and Fellow Barbara Entwisle is quoted in the story: "All of the recent science shows the importance of what happens early on in people's lives for health all the way through their lives," she says. "This is the future of our country."

Read the entire story:
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091104/full/462020a.html

Some media outlets may require free user registration or a subscription. Most articles are available at the URLs provided for a limited time, usually two weeks or less.

Cross-cultural study of wealth and inequality appears in Science; CPC Postdoctoral Scholar David Nolin among research team

02 Nov 2009 15:04:44 GMT

Science has published a landmark cross-cultural study of the intergenerational transmission of wealth, and how such transmission can lead to persistent inequality in small-scale societies.

The project, organized by economist Sam Bowles (Santa Fe Institute) and anthropologist Monique Borgerhoff Mulder (UC Davis), drew on the combined research of anthropologists working in 21 different field sites. Quantitative data from these sites were used to estimate the correlation between parents and offspring of different types of wealth (material, embodied, and relational) and the relative importance of these types of wealth across different modes of production.

The results show that material wealth tends to be more heritable than embodied or relational wealth. Consequently, where material wealth is more important than other types of wealth to household wellbeing (as in pastoralist and agricultural societies), persistent inequality is more pronounced. In horticultural and hunter-gatherer societies embodied wealth and relational wealth are more important, and persistent inequality is less pronounced.

David Nolin, Carolina Population Center Postdoctoral Scholar, was a participant in the project. Data from his field site of Lamalera, Indonesia were used in calculating estimates of the heritability of embodied, material, and relational wealth among hunter-gatherers. His data supported the importance of relational wealth among foragers (in the form of food-sharing relationships) and provided key estimates of the heritability of material wealth among foragers.

The results of the study appear in the October 30 issue of Science. The project was funded by the Santa Fe Institute, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the National Science Foundation.

Read the full article:

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/326/5953/682.pdf

Scholarly source:

Borgerhoff Mulder, M., Bowles, S., Hertz, T., Bell, A., Beise, J., Clark, G., Fazzio, I., Gurven, M., Hill, K., Hooper, P., Irons, W., Kaplan, H., Leonetti, D., Low, B., Marlowe, F., McElreath, R., Naidu, S., Nolin, D., Piraino, P., Quinlan, R., Schniter, E., Sear, R., Shenk, M., Smith, E., von Rueden, C., and Wiessner, P. 2009. Intergenerational Wealth Transmission and the Dynamics of Inequality in Small-Scale Societies. Science 326, no. 5953: 682-688.

Some media outlets may require free user registration or a subscription. Most articles are available at the URLs provided for a limited time, usually two weeks or less.

The State of Things (WUNC) reports on African-American Economic Summit, Nov. 1-2; CPC Fellow William A. Darity is a co-organizer

30 Oct 2009 06:25:27 GMT

WUNC radio program The State of Things reported on the upcoming African-American Economic Summit, a free event being held November 1-2 at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University. Carolina Population Center Fellow William �Sandy� Darity is a co-organizer and will present the morning of November 2.

The free public summit will discuss the current recession and its impact on African-Americans and their communities. Topics will include housing, education, labor, wealth, health and incarceration.

After the discussions each day, experts will meet privately to draft policy recommendations on issues identified in the discussions. The recommendations will be sent to N.C. Gov. Beverly Perdue and President Barack Obama.

The State of Things aired a segment featuring experts discussing why the current economic contraction has deepened long-standing racial gaps in income and wealth.

�Money Talks: African-American Economic Summit,� (The State of Things, October 27, 2009).

Listen to the radio story:
http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/sot1027b09.mp3/view?searchterm=African-American%20Economic%20Summit

UNC issued a release about the summit:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3011/73/

An excerpt from the release:
William �Sandy� Darity, Ph.D., summit co-organizer and Duke network director, said, �There has never been a forum to construct a policy agenda addressing the economic crisis in black America conducted by black economists. The premise behind the summit is that the combination of the current economic crisis and ongoing black-white disparities make it compelling that the voice of black economists be heard.�

For a complete schedule and to register, please visit:
http://www.unc.edu/iaar/economic_summit_homepage.htm

Some media outlets may require free user registration or a subscription. Most articles are available at the URLs provided for a limited time, usually two weeks or less.

Durham Herald-Sun announces groundbreaking new research by CPC Fellow Philip N. Cohen about international and domestic adoption

30 Oct 2009 06:05:13 GMT

Philip N. Cohen, faculty fellow at the Carolina Population Center and UNC associate professor of sociology, and Rose M. Kreider, Ph.D. of the U.S. Census Bureau, have published the first national study on disability rates among internationally adopted children.

The study, which appears in the November issue of the journal Pediatrics, found that children adopted from overseas have disability rates similar to those adopted from within the United States.

The Herald-Sun (Durham) published an announcement about the study, for which Cohen and Kreider examined data from the 2000 U.S. Census for about 82,220 internationally and 972,200 domestically adopted children with sensory, physical, mental and self-care disabilities.

�UNC study: Disability rates similar for internationally, domestically adopted children,� (The Herald-Sun, October 27, 2009).

An excerpt from the story:
Cohen, the parent of two daughters adopted from China, said he hoped the finding that international adoption by itself does not constitute a greater risk for disability than domestic adoption would dispel some stereotypes about international adoption.

�I hope it will help prevent alarmism about international adoption,� he said. �The information is important for health, education and social services professionals as well as adoptive parents, and it may help policy-makers assess the risks and challenges these children face and identify the resources necessary to address them.�

Read the entire announcement:
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-UNC+study-+Disability+rates+similar+for+internationally-+domestically+adopted+children%20&id=4150969-UNC+study-+Disability+rates+similar+for+internationally-+domestically+adopted+children

UNC issued a release about this project:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3047/73/

Scholarly source:
Kreider, Rose M., and Philip N. Cohen. 2009. Disability among Internationally Adopted Children in the United States. Pediatrics 124, no. 5: 1311-8.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2008-3206

Some media outlets may require free user registration or a subscription. Most articles are available at the URLs provided for a limited time, usually two weeks or less.