In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Brazil improved the health and well-being of its populace more than any other large democracy in the world. Long infamous for its severe inequality, rampant infant mortality, and clientelist politics, the country ushered in an unprecedented twenty-five-year transformation in its public health institutions and social development outcomes, declaring a striking seventy percent reduction in infant mortality rates. Thus far, the underlying causes for this dramatic shift have been poorly understood. In Movement-Driven Development, Christopher L. Gibson combines rigorous statistical methodology with rich case studies to argue that this transformation is the result of a subnationally-rooted process driven by civil society actors, namely the Sanitarist Movement. He argues that their ability to leverage state-level political positions to launch a gradual but persistent attack on health policy implementation enabled them to infuse their social welfare ideology into the practice of Brazil's democracy. In so doing, Gibson illustrates how local activists can advance progressive social change more than predicted, and how in large democracies like Brazil, activists can both deepen the quality of local democracy and improve human development outcomes previously thought beyond their control.

This article examines the ability of immigrants to integrate and to become full Americans. Naturalization has long been recognized as a fundamental step in that process and one that contributes to the nation’s strength, cohesion, and well-being. To illustrate the continued salience of citizenship, the article compares selected characteristics of native-born citizens, naturalized citizens, legal noncitizens (most of them lawful permanent residents [LPRs]), and undocumented residents. It finds that the integration, success, and contributions of immigrants increase as they advance toward naturalization, and that naturalized citizens match or exceed the native-born by metrics such as a college education, self-employment, average personal income, and homeownership. It finds that: Naturalized citizens enjoy the same or higher levels of education, employment, work in skilled occupations, personal income, and percentage above the poverty level compared to the native-born population. At least 5.2 million current US citizens — 4.5 million children and 730,000 adults — who are living with at least one undocumented parent1 obtained US citizenship by birth; eliminating birthright citizenship would create a permanent underclass of US-born denizens in the future. Requiring medical insurance would negatively affect immigrants seeking admission and undocumented residents who ultimately qualify for a visa. About 51 percent of US undocumented residents older than age 18 lack health insurance. In 2017, about 1.2 million undocumented residents lived with 1.1 million eligible-to-naturalize relatives. If all the members of the latter group naturalized, they could petition for or expedite the adjustment or immigration (as LPRs) of their undocumented family members, including 890,000 “immediate relatives.” Their naturalization could put 11 percent of the US undocumented population on a path to permanent residency. The article also explores a contradiction: that the administration’s “America first” ideology obscures a set of policies that impede the naturalization process, devalue US citizenship, and prioritize denaturalization. The article documents many of the ways that the Trump administration has sought to revoke legal status, block access to permanent residence and naturalization, and deny the rights, entitlements, and benefits of citizenship to certain groups, particularly US citizen children with undocumented parents. It also offers estimates and profiles of the persons affected by these measures, and it rebuts myths that have buttressed the administration’s policies.

Objective This study examined the amount of time married couples share together in a new "encore adult" life course stage around the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Also investigated was the relationship between shared time and experienced well-being for this age group. Method Time diary and survey data were used from nationally representative 2003-2014 American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data for 26,303 adults aged 50-79 years. Analyses examined amount of total and exclusive shared couple time and experiences of happiness and stress when together using multivariate models. Results Shared time was positively associated with couples living on their own, conjoint employment/nonemployment, and age. Encore women and men reported feeling happier and less stressed when with their spouses. Men seemed to find time with spouses more enjoyable if both partners or just their wives were working. Discussion Encore adults are living longer as couples; results suggest couple relationships may occupy most of their days, with potentially positive implications for emotional well-being. Men and women are happier during time with a spouse when the woman works, with men reporting even higher levels of happiness than women. This is important as contemporary couples navigate increasingly complex work/retirement transitions in gendered ways.

The effects of increasing homicide rates on life expectancy are well documented but little research has focused on its impact on family dynamics and family structure. To begin filling this gap in the literature, we pool census data from 1990, 2000, and 2010 with homicide rates at municipal level to investigate the relationship between increasing homicide rates and changing family structure, using statistical techniques. Specifically, we focus on its possible impact on living arrangements of children living in localities with different levels of homicide rates. Our results shed some light on the pervasive effects of criminal violence on families and children’s well-being.

This paper investigates returns to women’s education by applying an optimal IV selection approach, post-Lasso IV estimation, which improves the first-stage predictive relationship between an endogenous regressor and instruments. Using the 2010 American Community Survey, we find that an extra year of education increases married women’s own income by $4,480 and spouse income by $8,822. Our findings indicate that 53% of the increase in women’s consumption by education is attributed to the marriage market, and thus, we conclude that the marriage market is the primary channel through which education improves women’s well-being. The results demonstrate the advantages of the post-Lasso approach: The resulting two-stage least squares estimator maintains efficiency without increasing finite sample bias and is less subject to the inconsistency problem when some instruments are invalid; This differs from the results using the instrument of birth quarters only, which is mostly applied in studies on returns to education.

Purpose Because segregation may shield blacks from discrimination as well as increase their exposure to concentrated poverty, its net impact on the mental well-being of black Americans is unclear. We investigated the intersection between segregation, neighborhood poverty, race, and psychological well-being. Methods Using data from the nationally representative 2008–2013 National Health Interview Survey merged with U.S. Census data, we examined the association between black–white metropolitan segregation (D-index and P-index) and psychological distress (a binary indicator based on the Kessler 6 score ≥ 13) for blacks and whites. Furthermore, we assessed whether neighborhood poverty explains and/or modifies the association. Logistic regression models were estimated separately for blacks and whites as well as for each segregation index. Results Higher D- and P-indices were associated with higher odds of psychological distress for blacks. Neighborhood poverty explained some, but not all, of the association. In models that allowed for the impact of metropolitan segregation to vary by neighborhood poverty, higher segregation was found to be detrimental for blacks who resided in high poverty neighborhoods but not for those living in low poverty neighborhoods. We found no evidence that segregation impacts the mental health of whites—either detrimentally or beneficially—regardless of neighborhood poverty level. Conclusions The impact of segregation differs by neighborhood poverty and race. The psychological harm of structural racism, resulting in segregation and concentrated poverty, is not additive but multiplicative, reflecting a “triple jeopardy” for blacks, whereby their mental health is detrimentally impacted by the compounded effects of both neighborhood distress and racial segregation.

The relationship between women and stability, if any, is a topic of much debate and research. Several large and influential organizations have all researched women’s effect on stability. Furthermore, several of these world organizations, the United Nations, in particular, have declared gender equality to be a driving force in promoting stability and conflict prevention. Due to the United States active involvement in conflict prevention in such regions as West Africa, research concerning the relationship between women and stability is of particular interest to the United States Africa Command. As such, this research applied Topological Data Analysis, combined with other machine learning algorithms, to Demographic and Health Survey Program data com- bined with Armed Conflict Location and Event Data so as to observe the relationship between women’s status and armed conflicts in the West African region. While this team did not observe any direct correlation between women’s well-being and stability - defined as a lack of armed conflict events - the chosen methodologies and data usage have potential implications for future research concerning stability and conflict.

Our findings suggest that when it comes to reducing child poverty, a program without parental work requirements has the potential for the largest impact. However, policymakers may have other objectives in mind when considering expansions to public child care and preschool. For example, if reducing disparities in early learning is a primary goal, a universal program without income requirements might be more promising. As policymakers consider expanding access to early care and education, clarifying their goals is a necessary first step in weighing the trade-offs between different kinds of expansions and determining the best path forward to improve families’ economic well-being and promote the future success of California’s children.

Using American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and survey questions from ATUS’s Wellbeing Module (waves 2010, 2012, 2013), we examine if, and how, the sex of a child influence’s mother’s and father’s emotional states (feelings of happiness, stress, etc.) during childcare activities. We also examine whether parent’s emotional states during time spent with either boys or girls are associated with greater or lesser amount of time that mothers and fathers devote to a particular child’s sex. Given persistent gaps in childcare time between mothers and fathers particularly for daughters, we are especially interested in whether men who report more favorable emotions during time spent with daughters report a greater amount of time spent with them. Lastly, we assess whether the association between the sex of a child and parent’s emotional states during childcare activities varies across the age of the child, revealing unique well-being patterns for different child-stages.

The social environment in which lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youths live influences health and well-being. We describe the development of the LGBTQ Supportive Environments Inventory (LGBTQ SEI), designed to quantify the LGBTQ-inclusiveness of social environments in the United States and Canada. We quantify aspects of the social environment including: (1) presence/quality of LGBTQ youth-serving organizations; (2) LGBTQ-inclusive community resources; and (3) socioeconomic and political environment. Using geographic information systems (GIS) tools, we aggregated data to buffers around 397 schools in three regions. The LGBTQ SEI can be used to assess the role of the social environment in reducing health disparities for LGBTQ youths.

Moving to Opportunity (MTO) was a housing mobility program designed to investigate neighborhood effects, the influences of the social and physical environment on human development and well-being. Some of the results from MTO have been interpreted as evidence that neighborhood effects are not as strong as earlier evidence had indicated. This Commentary discusses new research suggesting that neighborhood effects are, on the contrary, as strong and policy relevant as suspected before the experiment. This Commentary also discusses why the interpretation of the MTO data is important: If neighborhood effects drive outcomes, then addressing racial inequality requires concerted efforts beyond ending racial discrimination.

My dissertation analyzes racial and skin color stratification in Jamaica, the impact of an ideology of racial mixing on Jamaican’s explanation for that inequality, and racial and nation-based identification. Using the Americas Barometer social survey on Jamaica (a comprehensive and nationally representative dataset), the census, and original, qualitative, semi-structured interviews, I examine: (1) the parameters of Jamaican national identity, (2) Jamaican nationalism and its influences on perceptions of racial and color prejudice and discrimination, and (3) the structuring of socioeconomic well-being along racial and color lines. I find that the ideology of racial mixing/fusion or creolization strongly influences understandings of Jamaican national identity and of race. While issues pertaining to both race and colorism are not blatantly denied, race is generally viewed as a “U.S. problem,” while colorism is considered centrally an issue of the nation’s past. Instead, Jamaicans overwhelmingly focus on class for explaining social inequality rather than skin color or race, despite my research revealing dramatic racial hierarchies in both wealth and educational attainment.

Objective: This study examines whether and, if so, how the gender composition of their children influences mother’s and father’s well-being during parenting activities. Background: Despite that parents socialize and interact with girls and boys differently and spend different amounts of time with them, little attention has been paid to how gender composition of children may matter for parental well-being. Method: The analyses are based on a nationally representative sample of over 18,000 activities from nearly 9,300 parents from the 2010, 2012, and 2013 Well-being Module and American Time Use Survey. Random intercept models are used to account for the multilevel structure of the data. Results: Mothers and fathers report similar levels of happiness and meaning while parenting across different gender compositions of children, with one exception: mothers of adolescent daughters report lower meaning than mothers of adolescent sons. At the same time, both mothers and fathers report greater negative emotions (like stress or fatigue) while parenting girls than while parenting boys. These patterns can be partly explained by differences in activities that parents do with girls versus boys. Conclusion: Our study, which we contextualize in broader literature on gender stereotypes and gendered socialization and interactional processes, makes several contributions to research on gender, family, and health and identifies a key factor—gender composition of children—that moderates mothers’ and fathers’ emotional well-being while parenting.

In New Hampshire, 18 percent of all undergraduates, or 17,655 students, are parents and 8,123 college students are single mothers. 1 Ensuring that these single mothers complete their degrees will improve their families' well-being and economic security and bring important benefits to the New Hampshire economy. College graduates have higher earnings, higher rates of employment, and lower poverty rates than those without degrees. 2 Their children also reap important benefits, such as improved behavioral and academic outcomes and an increased likelihood of going to college themselves. 3 Despite the substantial benefits experienced by single mothers who earn college degrees, they are some of the least likely students to earn them: just eight percent of single mother undergraduates in the United States earn an associate or bachelor's degree within six years of enrolling in college, compared with nearly half (49 percent) of women in college who are not mothers. 4 Taking steps to improve single mothers' college success also has important implications for racial and ethnic equity in higher education. Among female college students nationally, 31 percent of Black women, 23 percent of Native American/Alaska Native women, 17 percent of women of two or more races, and 16 percent of Latina women are single mothers, compared with 13 percent of White and seven percent of Asian/Pacific Islander women. 5 Single mothers in New Hampshire who graduate with an A.A.: • Are 47 percent less likely to live in poverty than a high school graduate. • Earn $284,340 more over their lifetime than what they would have earned with only a high school education. • Save New Hampshire $26,854 in public assistance spending over their lifetime. • Contribute $70,630 more in lifetime taxes than a single mother with only a high school diploma.

In South Dakota, 23 percent of all undergraduates, or 11,017 students, are parents and 4,475 college students are single mothers. 1 Ensuring that these single mothers complete their degrees will improve their families' well-being and economic security and bring important benefits to the South Dakota economy. College graduates have higher earnings, higher rates of employment, and lower poverty rates than those without degrees. 2 Their children also reap important benefits, such as improved behavioral and academic outcomes and an increased likelihood of going to college themselves. 3 Despite the substantial benefits experienced by single mothers who earn college degrees, they are some of the least likely students to earn them: just eight percent of single mother undergraduates in the United States earn an associate or bachelor's degree within six years of enrolling in college, compared with nearly half (49 percent) of women in college who are not mothers. 4 Taking steps to improve single mothers' college success also has important implications for racial and ethnic equity in higher education. Among female college students nationally, 31 percent of Black women, 23 percent of Native American/Alaska Native women, 17 percent of women of two or more races, and 16 percent of Latina women are single mothers, compared with 13 percent of White and seven percent of Asian/Pacific Islander women. 5 Single mothers in South Dakota who graduate with an A.A.: • Are 47 percent less likely to live in poverty than a high school graduate. • Earn $294,389 more over their lifetime than what they would have earned with only a high school education. • Save South Dakota $21,857 in public assistance spending over their lifetime. • Contribute $65,978 more in lifetime taxes than a single mother with only a high school diploma.

IPUMS-MLP will consist of nine censuses covering the entire U.S. population enumerated between 1850 and 1940 linked with public historical administrative data from Social Security, the military, and vital registration. The linked database will be invaluable for analyzing the impact of early life conditions on health and well-being in later life, and the large scale of the resource will allow study of very small population subgroups. IPUMS-MLP is not designed to answer any particular scientific question. Rather, we plan general-purpose data infrastructure, a permanent resource that can be continuously expanded to incorporate the latest data sources as they become available, ensuring its usage for decades to come. Former Census Bureau Director Robert Groves drew an insightful distinction between “designed data” and “organic data” [1]. Designed data, such as censuses and surveys, are created entirely to obtain information. Organic data are byproducts of transactions, including administrative records generated by Social Security, Medicare, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Armed Forces. Research on population aging currently relies primarily on designed data, despite the enormous potential of organic data to enrich our analyses. Groves argued that “the biggest payoff will lie in new combinations of designed data and organic data, not in one type alone.” Used in isolation, organic data have profound limitations that reduce their usefulness. They tend to be voluminous but shallow; they often are unrepresentative of the general population; and they frequently omit basic information about demographic behavior, economic status, education, work, and living conditions. IPUMS-MLP will enrich large sources of organic data—including Social Security, Medicare, and military records—by linking them to a century of designed census and survey data, thereby overcoming limitations of the organic data sources. Linking individuals from childhood to old age and death through both designed and organic data allows study of aging as a process over the entire life course, not just over a few years. Indeed, IPUMS-MLP will enable investigators to extend longitudinal analysis beyond individual life histories to investigate and understand processes of change over multiple generations [2]. In his 2010 presidential address to the Population Association of America, Robert Mare [3] argued that “the study of intergenerational mobility and most population research are governed by a two generation (parent-to offspring) view of intergenerational influence, to the neglect of the effects of grandparents and other ancestors and nonresident contemporary kin.” Mare called for the development of sources and methods that will support analysis of change over multiple generations. IPUMS-MLP will meet this need, allowing investigators to trace records back across multiple generations and making it possible for the first time to study the transmission of characteristics and behavior across centuries.

Population aging in the United States (U.S.) has reached an inflection point. The population who are aged 65 and above increased by 19.7 percent between 2010 and 2016, compared with a 4.8 percent increase among the total population. There is a lack of research about how population aging impacts local housing markets at the county level in the United States. My thesis aims to address this research gap. I use fixed effects models to study the causal relationship between the increasing size of the elderly population and housing prices from 1990 to 2010. The results suggest that population aging has no effect on housing prices in general nor any effect on the price of smaller homes (those with two bedrooms or less). However, there is modest evidence that the increase of the elderly population may contribute significant declines in the price of larger houses (with three bedrooms or more). The findings potentially have important implications for urban planning and housing policy. Identifying the need of housing units inhabited by the elderly population helps planners facilitate the appropriate allocation of permitted newly built housing units (for example, smaller homes for the elderly). It will benefit the well-being of the elderly as population aging becomes an imperative issue.

The rise in dual-earning couples in the United States has generated competing interpretations about the impact on couples’ relationship experiences. We know that dual-earner couples spend slightly less time together and that time with a partner is associated with enhanced well-being. Research also shows that men and women have different interpretations of their relationships. What is unclear is whether well-being benefits of shared time are similar across couples with different work arrangements and by gender. Using data from the American Time Use Surveys (2010, 2012, 2013), we compare individual assessments of happiness, meaning, stress, fatigue, and sadness during activities conducted with their partner and how these experiences vary by key demographic factors: couple-level work arrangements and gender. We go beyond prior work on time availability and relationship satisfaction to document how couple-level work arrangements and interactions with gender contribute to subjective experiences of time spent with a partner.

Previous research to understand socioeconomic well-being of immigrants finds the type of living arrangement is significantly correlated with household-level earnings. Present study employing 2009-2011 American Community Survey data explores the above relationship for the six major foreign-born Asian groups and native-born non-Hispanic Whites. The results indicate relative to Whites, household extension is more beneficial for Asian households. Furthermore, householders’ labor market advantages as measured by their human capital and English language proficiency are positively associated with nuclear living arrangement. However, diminishing gains in household earnings for the not so recent foreign-born immigrants living in vertically extended households displays a cultural inclination for collective living. Also, there are significant intergroup differences. While Japanese households appear to “rely” the least on household extension to enhance household earnings, the advantage of residing in extended households for the Filipinos and Koreans and especially so for the recent entrants is substantial.

Tomorrow’s jobs demand a highly trained workforce. Job seekers across North Carolina are entering a dynamic economy that requires new sets of technical skills and the ability to navigate increasing uncertainty. Once powered by industries like farming and manufacturing, North Carolina’s economy continues to shift toward a knowledge- and service-based economy comprised of higher-skilled jobs. Existing lower-skilled, lower-wage jobs are at increasing risk of being replaced by a machine or a computer algorithm. A highly trained workforce is a key driver of economic growth. Employers are drawn to regions where they can easily hire and retain skilled employees, and communities benefit substantially when new industries move to town or existing companies grow. More-educated workers are less likely to be unemployed and more likely to earn higher family-supporting wages.1 In addition, increased educational attainment is a powerful predictor of adult well-being, including better physical and mental health outcomes, more stable relationships, and greater civic knowledge and engagement. Adults’ educational attainment is also a key predictor of their children’s own level of education and wages.2 These trends are having a profound impact on the value we place on postsecondary schooling. The fastest-growing sectors of North Carolina’s economy demand employees with increasingly higher levels of educational attainment. By 2020, an estimated 67% of all jobs in North Carolina will require some education and training beyond high school.3 Today, 47% of North Carolina’s 5.3 million working-age adults (25-64 years old) have a postsecondary degree or nondegree credential.4 To meet the projected demands for an educated workforce, at least 60% of NC workers will need a postsecondary degree or nondegree credential by 2030. To reach 60% attainment today, an additional 672,000 NC adults would need to obtain a postsecondary degree or nondegree credential...