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News

News Archives

The Well-being of US-Born Children of Mexican Immigrants in Unmarried Families Recent research findings have brought attention to the hardship faced by children of immigrants in the United States. Family structure may also be a major factor affecting the well-being of immigrant children, but one that has not received much attention, mainly as a result of the relatively higher marriage rates found among immigrants.

Ethnic Identification, Intermarriage, and Unmeasured Progress by Mexican Americans Intermarriage is widespread among U.S.-born Mexican Americans. Data from the 2000 Census show that almost half (48 percent) of Mexican-American marriages involve a non-Mexican spouse. Moreover, these same Census data reveal that intermarriage is a fundamental determinant of whether the children of Mexican Americans retain their ethnic identification.

Faria Fellows and PRC Trainees Meet with Former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President of Brazil from 1995 to 2003 and a renowned sociologist, visited The University of Texas September 13-14.

One Size Does Not Fit All: Socioeconomic Status in Health Research Problems with measuring socioeconomic status/position (SES) could affect research findings and conclusions, particularly those on racial/ethnic disparities. The authors critically examine standard SES measurement approaches, illustrating problems with examples from new analyses and the literature.

La Frontera and Beyond: Geography and Demography in Mexican American History The recent publication of an expansive national dataset, the IPUMS, allows for new analyses of the historical geography and settlement of various immigrant and ethnic groups in the U.S.

Wearing Cultural Styles in Japan: Concepts of Tradition and Modernity in Practice This groundbreaking collection examines the regional dynamics of state societies, looking at how people use the concepts of urban and rural, traditional and modern, and industrial and agricultural to define their existence and the experience of living in contemporary Japanese society. The book focuses on the Tohoku (Northeast) region, which many Japanese consider rural, agrarian, undeveloped economically, and the epitome of the traditional way of life.

The Constitution as Social Design: Gender and Civic Membership in the American Constitutional Order This book focuses on gender and civic membership in American constitutional politics from the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment through Second Wave Feminism. It examines how American civic membership is gendered, and how the terms of civic membership available to men and women shape their political identities, aspirations, and behavior. The book also explores the dynamics of American constitutional development through a focus on civic membership-a legal and political construct at the heart of the constitutional order.

Mexican Roots, American Schools: Helping Mexican Immigrant Children Succeed The children of Mexican immigrant families are the fastest growing population in American schools today. Education can be the key to a better quality of life, especially for a population that faces breathtakingly high poverty rates and few other opportunities for social mobility. But these children are too frequently considered at risk academically. What more can be done to help them succeed?

Does the Body Forget? Women's cumulative onset of cardiovascular disease by age and marital history Drawing on 5 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, Zhenmei Zhang and Mark D. Hayward examine the influence of the marital life course on the prevalence and incidence of cardiovascular disease among 9,434 middle-aged individuals.

Poor Families in America's Health Care Crisis Poor Families in America's Health Care Crisis examines the implications of the fragmented and two-tiered health insurance system in the United States for the health care access of low-income families. For a large fraction of Americans their jobs do not provide health insurance or other benefits and although government programs are available for children, adults without private health care coverage have few options. Detailed ethnographic and survey data from selected low-income neighborhoods in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio document the lapses in medical coverage that poor families experience and reveal the extent of untreated medical conditions, delayed treatment, medical indebtedness, and irregular health care that women and children suffer as a result. Extensive poverty, the increasing proportion of minority households, and the growing dependence on insecure service sector work all influence access to health care for families at the economic margin.

Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers As is evident from contemporary debates about sex education, Americans remain deeply ambivalent about teenage sexuality. While many presume that such reticence is rooted in religion, how exactly religion contributes to the formation of teenagers’ sexual values and behaviors has been poorly understood before now. Does religion really motivate the sexual choices of a significant segment of adolescent society? Are abstinence pledges effective? Is there evidence for a “technical virginity” phenomenon among religious teenagers? What does it mean to be “emotionally ready” for sex? Who expresses regrets about their sexual activity and why?

Higher Ground: New Hope for the Working Poor and Their Children Higher Ground tells the story of a group of committed activists and business leaders in Milwaukee who propelled their passion and pragmatism into a fresh approach to addressing one of the country’s most enduring problems, poverty. The experiment was called New Hope. Through the eyes of three women, Inez, Lakeisha, and Elena, readers see first-hand how well-designed policies can make a difference in the lives of working poor adults and their children.

Does Globalization Benefit Women in Developing Countries? Percent Female Workers in Export and Non-export Manufacturing Firms in Mexico, 2001 Sociological research has been generally critical of the effects of economic globalization on developing countries. However, greater worldwide economic integration may have created new employment opportunities for women. In a recent article Andrés Villarreal and Wei-hsin Yu examine the effect of foreign investment and export production on gender inequality in Mexico, a country that epitomizes the global shift to an open-market economic strategy. Using data from nationally representative surveys of manufacturing firms between 1992 and 2001, they find that foreign and export-oriented firms employ significantly more women at every occupational level than do nationally-owned firms producing goods for sale in the domestic market. The greater employment of women in foreign and export firms cannot be explained by these firms’ higher demand for workers of lower skill levels, their size, capital intensity, production technology, wage level, use of temporary workers, or industry. Using managers’ responses to survey questions regarding gender preferences in hiring, Villarreal and Yu find that managers in foreign-owned export firms have a preference for hiring women that cannot be explained by firm-level factors. This preference may account for the observed differences in female employment. Finally, using firms’ payroll information to analyze the gender wage gap in manufacturing firms, they find that foreign-owned export firms discriminate against women less in terms of wages.

Research Experience for Undergraduates program now accepting applications

IIE/Hewlett Foundation Dissertation Fellowship Call for Proposals The Institute of International Education (IIE) is now accepting applications for the Dissertation Fellowship in Population, Reproductive Health, and Economic Development. The two-year fellowships of $20,000 per year will be awarded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and IIE. The fellowships are open to students currently enrolled in Ph.D. programs in the United States and Canada.

Professor Aletha Huston's SRCD Presidential Address Published In 2007, Dr. Aletha Huston—The Priscilla Pond Flawn Regents Professor of Child Development in the Department of Human Ecology at UT and former Associate Director of the Population Research Center—completed her two-year term as president of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), the world’s largest professional association dedicated to the study of human development. As president, Dr. Huston oversaw a membership of nearly 6,000 researchers and practitioners from over 50 countries, encouraging the exchange of information among scientists and other professionals from multiple disciplines as well as the applications of scientific research.

SDA Annual Meeting Call for Abstracts The Southern Demographic Association (SDA) is soliciting abstracts for its annual meeting, to be held this October 30 through November 1, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency in Greenville, South Carolina. SDA is also soliciting suggestions for topics for panels and poster sessions.

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