Working Papers
Working Paper Series 2000-2001
00-01-01 
Gutmann, Myron P., Sara M. Pullum-Piñón, Thomas W. Pullum. "Three Eras of Young Adult Home Leaving in Twentieth-Century America"
This paper divides the history of coming of age in the U.S. in the twentieth century into three distinct time periods: one that ran from 1880 until World War II, one that started in the 1940s and continued until the 1960s, and a third that began by 1970 and was still in evidence in 1990. The analysis is based on whether young people were living with one or both of their parents at the time of each of the decennial censuses of the U.S. from 1880 through 1990. We focus on the ages at which young men and women left home and we interpret those levels and trends in terms of the broad social conditions in which they lived. The news here is in the history of home-leaving ages up until the time of the Second World War. Virtually all earlier studies assert that the age of home-leaving was declining from as early as it could be measured until 1970. Our results say otherwise. From 1880 until 1940 for males and 1950 for females, the age at leaving home did not decline, it rose. The decline came later. Led by men in 1940, the generation of the Second World War experienced a sharp decline in the age at which they left home, one that continued for everyone until 1960 and for white men and women until 1970. Beginning with 1970, the age of home-leaving rose again, reaching relatively high levels by 1990. These patterns hold generally for white and black Americans, and for males and females, although there are some significant differences between these four groups.
00-01-02
Wildsmith, Elizabeth. "Female Headship: Testing Theories of Linear Assimilation, Segmented Assimilation, and Familism among Mexican Origin Women"
This study examines how levels of female headship, non-marital fertility, and divorce among Mexican origin women aged 18-59 compare to levels among the non-Hispanic white majority. Change is measured over time and across generations in order to test various theories of assimilation between minority and majority populations, namely linear assimilation, segmented assimilation, and familism. The data used in this study were obtained from two sources. First, IPUMS data supplemented with newly devised Hispanic identification variables, allowing for the identification of Mexican origin women in the census samples, was used to analyze change over time and across two generations in female headship. Decomposition analysis determined that differences in levels of fertility (especially non-marital) and divorce accounted for the majority of the difference in female headship rates between Mexican born and white women and U.S. born Mexican and white women. Analysis of trends in female headship, non-marital fertility, and divorce among Mexican origin women over time offered no support for linear assimilation or familism theories. Second, recent generational changes were analyzed using data from the 1995 June Current Population Survey, and findings were mixed. While differences in marital instability offer some support of linear assimilation across three generations, differences in non-marital fertility lend support to segmented assimilation theory. The continued high levels of non-marital childbearing for all Mexican origin women warrant further investigation.
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