Using a sample of women with children from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I look at the effects of receipt of AFDC assistance between 1968 and 1972 on attitudes and behaviors measured in 1972. I also look at the effect of AFDC receipt on the women’s hours worked and economic status up to...

We investigate in this paper the extent to which families receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) differ from other families in mental health and the way they organize their time, manage their households, and spend their money. Our data come from two nationally-representative...

In this research, I consider how objective and perceived neighborhood quality affect adolescent problem behavior. I focus on three main questions: (1) Does living in stressful neighborhoods cause adolescents to be more likely to take risks? (2) Do some neighborhoods contribute to adolescent...

This research uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to describe and model developmental trajectories across middle childhood. Our sample consists of approximately 1,000 children of NLSY women who were age 6-7 in either 1986 or 1988. Assessments of PIAT math and reading...

We expand the search for modifiable features of neighborhood environments that alter obesity risk in two ways. First, we examine residents' access to neighborhood retail food options in combination with neighborhood features that facilitate physical activity. Second, we evaluate neighborhood...

Using a Danish data set that follows 135,000 Danish children from birth through 9th grade, we examine the effect of maternal employment during a child's first three and first 15 years on that child's grade point average in 9th grade. We address the endogeneity of employment by including a rich...