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Intrayear Household Income Dynamics and Adolescent School Behavior

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Demography

Abstract

Economic life for most American households is quite dynamic. Such income instability is an understudied aspect of households’ economic contexts that may have distinct consequences for children. We examine the empirical relationship between household income instability, as measured by intrayear income change, and adolescent school behavior outcomes using a nationally representative sample of households with adolescents from the Survey of Income and Program Participation 2004 panel. We find an unfavorable relationship between income instability and adolescent school behaviors after controlling for income level and a large set of child and family characteristics. Income instability is associated with a lower likelihood of adolescents being highly engaged in school across the income spectrum and predicts adolescent expulsions and suspensions, particularly among low-income, older, and racial minority adolescents.

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Notes

  1. We also created a measure of interyear income instability comparable to what was constructed for Yeung et al. (2002) using the PSID-CDS, and we similarly found that 20 % of households experienced at least one income change of 30 % or more from year to year.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Human Development and Social Change, New York University, 246 Greene Street, Fl 6E, New York, NY, 10003, USA

    Lisa A. Gennetian

  2. National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Lisa A. Gennetian

  3. Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Sharon Wolf

  4. Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington, 323 Parrington Hall, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    Heather D. Hill

  5. Department of Applied Psychology, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, New York University, 246 Greene Street, New York, NY, 10003, USA

    Pamela A. Morris

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  1. Lisa A. Gennetian
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  2. Sharon Wolf
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  3. Heather D. Hill
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  4. Pamela A. Morris
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Correspondence to Lisa A. Gennetian.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 6 Correlations of alternative constructs of intra- and inter-income instability, households with adolescents aged 12 to 18
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Table 7 The relationship between income level and adolescent schooling behavior, adolescents aged 12 to 18: Odds ratios, with robust standard errors shown in parentheses
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Gennetian, L.A., Wolf, S., Hill, H.D. et al. Intrayear Household Income Dynamics and Adolescent School Behavior. Demography 52, 455–483 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-015-0370-9

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