Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: The U.S. Armed Forces offer educational and training benefits as incentives for service. This study investigates the influence of status configurations on military enlistment and their link to greater educational opportunity. Three statuses (socioeconomic status of origin, cognitive ability and academic performance) have particular relevance for life course options. We hypothesize that young men with inconsistent statuses are more likely to enlist than men with consistent status profiles, and that military service improves access to college for certain configurations. Analyses of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) show (1. that several status configurations markedly increased the likelihood of military enlistment and (2. within status configurations, recruits were generally more likely to enroll in higher education than nonveterans, with associate degrees being more likely.
Source: Social Forces
DOI: 10.1093/sf/sos174
Authors: L. Wang, G. H. Elder, N. J. Spence
Institutions: Lehman College, City University of New York
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Institutes of Health, Gillings School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
OpenAlex ID: W2118182188