Rebecca A. London

University of California, Santa Cruz | UCSC · Department of Sociology

This study examines the structuring of university-community research partnerships that facilitate theoretically grounded research while also generating findings that community partners find actionable. We analyze one partnership that positions university-based researchers as members of a team working to create, maintain, and use a longitudinal mult...

BACKGROUND Recess is a part of the elementary school day with strong implications for school climate. Positive school climate has been linked to a host of favorable student outcomes, from attendance to achievement. We examine 6 low-income elementary schools' experiences implementing a recess-based program designed to provide safe, healthy, and incl...

Fighting childhood obesity has become a key policy focus. The role of community-based interventions to promote physical activity is an important part of an overall strategy to increase physical activity for youth. This study examines whether community-based afterschool physical activity programs lead to improved youth fitness and lower obesity rate...

Purpose: Chronic health conditions are common and increasing among U.S. children and youth. We examined whether chronic health conditions are associated with low school performance. Methods: This retrospective cohort study of 22,730 children and youth (grades 2-11) in San Jose, California, was conducted from 2007 through 2010. Health conditions...

There is no clear theoretical prediction regarding whether home computers are an important input in the educational production function. To investigate the hypothesis, we conduct a field experiment involving the random provision of free computers to low‐income community college students for home use. Although estimates for a few measures are imprec...

Childhood obesity has been linked with other persistent health problems, but research is just beginning to examine its relationship with academic performance. This article tracks students longitudinally to examine the ways student physical fitness and changes in fitness align with school performance. Using matched administrative data and individual...

Recent data suggest that the digital divide between White and minority youth persists, particularly in terms of home access to computers and the Internet. Community technology centers (CTCs) are an important alterative access point, especially for low-income youth of color. Such institutions, however, do much more, providing not just access, but ge...

In this article, we discuss the use of administrative data from schools, colleges and universities, and other public and private agencies and organizations for tracking students through their educational pathways. We focus on existing data collection systems that can be used to study successful postsecondary education transitions, including both st...

In this study, we examine annual transitions into and out of health insurance coverage using matched data from the 1996 to 2004 Current Population Survey (CPS). We find evidence of several characteristics that are strongly associated with the likelihood of losing or gaining health insurance including race, education, unemployment, part-time employm...

We gratefully acknowledge the interest and participation of the Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula and the Redwood City School District, who provided the data for this study and participated in discussions and offered feedback. We also thank Hayin Kim for research assistance, and Craig Baker, Guadalupe Valdés, and Milbrey McLaughlin for thoughtful...

Using matched data from the 1996 to 2004 Current Population Survey (CPS), we examine racial patterns in annual transitions into and out of health insurance coverage. We first decompose racial differences in static health insurance coverage rates into group differences in transition rates into and out of health insurance coverage. The low rate of he...

By linking consecutive years of the 1996–2004 Current Population Survey (CPS), we create new estimates of annual transitions into and out of health insurance coverage. Using the matched CPS panel data, we explore the dynamic factors—including job loss, changes in hours or weeks worked, and movement between firm sizes—associated with health insuranc...

Household and family living arrangements have become increasingly visible in public policy discussions, especially with the passage of the landmark Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA).1 The legislation-a response to a trend of rising rates of childbirth outside of marriage-emphasizes the reinforcement of...

Today's welfare system does not encourage postsecondary education, focusing instead on immediate employment. The loss of postsecondary education as a route out of poverty may be detrimental to some women. College graduation is associated with lower rates of recidivism and post-welfare poverty than attendance without graduation or no attendance.

Technology Access Foundation, and the United Teen Equality Center. Their willingness to share with us their programs and thoughts made this project possible. All interpretations and errors are our own.

Objective. I examine the association between total time on welfare and recipients' college attendance and graduation over a 20-year period. Methods. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, I model the determinants of college enrollment and graduation among welfare recipients, and the association between the total number of months...

The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) put the need for attitudinal change at the center of efforts to help welfare recipients become economically independent, avoid out-of-wedlock childbearing, and embrace marriage. In this paper, we focus specifically on attitudes, analyzing both differences in values...

Thirty-four states have diversion programs in place that offer lump-sum payments or service vouchers to applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) who have short-term needs, enabling them to avoid beginning a spell of aid. Using data from the National Survey of America's Families, I find that diversion programs appear to target a...

This article examines the interaction between single mothers' living arrangements and their welfare participation, taking into account the endogeneity embedded in the two decisions. Using data from the 1990 Survey of Income and Program Participation, I estimate a two-stage instrumental variables model and simulate the effects of partial- and full-f...

Using a four-way definition of living arrangements (independent, live with parents, cohabit, share with others) and data from the 1990 Survey of Income and Program Participation, I find that single mothers have a 26 percent probability of switching living arrangements at least once during a 32-month period. Mothers living independently are the leas...

I examine trends in single mothers' living arrangements using data from the 1970-1995 Current Population Surveys. I create a consistent trend by correcting a coding problem that stemmed from the misidentification of children living in multigenerational households before 1984. Revised estimates show that the number of single mothers in each of these...

We examine the relationship between fertility and incremental AFDC benefits using the 1990 Panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Estimating a logit equation for the probability of a higher-order birth among a sample of AFDC recipients, we find a positive coefficient (although statistically insignificant) on the incremental...

This paper uses data on abortion rates by state from 1974-1988 to estimate two-stage least squares models with fixed state and year effects. Restrictions on Medicaid funding for abortion are correlated with lower abortion rates in-state and higher rates among nearby states. A maximal estimate suggests that 19-25% of the abortions among low-income w...

In this study, I examine the way in which divorced and never-married single mothers differ in their decisions to participate in Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC). Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), I find that divorced mothers are twice as likely to receive AFDC benefits than never-married mothers. W...

This paper examines the determinants of single mothers� living arrangements and their effect on mothers� AFDC participation. Using data from the 1990 Survey of Income and Program Participation, I estimate a two-stage instrumental variables model to account for the simultaneity of the living arrangement and AFDC participation decisions. Tabulations...

The Playworks program, an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, places full-time coaches in low-income schools to provide opportunities for organized play during recess and throughout the school day. Using random assignment, Mathematica and the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities (JGC) at Stanford University are condu...

Available from: UI Occasional Papers, Unemployment Insurance Service, Frances Perkins Bldg., Room S-4519, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20210. (202) 208-5915 x200, Wayne Gordon. Ask for UIS Occasional Paper No. 97-3.

The effectiveness of higher education as a route into self-sustaining employment has been demonstrated by decades of educational and economic research. Despite this, recent policy changes at the federal level have led to a widespread denial of access to postsecondary education for welfare recipients, arguably one of the most economically disadvanta...