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| See Also: | |||||
| - The Methods of the Social Sciences |
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| - Examples of Research in the Social Sciences |
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| McLanahan, Sara, and Larry Bumpass. 1988. "Intergenerational Consequences of Family Disruption." American Journal of Sociology 94: 130-152. |
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| McLanahan & Bumpass (M & B) asked what factors contribute to / cause teen parenthood |
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| M & B verified many other researchers' findings that teenage girls from single-parent homes are more likely than other girls to have babies |
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| The hypothesis M & B want to test is
Single parent homes are correlated w/ a higher rate of teen pregnancy Single parent homes :: Higher rate of teen pregnancy |
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| But are single-parent homes the primary cause, or even a cause at all? |
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| M & B speculated that there are other possible factors influencing rates of teen pregnancy, such as: income level & education |
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| M & B used education as a control variable & found the following relationships |
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| Low education :: Single parent homes :: Higher rate of teen pregnancy |
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| Low education :: Two parent homes :: Higher rate of teen pregnancy | |||||
| Middle education :: Single parent homes :: Middle rate of teen pregnancy |
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| Middle education :: Two parent homes :: Middle rate of teen pregnancy |
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| High education :: Single parent homes :: Lower rate of teen pregnancy |
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| High education :: Two parent homes :: Lower rate of teen pregnancy |
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| Holding Education constant at a low level, M & B found that the rate of teen pregnancy was higher in both single & two parent families than in families w/ higher educational attainment rates |
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| Holding Education constant at a high level, M & B found that the rate of teen pregnancy was lower in both single & two parent families than in families w/ lower educational attainment rates |
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| The correlation btwn Single Parent Homes & rates of Teen Pregnancy is Spurious, that is, there is an apparent, although false, association btwn two or more variables caused by some other variable |
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| M & B found that the education level of the teen & of the teen's parents was the most important factor in teen pregnancy | |||||
| See Also: Out-of-Wedlock Births | |||||