Black White Males Research Articles

Racial Differences in Time at Work Not Working

Racial differences in effort at work, if they exist, can potentially explain race-based wage/earnings disparities in the labor market. The authors estimate specifications of time spent on non-work activities at work by Black and White males and females with data from the American Time Use Survey. Estimates reveal that trivially small differences occur between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White males in time spent not working while on the job that disappear entirely when correcting for non-response errors. The findings imply that Black–White male differences in the fraction of the workday spent not working are either not large enough to partially explain the Black–White wage gap, or simply do not exist at all.

Smoking Trajectories Among Monoracial and Biracial Black Adolescents and Young Adults.

Cigarette smoking trajectories were assessed among monorace Blacks, Black-American Indians, Black-Asians, Black-Hispanics, and Black-Whites. We used a subsample of nationally representative data obtained from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The sample consisted of adolescents who were in Grades 7 - 12 in 1994, and followed across four waves of data collection into adulthood. Wave 4 data were collected in 2007-2008 when most respondents were between 24 and 32 years old. Respondents could report more than one race/ethnicity. Poisson regression was used to analyze the data. We found distinct smoking trajectories among monorace and biracial/ethnic Blacks, with all groups eventually equaling or surpassing trajectories of Whites. The age of cross-over varied by gender for some subgroups, with Black-American Indian males catching up earlier than Black-American Indian females. Black-White females smoked on more days than monorace Black females until age 26 and also smoked more than Black-White males between ages 11 and 29 years. Black-Hispanic males smoked on more days than Black-Hispanic females from ages 11 to 14. The results of the interaction tests also indicated different smoking trajectories across SES levels among White, Black, and Black-White respondents. Significant heterogeneity was observed regarding smoking trajectories between monoracel and biracial/ethnic Blacks. Knowledge of cigarette smoking patterns among monorace and biracial/ethnic Black youth and young adults extends our understanding of the etiology of tobacco use and may inform interventions.