IPUMS Research Articles

The Decline of Patrilineal Kin Propinquity in the United States, 1790-1940.

Historical change in the availability of kin beyond the household has long interested scholars, but there has been little comparable evidence on long-run change. While generally accepted that individuals lived near kin historically, no systematic measures have been available to assess historical kin propinquity at the national level. With the release of historical complete count United States census data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), a robust estimate of patrilineal kin propinquity for the United States nationally from 1790 to 1940 is calculated. Defined as the probability of non-random isonymy within an enumeration district, the estimate of patrilineal kin propinquity relies on the sequential ordering of households in the census. The United States experienced a long-run decline in patrilineal kin propinquity from nearly 50% of households in 1790 to 17% of households in 1940. The age patterns of kin propinquity show substantial variation across the life course, and regional differences demonstrate the impact of economic and demographic conditions. The decline in kin propinquity reflected urbanization and the decline of agriculture, declining kin availability, growing distance between potential kin links, and a change in preferences of living near kin. This is the first study to produce a systematic estimate of patrilineal kin propinquity at the national level for the United States between 1790 and 1940. Researchers can use this meaningful measure of patrilineal kin propinquity to better explain its relationships with other demographic behaviors and outcomes such as fertility, mortality, and migration choices.

Cohabitation and Self-rated Health: The Role of Socioeconomic Status and Sexual Minority Status among U.S. Cohabitors

This study examines whether health disparities between same-sex and different-sex cohabitors differ depending on socioeconomic status (SES). Previous research showed that SES mediates health disparities between different-sex and same-sex cohabitors, but less is known about its role as a potential moderator. Using data on cohabitors from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) National Health Interview Surveys (2007–2018), this study examines how the SES-health gradient shapes health disparities for same-sex and different-sex cohabitors. Average adjusted predictions from multinomial logistic regression models show that higher income-to-needs ratio is associated with improvements in self-rated health for same-sex cohabiting women relative to different-sex cohabiting women. However, results are mixed for men. As income-to-needs ratio increases, same-sex cohabiting men have higher probabilities of “excellent” or “very good” health than different-sex cohabitors; however, their risk of “poor” health increases significantly with higher income-to-needs ratios. Potential explanations related to minority stress, stress proliferation, gendered meanings of self-rated health, and selection are explored. Overall, disparities between same-sex and different-sex cohabitors differ by gender and SES, suggesting socioeconomic diversity should be considered in the study of sexual minority health.

Abstract C089: Racial/ethnic differences in smoking-related cancers in metropolitan Detroit

Abstract Metropolitan Detroit has a unique population structure, home to one of the highest concentrations of Arab Americans. Due to differences in prevalence of smoking between ethnic groups, we calculated incidence of smoking-related cancers among Arab Americans, Hispanics, non-Hispanic Whites and non-Hispanic Blacks in the metropolitan Detroit area. All first primary lung/bronchus, urinary bladder, and head and neck cancer cases diagnosed 2004-2015 were obtained from the Detroit Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program from 2004-2015. Arab/Chaldean surname cases were identified using a validated name algorithm resulting in five different racial/ethnic categories: non-Arab non-Hispanic Whites (NANHW), non-Arab non-Hispanic Blacks (NANHB), Arab American (ArA), Hispanics, and Other Ethnicities. Frequency tables were created to analyze distribution of stage, cancer site, age group, and sex between ethnic groups. Using Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), population estimates for the 11-year period were generated for each ethnic group. Age-standardized incidence rates were calculated using the 2000 US Standard Million for each group of cancer sites (lung/bronchus, head/neck [HNC], and bladder) for each ethnic group. Rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using International Association for Research on Cancer (IARC) Statistical methods for registries and NANHW as the reference group. From 2004-2015, there were 60,366 cases of smoking-related cancer reported to SEER, 1,346 of which were diagnosed in ArA. Among males, NANHB were more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer over this time period (NANHB vs NANHW RR=1.23 95% CI (1.17, 1.30)). ArA and Hispanic males had significantly lower rates than NANHW (RR=0.81 95% CI (0.72, 0.90) and 0.66 (0.58, 0.76), respectively). NANHW, NANHB, and Hispanic males had similar HNC rates (Hispanic RR=0.84 95% CI (0.63, 1.12) and NANHB RR=1.15 (1.03, 1.29) vs NANHW). Arab males had a significantly lower rate of HNC compared to NANHW (RR=0.67 95% CI (0.53, 0.83)). NANHW and Arab males had similar rates of bladder cancer (RR=1.13 95% CI (0.98, 1.31)). NANHB and Hispanic males had significantly lower rates of bladder cancer compared to NANHW (RR=0.49 95% CI (0.45, 0.52) and 0.51 (0.43, 0.61), respectively). Similar patterns emerged among females for both lung and bladder cancers. Females also had similar rates of HNC comparing NANHW and NANHB (RR=1.09 95% CI (0.89, 1.32)), but in contrast to males, Arab women had a marginally lower rate of HNC (RR=0.75 CI (0.49, 1.17)), and Hispanic women had a significantly lower rate of HNC (RR=0.55 95% CI (0.35, 0.86)). We report previously observed differences in lung and bladder cancer and identify novel differences in HNC among subgroups in metropolitan Detroit. Our future analyses will expand to other registries in the US with significant ArA populations. Analyses should be attentive to ArA as a population subgroup, which will define research questions specific to this unique population. Citation Format: Juliana E. Fucinari, Julie J. Ruterbusch, Katie M. Zarins, Laura S. Rozek, Kendra L. Schwartz. Racial/ethnic differences in smoking-related cancers in metropolitan Detroit [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2018 Nov 2-5; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl):Abstract nr C089.

Urban predictors of foreign-born PhD clusters

ABSTRACT The skilled workforce has taken on increased importance in the modern economy, but mobility of highly skilled workers has largely been studied with a focus on their careers. Thus, less is known about what urban or regional qualities predict the location choices of scientists and researchers, particularly those who are foreign born. In this article, I analyzed the clustering of foreign-born PhDs using individual-level census data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) aggregated to metropolitan statistical areas. Using a model developed from the literature studying the location propensities of other groups of immigrants and highly skilled workers, I study what predicts both the size of the foreign-born PhD cluster as well as where they are overrepresented relative to native-born PhDs. The results indicate that foreign-born PhDs locate in areas with a suitable local economy, ethnically similar immigrants, and a welcoming political environment.

The disruptive effect of ridesourcing services on for-hire vehicle drivers’ income and employment

Ridesourcing services provided by Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) such as Uber and Lyft are spreading across the United States and are thriving. As a result of TNCs' expansion, there has been concern that ridesourcing is disrupting the traditional for-hire vehicle market, and those drivers are suffering. Based on 12-year Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) datasets from 2005 to 2016, we investigate how the income, worker classification, and employment status of for-hire vehicle drivers in the United States had changed after Uber entered their local markets. We find that with the entry of Uber, the hourly wage income of for-hire drivers had decreased, the percentage of self-employed drivers had increased, and the likelihood of being employed had increased in “Uber-adopted” metropolitan areas. The results confirm the disruptive effect of ridesourcing services on the for-hire vehicle industry and its labor force in the United States. The analysis for the five largest metropolitan areas provides more detailed evidence of the effect of ridesourcing.

Does crop diversity at the village level influence child nutrition security? Evidence from 11 sub-Saharan African countries

Diversifying crop production has been proposed as a means of reducing food and nutrition insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa, but previous empirical studies yield mixed results. Much of this evidence has focused at the household level, but there are plausible reasons to expect that the presence of crop diversity at other scales affects human health. Utilizing data from 11 sub-Saharan African countries housed in the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)-Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) system, this study assesses the association between village-level crop diversity and both dietary diversity and height-for-age among young children. Our findings indicate that, overall, village-level crop diversity contributes to higher dietary diversity and improved height-for-age and that functional diversity measures best account for nutritional outcomes. These findings provide an important basis for future research to explore the importance of crop diversity at scales beyond the household and to consider other contextual determinants of child health.

Work exclusion and disability types: The heterogeneity of disability as social exclusion in the 2011 Irish Census microdata

Work exclusion is often associated with lacking or having certain body functions and structures, that is, disabilities. There are various types of disabilities, including visual, hearing, physical, and intellectual. The focus of this paper is to examine whether different disability types concur with different likelihoods of work exclusion; this approach differs from that of current disability statistics, which, in effect, treat people with disabilities as a homogeneous group. The 2011 Irish Census microdata from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) International database are used, since the data include information about disability types and have a sufficient sample size for the analysis of disabilities from type to type. Although all the included disability types significantly increase self-reported incapacity, logistic regression analysis of the data shows that the odds ratios with the adjustment of some sociodemographic variables widely differ from one another, which demonstrates the need for a type-sensitive approach to disability statistics.

On the logical structure of census and survey questionnaires

Skip instructions in census and survey questionnaires result in different groups of persons being eligible for different questions—the logical structure of the questionnaire. Logical structure is important for analyzing census and survey data, for processing raw questionnaire data, and for questionnaire design and testing.We define a simple, general, computer-readable representation of a questionnaire that incorporates information on skip instructions. Algorithms for automatic calculation of questionnaire paths and sets of eligible persons are presented and applied to the Malawi 2008 census questionnaire and IPUMS International sample dataset. The R code provided may be used to reproduce our results and to apply the algorithms to other questionnnaires and datasets. We show that dividing questionnaires into sections is a fundamental tool for understanding and limiting logical complexity.We model questionnaires as programs intended for execution by an interviewer or respondent, rather than by a computer, and represent them by a software design diagram that presents information on questions, responses, and skip instructions in a form that is as readable as a traditional paper questionnaire, while simultaneously providing a precise specification that programmers may use to create an electronic version of the questionnaire.

Household Food Insecurity among African Immigrants of the United States: Evidence from the National Health Interview Survey

ABSTRACT The annual number of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa to the United States (US) has roughly doubled every decade between 1980 and 2010. By 2015 the current and growing population of African Immigrants was estimated at 1.7 million, accounting for 4% of the 43.3 million immigrants in the US. The objective of this study is to investigate factors that influence the food security status of African Immigrant households in the US. Data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) Health Survey, a harmonized data of the 2015 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) was used. Food security (dependent variable) was measured using the USDA Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM) included in the NHIS data set. Independent variables included variables on immigration, economic and household characteristics. Multivariate logistic regression testing relationship of food security with the independent variables was done.

Until work do us part: Labour migration and occupational stratification in non-cohabiting marriage

While recent decades have seen considerable research on cohabitation without marriage, the study of marriage without cohabitation has not fared as well. Prior work on the latter has emphasized the importance of occupational stratification, but ignored the social context around occupation, particularly regarding labour mobility and economic development. In this paper, we outline the significance of contemporary labour mobility and concomitant occupational stratification for the risk of non-cohabiting marriage, and use data from the IPUMS–International project to provide a cross-national accounting of non-cohabiting marriage. We focus on two issues: first, how does prevalence vary across countries, across time, and with respect to economic development? Second, how do the core dynamics of labour mobility—including migration, occupational status, and economic development—influence the probability of non-cohabiting marriage? Results indicate broad cross-national differences in prevalence, increasing risk over time, and a pattern of accumulating risk associated with multifaceted social disadvantage.

Estimating Internal Migration in Contemporary Mexico and its Relevance in Gridded Population Distributions

Given downward trends in fertility and mortality, population dynamics –and thus theestimation of spatially-explicit population dynamics and gridded population and derivativeproducts– are increasingly sensitive to mobility processes and their changes in spatiality. In thispaper, we present a procedure to produce origin-destination intermunicipal/intercounty andinterstate migration matrices, briefly discussing their use and application in gridded populationproducts. To illustrate our approach, we produce total and sex-specific matrices with informationfrom the 2000 and 2010 Mexican Census long-form 10% surveys. We share the code required toreproduce the extraction of these and for potentially at least another 122 country-periods based onharmonized publicly-available data from IPUMS International, which allow for the addition ofancillary social and economic data and individual and household levels, or IPUMS Terra, whichfurther allow for GIS-based mapping, visualization, and manipulation and for the merging ofimportant contextual, e.g., environmental, data. Besides discussing the likely limitations of thesemeasures, using official projections from the Mexican government, we illustrate howmigration/mobility data improve the estimation of spatial/gridded population dynamics. We wrapup with a call for the collection of more adequate, spatially-explicit data on residential mobility andmigration globally.

Tiger Moms or Cat Dads: Parental Role in Bilingualism Among Asian and Latino Americans

ObjectiveThis study examines the differing roles of parents in producing bilingualism among second‐generation Asian and Latino Americans, the fastest growing immigrant groups in the United States.MethodsWe employ the probit model to estimate the likelihood of language maintenance for both ethnic groups using the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) USA of 2005–2014.ResultsThe estimation results show that mothers play a more significant role than fathers, especially for Latino Americans, and that heritage‐language retention increases with the parents’ age at arrival. We also find an increase in the rates of language maintenance across generations, presumably resulting from heightened awareness of the need to preserve cultural heritage among younger immigrants in recent decades.ConclusionThese findings highlight the cultural and structural differences in gendered parenting between the two immigrant groups and suggest potential areas of gains through intervention programs for immigrant parents to promote parental investment in their children's development, including bilingualism.

The impact of definitions in classifying the employed, unemployed and inactive when comparing measurements from different sources

In all large-scale sample surveys and the census, gender, age, marital status, educational and occupational variables are included as background variables to provide information necessary for defining subpopulations and “contexts in which respondents’ opinions, attitudes, and behavior are socio-economically embedded”. Because these background variables play such a central role in social research, establishing their measurement’s cross-national and overtime comparability is essential and consequently, international classifications have been developed. However, in the case of the employment status, i.e. one of the occupational variables, all large-scale sample surveys and the census use a perception question for its measurement whereas the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) is using a synthesized economic construct according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) conventional definitions of the employed, unemployed and inactive. In this paper, we investigate the classification issues arising from these two different measurements. The analysis is based on the 2008-2014 EU-LFS annual datasets and the 2001 and 2011 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)-International census datasets for Eastern (Hungary, Poland, Romania) and Southern (Greece, Portugal and Spain) Europe. The results are reported for the age group 15–74 so as to allow for comparability with the ILO conventional definition of unemployment.

Heterogeneous labor and structural change in low- and middle-income, resource-dependent countries

In this paper we analyse structural change and its implications for labor productivity growth in Kazakhstan, Malawi, and Zambia, three resource-dependent countries, during the resource boom that lasted from 2001 to 2013. We pay particular attention to the effects of labor heterogeneity by assessing the demand for pre-determined occupations. The effects of structural change on heterogeneous labor markets are studied by developing a model to explain the observed patterns of labor migration between sectors. We use labor force survey data from Kazakhstan and census microdata for Malawi and Zambia available from the IPUMS International database. In-depth examinations are performed using a decomposition technique and multinomial logit regression to examine labor demand patterns. Results show that private services experienced the largest increase in employment across all occupations and relative skill deepening. Substantial decreases in managers occurred in public services. The results indicate that structural change is fundamental in shaping the allocation of individuals across different occupations within the labor market. Moreover, during a resource boom, the results indicate that the public sector experiences a skill-drain that may affect the quality of governance.

Lincoln’s Mercenaries: Economic Motivation Among Union Soldiers During the Civil War by William Marvel

Reviewed by: Lincoln’s Mercenaries: Economic Motivation Among Union Soldiers During the Civil War by William Marvel Jonathan Lande Lincoln’s Mercenaries: Economic Motivation Among Union Soldiers During the Civil War. By William Marvel. Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2018. Pp. xx, 329. $48.00, ISBN 978-0-8071-6952-0.) Outside the history of Civil War America, scholars have addressed soldiering as a form of labor. Historians have contemplated soldiers as laborers who filled jobs in other sectors of the economy in the fall 2011 issue of International Labor and Working-Class History. In Fighting for a Living: A Comparative History of Military Labour, 1500–2000, edited by Erik Jan [End Page 921] Zürcher (Amsterdam, 2013), historians have delved into the labor relations of fighting men. These scholars divide soldiers into three types of laborers based on the taxonomy developed by the International Institute of Social History’s Global Collaboratory on the History of Labour Relations, 1500–2000: reciprocal laborers, or soldiers who served from social obligation; tributary laborers, or soldiers sworn to a state that owns its population’s labor; and commodified laborers, or soldiers who sell their labor to the state. Though William Marvel sets his sights on the historiography of soldiering in the American Civil War in Lincoln’s Mercenaries: Economic Motivation Among Union Soldiers During the Civil War, his book also contributes to this labor history of soldiering. He sees northern men in the 1860s as calculating workers. In contrast to previous Civil War scholars who have engaged soldiers as men motivated by ideology, Marvel argues that men enrolled, at least in part, for a wage. Marvel challenges the emphasis that earlier scholarship placed on patriotism, relying on new data furnished by the University of Minnesota’s Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS). He notes that in diaries and letters soldiers offered stories in which they consciously inscribed their patriotism, and he argues that early histories of soldiers by Earl J. Hess, Phillip Shaw Paludan, and James M. McPherson and later studies by Joseph Allan Frank, Reid Mitchell, and Gary W. Gallagher draw heavily on these manuscript collections without addressing the men’s biases. To sidestep the self-aware soldiers, Marvel calls on IPUMS data regarding household wealth in nineteenth-century America. Looking at median household wealth, Marvel determines the financial need of white men in the first companies mustered into service from each northern state (except border states) during major recruiting periods. He finds that a majority of the men came from the most economically distressed households. For example, hard-pressed shoemakers joined the first Massachusetts regiments in droves because the men were out of work, underpaid, or dissatisfied with their lot. In chapters that follow the seven major periods in the United States government’s enlistment drives, Marvel animates his statistics with manuscript analysis. He asserts that, after their patriotic platitudes, the men referenced their finances, and these asides expose the economic incentives that persuaded many white northerners to enlist. Marvel’s manuscript research provides compelling evidence that supports his thesis and supplies the most insightful contribution to date for historians who examine soldiering during the Civil War. The stories reveal the layers of thought beneath motivation and relay how a single inducement, be it patriotism or pay, did not wholly encompass a soldier’s decision to volunteer or reenlist. Incentives overlapped. For example, Minnesota schoolteacher James Madison Bowler espoused sentimental ideals to a young woman he was courting when he volunteered, yet he reenlisted not for cause (or for comrade) but to keep earning his significant wage as a major. Marvel’s study reminds readers that men under the influence of esprit de corps, or who sought the affections of women, could not resist the dollar. As ongoing skirmishes at Confederate monuments attest, Americans continue to clash over the Civil War and its meanings. These raised pulses may obscure the soldiers’ ideological calculations and drive historians to consider [End Page 922] the men’s nationalism, masculinity, abolitionism, or any motivation except cash. But Marvel demonstrates many of the men who did the actual fighting needed employment and found it in the...

The Long-Term Consequences of the Global 1918 Influenza Pandemic: A Systematic Analysis of 117 IPUMS International Census Data Sets

Several country-level studies, including a prominent one for the United States, have identified long-term effects of in-utero exposure to the 1918 influenza pandemic (also known as the Spanish Flu) on economic outcomes in adulthood. In-utero conditions are theoretically linked to adult health and socioeconomic status through the fetal origins or Barker hypothesis. Historical exposure to the Spanish Flu provides a natural experiment to test this hypothesis. Although the Spanish Flu was a global phenomenon, with around 500 million people infected worldwide, there exists no comprehensive global study on its long-term economic effects. We attempt to close this gap by systematically analyzing 117 Census data sets provided by IPUMS International. We do not find consistent global long-term effects of influenza exposure on education, employment and disability outcomes. A series of robustness checks does not alter this conclusion. Our findings indicate that the existing evidence on long-term economic effects of the Spanish Flu is likely a consequence of publication bias.

Social and Economic Impacts of International Marriages in Europe

The effect of international marriage - a union between a country native and an immigrant - on social and family outcomes is endogenous due to the selection into marriage markets and non-random spousal choice. In this paper we use availability of cheap airline flights as region-specific instrumental variable that increased the probability of intermarriage in Europe. The two-stage least squares analysis applied to 1977–2006 IPUMS International Project Census micro data shows no significant difference in the family size or number of children between intermarried and same-nativity couples. However, it does reveal higher labor force participation rates and much lower marriage rates among mixed nationality couples.

U.S. Return Migration and the Decline in Southern Black Disadvantage, 1970-2000.

This study investigates how the Return Migration altered racial inequality in poverty in the American South. I disaggregate southern poverty into its separate constituents using household data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) for 1970 through 2000. The prevalence of poverty declined most dramatically for black southern households and the racial gap in poverty narrowed to the extent that previous substantial regional differences disappeared. A central focus is the contrast between higher poverty and inequality among migrants who returned to their birth state relative to other southern-born migrants who returned to the South. The migration experience is diverse and has conflicting consequences for racial inequality; for some, migration maintained economic vulnerability. Given the complex force of migration, I conclude that a nuanced theoretical approach to migration that gives weight to economic and noneconomic motivations is critical to understand the racial dimensions of migration and the associated changes in racial inequality.

Interoperable and accessible census and survey data from IPUMS

The first version of the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) was released to users in 1993, and since that time IPUMS has come to stand for interoperable and accessible census and survey data. Initially created to harmonize U.S. census microdata over time, IPUMS now includes microdata from the U.S. and international censuses and from surveys on health, employment, and other topics. IPUMS also provides geo-spatial data, aggregate population data, and environmental data. IPUMS supports ten data products, each disseminating an integrated data collection with a set of tools that make complex data easy to find, access, and use. Key features are record-level integration to create interoperable datasets, user-friendly interfaces, and comprehensive metadata and documentation. The IPUMS philosophy aligns closely with the FAIR principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability, and re-usability. IPUMS data have catalyzed knowledge generation across a wide range of social science and other disciplines, as evidenced by the large volume of publications and other products created by the vast IPUMS user community.

The Financial State of Municipalities and the Effect on Housing Values

This study investigates the impact of municipalities' financial condition on the housing values within that municipality. The data consist of 68,882 housing units located in 175 cities throughout 115 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), across 42 states. Information on the housing units and owners' characteristics are drawn from the 2011 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) dataset and supplemented with MSA-level economic condition variables. The municipal financial information is drawn from the 2010 government census and consists of detailed information of every local government's finances. The empirical results provide evidence that the financial state of a municipality affects local housing values. In particular, engaging in long-term capital projects leads to higher housing values, while not spending revenues on public goods will not entice individuals to move to the area.