Skills in Adolescence, Occupation, and Disability at Midlife

• In Event: 523 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 21. Health and Education

Abstract

With life expectancy increasing and access to retirement benefits decreasing, the ability to participate in the labor force is vital in today’s society. At midlife, individuals are still of working age and may be particularly vulnerable to the financial and psychosocial stresses of labor force detachment. Using the newest wave of High School and Beyond (1980), this study investigates how skills that individuals possess in adolescence relate to being out of the labor force due to disability at midlife. Results indicate that math skills and an internal locus of control in adolescence are protective against being out of the labor force due to disability at midlife. These associations are partially explained by educational and occupational advantages across the life course, but skills in adolescence remain independently protective of labor force participation at midlife. This study highlights the importance of viewing later-life outcomes as a consequence of earlier experiences and taking a longer view of the life course origins of adult outcomes.

Authors

• Amanda Bosky, University of Texas at Austin

• John Robert Warren, University of Minnesota