SOC 100
PROJECT 2: COHORTS AND POPULATION STRUCTURE
General Instructions: Staple the Student Chip tables that you
used to answer these questions to your project. Do not use paper clips or
have any loose papers; everything should be stapled together. (If you need
one, there's a heavy-duty stapler in 329 Asbury, the Sociology & Anthropology
main office.) Label the file and population that each Student Chip table
corresponds to (e.g., CenTrend/PopStruc; adults ages 65+ on 1930 and 1990).
Put the question number(s) that each Student Chip table is used with on
it (e.g., Q1-6). Type your answers and do your charts or tables in ink or
with a felt-tip marker, not in pencil. Be sure that your tables or charts
identify the population being considered and have a key or otherwise label
the categories that are referred to. 4 pts.
1. On the above chart, fill in the population frequencies associated
with: a) the 1926-35 birth cohort, b) the 1946-55 birth cohort, and c) the
1966-75 birth cohort. In other words, you are tracing these three cohorts
as they aged from one census to the next (CenTrend/PopStruc). Don't fill
in any other frequencies. (Hint: Ignore the youngest and oldest age categories
on the StudentChip table since they do not correspond to 10-year intervals.)
6 pts.
2. Which of these cohorts would you conclude is a baby boom cohort? What
historical factors occurring at the time of its birth are likely to have
produced this baby boom? What historical factors occurring at the time of
the 1926-35 cohort's birth are likely to have contributed to its size? (If
you don't have a sense of the timing of the major events of this century,
then check a timetable in a general U.S. history text.) 6 pts.
3. What happened to the population of elementary school children in the
U.S. between 1950 and 1960? (CenTrend/PopStruc) If the 1950 population of
children ages 5-14 is taken as the base population, what is the percent
change in the elementary school population between 1950 and 1960? What effects
would this change have had? For whom? 6 pts.
4. Ages 15-24 are the ages that most Americans enter the labor market.
Knowing this, what census year had the greatest number of labor market entrants?
(CenTrend/PopStruc) When were these people born? Other things being equal,
what sorts of conditions would you expect that this cohort experienced as
it began to enter the job market? How might members of this cohort have
responded? 6 pts.
5. Ages 25-34 are typically the peak ages for entering the housing market
(buying a first home). Knowing this, what census year experienced the greatest
number of people looking for a first home? (CenTrend/PopStruc). What effects
would this have on the housing market? How might these first-time buyers
have responded? 6 pts.
6. Take the 10-year birth cohort in your table that has the largest size
and calculate the decade that it will begin to collect full social security
benefits. (Hint: Such benefits become available at ages 65-67). what future
decade will see greatest strain on the social security system? 6 pts.
7. Is it possible for a birth cohort in the U.S. to get larger over time? Explain why or why not. What factors affect the initial size of a birth cohort? What affects its subsequent size?
6 pts.
8. Pick the age group that you and your partner were members of in 1990.
Compare the size of your age group (birth cohort) to the ones preceding
it. What effects do you think the size of your cohort relative to the ones
preceding yours will have on your life? Explain why. (CenTrend\PopStruc)
What cohorts older than yours do you think you should be most concerned
about? Why? 6 pts.
9. In 1940, how many women and how many men were in the birth cohort of 1916-1925? (CenTrend/PopStruc). Hints: You need to figure out what age the 1916-25 birth cohort was in 1940 in order to look at the right age category. Do the same for 1950--that is, calculate the number of women and the number of men from this birth cohort. Calculate the sex ratios for this birth cohort in 1940 and in 1950. Fill in these sex ratios and frequencies in the table below.
Frequencies in the StudentChip table are shown in 1000's so add three zeroes to get the actual number of women and men. 6 pts.
The Birth Cohort of 1916-1925
1940 1950
_________________________________________________________________________________
Number of Women
Number of Men
Sex Ratio
10. What period event explains what happened to the sex ratio of this
cohort between 1940 and 1950? How did this event impact men? How was its
impact different for women of this cohort? (Hint: Think not just about immediate
effects of this event, but longer-term ones as well.) 6 pts.
11. Examine what's happened to the sex ratio between 1930 and 1990 for
elderly Americans (those 65 and older). Omit other age groups and other
periods and then create a StudentChip table that shows the number of Americans
by gender for these two census years. Calculate the sex ratio for the elderly
in 1930 and then sixty years later in 1990. (CenTrend/PopStruc). What factors
are likely to account for the change? 8 pts.
12. Examine the four largest race/ethnic groups in 1990 and the age categories
0-14, 35-44, and 65+ (Cen1990/PopUSA9). Hint: You will need to use the MODIFY
function to collapse categories and limit your sample to these races and
ages.) Is the race/ethnic distribution of American children (those ages
0-14) different from that of the elderly (those 65+)? Summarize your findings.
What factors do you think account for these results? 8 pts.
13. Use the file Cen1990/PopGeo9 to examine the relationship between
race/ethnicity and region of residence. Skip the racial category NLOther.
Fill in the table below. Are Non-Latin whites over-represented in the South?
6 pts.
U.S. Population in 1990
Race/Ethnicity Modal region of residence Percent living in this region
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
American Indian %
Asian %
Black %
Latino %
Non-Latin White %
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All Ethnicities %
14. Using the file Cen1990/PopUSA9 and skipping the NLOther and AmIndian
racial categories, construct a StudentChip table that shows the race/ethnic
composition of each region of the U.S. in 1990. From your table, create
a stacked bar chart for each region that shows its racial/ethnic composition.
Create a key that identifies the pattern used to represent each ethnic group--e.g.,
diagonal lines for Latinos. What factors might explain the regional patterns
that you have found? 8 pts.
15. Use the file Cen1990/PopGeo9 to examine the relationship between race/ethnicity (RACELAT) and type of residence (GEO). Which ethnic group has the largest stake in what happens to non-metropolitan areas? What groups have the biggest stake in the fate of American cities? Which two ethnic groups have the biggest stake in policies that aid the suburbs? Circle the numbers on your StudentChip table that show this. Which type of residence (city, suburb, or non-metropolitan) has the highest proportion of non-Latin whites in it? Include the table that shows this. 6 pts.