The Consequences of Academic Match between Students and Colleges

Eleanor Wiske Dillon; Jeffrey Andrew Smith

doi:10.3368/jhr.55.3.0818-9702R1

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Figure 1 Expenditures per Student as a Function of the College Quality Index
Notes: Instructional expenditure per student from IPEDS and U.S. News and World Report. College quality indexes calculated as described in the text.
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Figure 2 Effect of College Quality on Graduating within Six Years
Notes: Projected from estimates summarized in Table 3.
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Figure 3 Long-Term Earnings Estimates for NLSY-79—Effects of College Quality and Student Ability
Notes: Mean marginal effects are calculated from the coefficients of a polynomial of ability and college quality as described in the text. Markers indicate that the estimated effect is statistically significant at p < 0.05. A subset of these estimates is presented in Table 6, Panel A.

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Table 1

Joint Distribution of College Quality and Ability

Ability Quartiles	Quartile 1 (Lowest)	Quartile 2	Quartile 3	Quartile 4 (Highest)	Total
Panel A: NLSY-79
Quartile 1 (lowest)	10.6	7.0	4.7	2.7
	(42.6)	(27.9)	(18.7)	(10.8)	(100.0)
	[37.6]	[27.9]	[17.2]	[13.8]	[25.0]
Quartile 2	7.7	7.0	6.4	3.9
	(30.8)	(28.0)	(25.7)	(15.5)	(100.0)
	[27.3]	[28.0]	[23.7]	[19.9]	[25.1]
Quartile 3	5.9	6.0	8.4	4.7
	(23.6)	(24.1)	(33.5)	(18.8)	(100.0)
	[20.8]	[24.0]	[30.8]	[23.9]	[24.9]
Quartile 4 (highest)	4.0	5.0	7.6	8.3
	(16.1)	(20.0)	(30.6)	(33.2)	(100.0)
	[14.3]	[20.0]	[28.2]	[42.4]	[25.0]
	(28.3)	(25.0)	(27.1)	(19.6)
Total	[100.0]	[100.0]	[100.0]	[100.0]	[2,497.0]
Panel B: NLSY-97
Quartile 1 (lowest)	12.0	7.0	4.3	1.8
	(48.0)	(27.8)	(17.0)	(7.2)	(100.0)
	[44.0]	[25.7]	[18.2]	[8.1]	[25.0]
Quartile 2	7.4	8.0	5.5	4.1
	(29.6)	(31.9)	(21.9)	(16.6)	(100.0)
	[27.0]	[29.4]	[23.4]	[18.7]	[25.0]
Quartile 3	4.9	6.9	7.1	6.1
	(19.6)	(27.7)	(28.2)	(24.5)	(100.0)
	[18.0]	[25.6]	[30.1]	[27.6]	[25.0]
Quartile 4 (highest)	3.0	5.3	6.6	10.1
	(12.0)	(21.0)	(26.6)	(40.4)	(100.0)
	[11.0]	[19.4]	[28.3]	[45.5]	[25.0]
Total	(27.3)	(27.1)	(23.4)	(22.2)
	[100.0]	[100.0]	[100.0]	[100.0]	[2,071.0]

Notes: Each cell contains the overall percentage, (the row percentage), and [the column percentage]. College quality is measured by the four-factor index. Ability is measured by the first principal component of the ASVAB scores. Percentages are weighted as described in the text. A Pearson’s chi-squared test rejects equality of the ability-quality distributions across cohorts (p-value = 0.078).

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Table 2

Summary of College Outcomes

	NLSY-79	NLSY-97
Four-year college starters	2,497	2,071
Graduate within six years	50%	60%
Within five years	42%	53%
Within four years or less	26%	34%
Complete STEM degree	15%	13%
Transfer		27%
Transfer to a higher-quality college		7%
Transfer to a lower-quality college		16%
Labor force participation 2–3 years after entering	95%	92%
Men	94%	89%
Women	95%	94%
Labor force participation 10–11 years after entering	95%	92%
Men	96%	93%
Women	94%	91%
Average earnings 2–3 years after entering	$8,371	$9,382
Men	$9,556	$10,842
Women	$7,228	$8,246
Average earnings 10–11 years after entering	$39,022	$42,828
Men	$45,362	$48,830
Women	$32,627	$37,970

Notes: All percentages are of all four-year college starters. Two-year average earnings are calculated among those who worked in at least one of the target years. Weighted as described in the text.

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Table 3

Effect of College Quality and Ability on Degree Attainment

		NLSY-79		NLSY-97
		Within 6 Years	Within 4 Years	Within 6 Years	Within 4 Years
∂Outcome/∂A	Q= p25	0.487^*	0.265^*	0.310^*	0.141^*
		(0.055)	(0.056)	(0.058)	(0.061)
	Q= p50	0.495^*	0.310^*	0.264^*	0.252^*
		(0.055)	(0.053)	(0.060)	(0.059)
	Q= p75	0.467^*	0.346^*	0.313^*	0.347^*
		(0.057)	(0.048)	(0.064)	(0.058)
∂Outcome/∂Q	A = p25	0.223^*	0.027	0.330^*	0.241^*
		(0.058)	(0.048)	(0.060)	(0.067)
	A=p50	0.273^*	0.102	0.360^*	0.323^*
		(0.062)	(0.057)	(0.056)	(0.056)
	A=p75	0.210^*	0.141^*	0.308^*	0.416^*
		(0.064)	(0.058)	(0.065)	(0.051)
Observations		2,441	2,441	2,071	2,071
R²		0.129	0.096	0.201	0.180
Pr(interaction = 0)		0.363	0.510	0.554	0.360
Pr(∂Outcome/∂A equal)		0.806	0.451	0.440	0.033
Pr(∂Outcome/∂Q equal)		0.304	0.207	0.537	0.068

↵Notes: Mean marginal effects are calculated from the coefficients of a polynomial of ability and college quality as described in the text. Standard errors in parentheses. * indicates that the estimated effect is statistically significant at p < 0.05. The final three rows present the p-values from Wald tests that the coefficients on the interaction terms of the ability–quality polynomial are jointly equal to zero, that the mean marginal effects of ability are equal across the three percentiles of college quality, and that the mean marginal effects of college quality are constant across the three percentiles of ability.

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Table 4

Counterfactuals from Reassigning Students to Colleges

	Actual Outcome	If All Students Attend a Matched College	If All Students Attend a 90th Percentile College
Panel A: NLSY-79
Graduate within six years	49.7	50.3^#	58.8^#
	(0.15)	(0.19)	(0.36)
Graduate within four years	26.0	27.4^#	29.5^#
	(0.13)	(0.18)	(0.35)
Major in STEM	15.5	16.0^#	14.4^#
	(0.12)	(0.17)	(0.25)
Earnings 2–3 years after starting college	8,383	8,354	8,190^#
	(25)	(29)	(89)
Earnings 10–11 years after starting college	39,014	39,708^#	40,135^#
	(86)	(116)	(220)
Earnings 20–21 years after starting college	64,330	67,169^#	69,768^#
	(182)	(279)	(563)
Earnings 30–31 years after starting college	79,201	84,639^#	88,589^#
	(295)	(406)	(907)
Panel B: NLSY-97
Graduate within six years	59.9	60.4^#	70.5^#
	(0.18)	(0.21)	(0.45)
Graduate within four years	33.8	36.1^#	46.9^#
	(0.16)	(0.20)	(0.46)
Major in STEM	13.3	13.4	14.1^#
	(0.12)	(0.15)	(0.30)
Transfer to a higher quality college	7.6	6.9^#	0.9^#
	(0.09)	(0.11)	(0.05)
Transfer to a lower quality college	16.7	17.0^#	17.5^#
	(0.12)	(0.16)	(0.39)
Earnings 2–3 years after starting college	9,401	8,896^#	10,218^#
	(31)	(36)	(111)
Earnings 10–11 years after starting college	42,730	44,058^#	49,516^#
	(115)	(161)	(291)

↵Notes: Counterfactual outcomes are calculated using the estimates reported in Tables 3, 5, and 6. Annual earnings are in 2010 dollars. Bootstrapped standard errors from 200 draws in parentheses. # indicates that the counterfactual predictions are statistically different from the observed outcomes with 5% confidence.

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Table 5

Effect of College Quality and Ability on Intermediate Outcomes

		NLSY-79 STEM Degree	NLSY-97
		NLSY-79 STEM Degree	STEM Degree	Transfer Up	Transfer Down
∂Outcome/∂A	Q=p25	0.384^*	0.250^*	0.139^*	−0.074
		(0.059)	(0.061)	(0.060)	(0.039)
	Q=p50	0.390^*	0.236^*	0.050	−0.025
		(0.052)	(0.048)	(0.033)	(0.055)
	Q=p75	0.361^*	0.237^*	0.014	−0.064
		(0.047)	(0.040)	(0.011)	(0.064)
∂Outcome/∂Q	A = p25	0.014	0.036	−0.132^*	0.090
		(0.018)	(0.031)	(0.031)	(0.047)
	A= p50	0.063	0.046	−0.165^*	0.079^*
		(0.036)	(0.041)	(0.041)	(0.039)
	A = p75	0.079	0.037	−0.262^*	0.108^*
		(0.052)	(0.052)	(0.061)	(0.028)
Observations		2,396	2,067	2,044	2,044
R²		0.145	0.114	0.111	0.039
Pr(interaction = 0)		0.708	0.791	0.384	0.328
Pr(∂Outcome/∂A equal)		0.688	0.960	0.098	0.363
Pr(∂Outcome/∂Q equal)		0.239	0.920	0.106	0.512

↵Notes: Mean marginal effects are calculated from the coefficients of a polynomial of ability and college quality as described in the text. Standard errors in parentheses. * indicates that the estimated effect is statistically significant at p < 0.05.

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Table 6 Effect of College Quality and Ability on Earnings

		Year 2–3	Year 10–11	Year 20–21	Year 30–31
Panel A: NLSY-79
∂Earnings/∂A	Q=p25	−3,118^*	8,674^*	28,372^*	30,299^*
		(1,160)	(3,379)	(7,675)	(11,487)
	Q= p50	−3,365^*	9,150^*	30,619^*	40,513^*
		(1,276)	(3,562)	(8,030)	(12,278)
	Q= p75	−2,858^*	12,827^*	42,637^*	62,602^*
		(1,341)	(3,588)	(8,052)	(12,302)
∂Earnings/∂Q	A= p25	−1,797	4,183	12,945	12,242
		(1,227)	(2,839)	(6,691)	(9,718)
	A = p50	−2,075	5,752	27,397^*	29,541^*
		(1,141)	(3,057)	(8,098)	(11,896)
	A = p75	−1,759	7,243^*	25,270^*	40,482^*
		(1,039)	(3,145)	(7,808)	(11,222)
Observations		2,094	2,228	1,792	1,593
_R2		0.093	0.141	0.186	0.199
Pr(interaction = 0)		0.816	0.710	0.035	0.083
Pr(∂Earnings/∂A equal)		0.842	0.502	0.219	0.077
Pr(∂Earnings/∂Q equal)		0.871	0.712	0.015	0.044
		Year 2–3	Year 10–11
Panel B: NLSY-97
∂Earnings/∂A	Q= p25	−2,093	3,581
		(1,189)	(3,891)
	Q= p50	−3,936^*	4,173
		(1,231)	(4,283)
	Q= p75	−7,145^*	12,667^*
		(1,745)	(4,458)
∂Earnings/∂Q	A = p25	767	10,393^*
		(1,597)	(4,089)
	A = p50	−2,649^*	14,820^*
		(1,336)	(4,065)
	A = p75	−4,033^*	18,634^*
		(1,394)	(3,986)
Observations		1,855	1,732
R²		0.138	0.136
Pr(interaction = 0)		0.079	0.281
Pr(∂Earnings/∂A equal)		0.034	0.149
Pr(∂Earnings/∂Q equal)		0.038	0.289

↵Notes: Mean marginal effects are calculated from the coefficients of a polynomial of ability and college quality as described in the text. Standard errors in parentheses. * indicates that the estimated effect is statistically significant at p < 0.05. Annual earnings are in 2010 dollars.

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Table 7 Earnings 10–11 Years after Starting College, by Parents’ Education

		NLSY-79		NLSY-97
		Parents High School Only	Parents Some College	Parents High School Only	Parents Some College
∂Earnings/∂A	Q= p25	17,427^*	2,151	9,498	3,252
		(5,336)	(4,055)	(11,359)	(4,154)
	Q= p50	15,743^*	5,495	15,805	3,303
		(5,190)	(4,665)	(11,458)	(4,678)
	Q= p75	15,417^*	12,815^*	17,449	12,039
		(4,985)	(5,016)	(11,324)	(5,053)
∂Earnings/9Q	A= p25	7,902^*	−76	12,274	9,519
		(3,765)	(4,165)	(7,077)	(4,915)
	A = p50	7,331	4,952	7,600	14,741
		(4,641)	(3,987)	(7,419)	(4,764)
	A = p75	5,442	9,236^*	19,246	17,464
		(5,201)	(4,071)	(10,480)	(4,506)
Observations		2,199	2,199	1,712	1,712
R²		0.145	0.145	0.139	0.139
Pr(interaction = 0)		0.969	0.527	0.612	0.424
Pr(∂Earnings/∂A equal)		0.881	0.180	0.688	0.211
Pr(∂Earnings/∂Q equal)		0.921	0.246	0.406	0.402
N, subgroup		1,076	1,123	421	1,291

↵Notes: Mean marginal effects are calculated from the coefficients of a polynomial of ability and college quality as described in the text. Standard errors in parentheses. * indicates that the estimated effect is statistically significant at p < 0.05. Annual earnings are in 2010 dollars. Students are divided into those who grew up with at least one parent who had some college education or who had no parents with more than a high school education.

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Table 8

Earnings 10–11 Years after Starting College, by Sex

		NLSY-79		NLSY-97
		Women	Men	Women	Men
∂Earnings/∂A	Q= p25	10,060^*	7,077	4,944	2,120
		(4,276)	(4,663)	(4,438)	(6,369)
	Q= p50	9,231^*	8,108	7,547	294
		(4,242)	(5,276)	(4,887)	(6,953)
	Q= p75	10,874^*	13,926^*	12,711	11,724
		(4,106)	(5,368)	(5,105)	(7,340)
∂Earnings/∂Q	A= p25	5,856	2,755	9,788	11,904
		(3,161)	(4,751)	(5,075)	(6,401)
	A = p50	6,542	4,977	13,967	16,481
		(3,525)	(5,013)	(4,924)	(6,650)
	A = p75	5,821	7,973	17,338	20,086
		(3,994)	(4,536)	(4,702)	(6,694)
Observations		2,228	2,228	1,732	1,732
R²		0.142	0.142	0.138	0.138
Pr(interaction = 0)		0.942	0.892	0.674	0.768
Pr(∂Earnings/∂A equal)		0.847	0.461	0.478	0.229
Pr(∂Earnings/∂Q equal)		0.933	0.688	0.464	0.650
N, subgroup		1,171	1,057	966	766

↵Notes: Mean marginal effects are calculated from the coefficients of a polynomial of ability and college quality as described in the text. Standard errors in parentheses. * indicates that the estimated effect is statistically significant at p < 0.05. Annual earnings are in 2010 dollars.

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Table 9

Covariate Set Comparisons for Graduating within Six Years

		(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Panel A: NLSY-79
∂Outcome/∂A	Q=p25	0.494^*	0.514^*	0.476^*	0.487^*	0.486^*
		(0.049)	(0.051)	(0.054)	(0.055)	(0.055)
	Q= p50	0.508^*	0.527^*	0.489^*	0.495^*	0.490^*
		(0.049)	(0.051)	(0.055)	(0.055)	(0.055)
	Q= p75	0.528^*	0.532^*	0.486^*	0.467^*	0.458^*
		(0.048)	(0.049)	(0.055)	(0.057)	(0.057)
∂Outcome/∂Q	A= p25	0.224^*	0.236^*	0.222^*	0.223^*	0.233^*
		(0.056)	(0.054)	(0.055)	(0.058)	(0.058)
	A = p50	0.299^*	0.316^*	0.292^*	0.273^*	0.280^*
		(0.062)	(0.060)	(0.061)	(0.062)	(0.062)
	A = p75	0.248^*	0.255^*	0.235^*	0.210^*	0.210^*
		(0.062)	(0.061)	(0.062)	(0.064)	(0.064)
Additional ability measures			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Demographics and family				Yes	Yes	Yes
Neighborhood					Yes	Yes
Additional covariates						Yes
Observations		2,497	2,497	2,497	2,441	2,441
R²		0.095	0.113	0.123	0.129	0.135
Pr(interaction = 0)		0.502	0.355	0.363	0.363	0.333
Pr(∂Outcome/∂A equal)		0.862	0.944	0.940	0.806	0.783
Pr(∂Outcome/∂Q equal)		0.195	0.124	0.187	0.304	0.280
Panel B: NLSY-97
∂Outcome/∂A	Q=p25	0.330^*	0.358^*	0.306^*	0.310^*	0.288^*
		(0.060)	(0.058)	(0.059)	(0.058)	(0.059)
	Q= p50	0.264^*	0.316^*	0.260^*	0.264^*	0.255^*
		(0.061)	(0.058)	(0.060)	(0.060)	(0.060)
	Q= p75	0.341^*	0.362^*	0.304^*	0.313^*	0.295^*
		(0.066)	(0.063)	(0.064)	(0.064)	(0.064)
∂Outcome/∂Q	A= p25	0.479^*	0.393^*	0.355^*	0.330^*	0.332^*
		(0.057)	(0.059)	(0.058)	(0.060)	(0.059)
	A = p50	0.508^*	0.420^*	0.380^*	0.360^*	0.361^*
		(0.055)	(0.056)	(0.055)	(0.056)	(0.056)
	A = p75	0.436^*	0.371^*	0.330^*	0.308^*	0.319^*
		(0.067)	(0.064)	(0.064)	(0.065)	(0.065)
Additional ability measures			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Demographics and family				Yes	Yes	Yes
Neighborhood					Yes	Yes
Additional covariates						Yes
Observations		2,071	2,071	2,071	2,071	2,071
R²		0.127	0.173	0.195	0.201	0.212
Pr(interaction = 0)		0.225	0.586	0.606	0.554	0.704
Pr(∂Outcome/∂A equal)		0.237	0.536	0.491	0.440	0.618
Pr(∂Outcome/∂Q equal)		0.411	0.615	0.591	0.537	0.608

↵Notes: Mean marginal effects are calculated from the coefficients of a polynomial of ability and college quality. Standard errors in parentheses. * indicates that the estimated effect is statistically significant at p < 0.05. Annual earnings are in 2010 dollars. Covariate categories defined in Appendix Table A2.

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Table 10

Covariate Set Comparisons for Earnings 10–11 Years after Start

		(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Panel A: NLSY-79
∂Earnings/∂A	Q=p25	12,376^*	10,613^*	8,369^*	8,674^*	8,385^*
		(2,981)	(3,169)	(3,322)	(3,379)	(3,434)
	Q= p50	13,391^*	11,495^*	8,913^*	9,150^*	8,979^*
		(3,259)	(3,461)	(3,547)	(3,562)	(3,573)
	Q= p75	17,932^*	15,856^*	13,338^*	12,827^*	12,916^*
		(3,165)	(3,378)	(3,515)	(3,588)	(3,569)
∂Earnings/∂Q	A= p25	5,942^*	6,583^*	6,641^*	4,183	3,602
		(2,749)	(2,750)	(2,683)	(2,839)	(2,798)
	A = p50	7,526^*	8,096^*	8,500^*	5,752	5,516
		(3,064)	(3,007)	(2,931)	(3,057)	(3,013)
	A = p75	10,336^*	10,677^*	10,296^*	7,243^*	6,990^*
		(3,100)	(3,049)	(3,008)	(3,145)	(3,155)
Additional ability measures			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Demographics and family				Yes	Yes	Yes
Neighborhood					Yes	Yes
Additional covariates						Yes
Observations		2,278	2,278	2,278	2,228	2,228
R²		0.057	0.068	0.134	0.141	0.145
Pr(interaction = 0)		0.510	0.553	0.533	0.710	0.648
Pr(∂Earnings/∂A equal)		0.321	0.357	0.336	0.502	0.448
Pr(∂Earnings/∂Q equal)		0.531	0.579	0.599	0.712	0.637
Panel B: NLSY-97
∂Earnings/∂A	Q=p25	3,306	3,769	2,871	3,581	3,732
		(3,620)	(3,631)	(3,835)	(3,891)	(3,927)
	Q= p50	4,451	5,087	3,369	4,173	3,929
		(4,111)	(4,043)	(4,234)	(4,283)	(4,356)
	Q= p75	14,481^*	15,225^*	12,085^*	12,667^*	12,731^*
		(4,400)	(4,481)	(4,453)	(4,458)	(4,478)
∂Earnings/∂Q	A= p25	14,158^*	12,877^*	12,334^*	10,393^*	9,764^*
		(4,123)	(4,205)	(4,032)	(4,089)	(4,106)
	A = p50	20,075^*	19,064^*	16,831^*	14,820^*	14,284^*
		(4,149)	(4,134)	(4,005)	(4,065)	(4,110)
	A = p75	24,461^*	23,489^*	20,671^*	18,634^*	17,868^*
(3,928)	(3,969)	(3,912)	(3,986)	(3,994)
Additional ability measures			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Demographics and family				Yes	Yes	Yes
Neighborhood					Yes	Yes
Additional covariates						Yes
Observations		1,732	1,732	1,732	1,732	1,732
R²		0.075	0.079	0.130	0.136	0.141
Pr(interaction = 0)		0.176	0.172	0.262	0.281	0.259
Pr(∂Earnings/∂A equal)		0.085	0.082	0.137	0.149	0.134
Pr(∂Earnings/∂Q equal)		0.155	0.145	0.283	0.289	0.291

↵Notes: Mean marginal effects are calculated from the coefficients of a polynomial of ability and college quality. Standard errors in parentheses. * indicates that the estimated effect is statistically significant at p < 0.05. Annual earnings are in 2010 dollars. Covariate categories defined in Appendix Table A2.

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Table A1

Sample Composition

	NLSY-79 Cohort	NLSY-97 Cohort
Total observations	9,369	8,984
Graduated high school or received GED	8,012	7,845
Started at a four-year college by age 21	3,157	2,831
Interviewed at least five years after starting	3,157	2,696
Of eligible four-year college starters:
Missing four-year college quality index	445	94
Has quality, but missing ASVAB	215	531
Analysis sample	2,497	2,071

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Table A2

Description of Independent Variables

College quality	The college quality index is the first principal component of four college quality proxies as described in Online Appendix Table A4. We calculate percentiles of this index across all four-year-degree granting colleges in IPEDS, weighting each institution by full-time equivalent undergraduate enrollment.
ASVAB 1 percentile	Percentile over four-year college starters in each cohort of the first principal components of the ASVAB test scores, as described in Online Appendix Table A3.
Additional ability measures
ASVAB 2 percentile	Percentile over four-year college starters in each cohort of the second principal components of the ASVAB test scores, as described in Online Appendix Table A3.
High school GPA, percentile	Percentile over four-year college starters in each cohort of cumulative high school grade point average
SAT or ACT percentile	Percentile over four-year college starters in each cohort of reported SAT score (or ACT score converted to SAT scale)
Any bad behaviors	Indicator that respondent reported any of the following petty antisocial behaviors by 1980 in NLSY-79 or by eighth grade in NLSY-97: ever suspended from school, ever intentionally destroyed or damaged someone else’s property, and ever stolen something worth $50 or less
Interviewer rated uncooperative	Indicator that the NLSY interviewer rated the respondent as somewhat uncooperative in any of the first three interviews. In the NLSY-79 this corresponds to a classification of impatient, where the other options are friendly, cooperative, and hostile, and friendly is the modal response. In the NLSY-97, this designation corresponds to a score of 3–8 on a scale of 1 = hostile to 10 = very cooperative, where 10 is the modal response.
Had sex before age 15	Indicator that respondent reported having sex before the age of 15
Demographics and family
Male	Indicator that the respondent identifies as male
Race and ethnicity	Indicators for white, black, nonwhite Hispanic, or other nonwhite (last category in NLSY-97 only). White is omitted group.
Family income quartiles	Indicators for quartile (calculated within the weighted NLSY sample) of total household income in 1979 or 1997. In the NLSY-97, this information is taken from the 1997 parent survey where available or from the youth survey (98.6% from parent survey). The NLSY-79 did not give parents a separate survey. First quartile is omitted group.
Siblings	Number of siblings reported by the respondent in the NLSY-79 or children age 18 and under living at the respondent’s address in 1997 for the NLSY-97.
Parental education	Indicators for the highest educational attainment of either of the respondent’s resident parents (or only parent in single parent households) as reported in the first survey waves for each cohort. We include at most one resident mother and father figure using the following prioritization: biological, adopted, step, or foster. High school diploma is the omitted category.
Neighborhood
Regional indicators	Indicators for U.S. region (Northeast, South, Midwest, West) where the respondent lived in 1979 or 1997. Midwest is the omitted category.
Rural	Indicator that the respondent did not live within a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in 1979 or 1997.
% Adults with college degree in county	Share of the population older than 25 that has a four-year college degree in the county where the respondent lived in the first year of each survey, from the 1972 and 1994 County and City Databooks, respectively.
Additional covariates
Overweight/obese	Indicators that the respondent was overweight or obese (using BMI and CDC definitions) in 1979 or 1997.
Religious observance per year	How many times per year the respondent attended religious services in 1979 or 1997 (entered in regressions as indicators for each range of values offered in the survey).
Count of enriching resources	Count of educational resources the respondent said he or she had regular access to at home in the 1979 and 1997 surveys. In the NLSY-79, these resources are: a magazine subscription, a newspaper subscription, and a library card. In the NLSY-97 these resources are: a computer, a dictionary, and a quiet place to study.
Had contact with biological mother/father	Indicator that respondent had ever lived with each biological parent for at least three months by the age of 18 (NLSY-79) or had any contact with each biological parent by 1997 (NLSY-97).