Jennifer Airis Flashman
M.A., Sociology, UCLA (2005);
B.A., Sociology, Reed College (2003)
Fax: 310-206-9838
E-mail:
flashman@ucla.edu
Subfield
social stratification, sociology of education, social demography, quantitative methods
Research Interests
· Social stratification, education, social demography
· Friend and peer effects
· Quantitative research methods
DISSERTATION ABSTRACT
Great disparities in educational achievement and attainment exist across race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Adolescent friendship groups may both contribute to and detract from these disparities. This dissertation studies the role that friendship preferences, friendship choices, and friendship influence play in affecting disparities in educational achievement and attainment across race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Throughout this dissertation I use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The first chapter describes the friendship group choices of adolescents. Using discrete choice analysis I model adolescents’ preferences for the racial, academic, and socioeconomic composition of their friendship groups, allowing these preferences to vary by individual characteristics. The second chapter describes change in friendship groups among adolescents. Using continuous-time Markov chain models, I model the relationship between friendship network characteristics, friendship network structure, and friendship network change. This chapter shows how an individual’s race, parental education, and academic achievement affect friendship network change and how differences in these characteristics between individuals predict network change, net of the structural characteristics of the network. The last chapter of my dissertation estimates the effect of friendship groups on adolescents’ academic outcomes. Using a variety of methods, including fixed effects models, instrumental variables, and Markov chain models, I estimate a top and bottom bound for the effect of friendship groups on test scores, GPA, and college attendance. This dissertation provides a comprehensive look at the process of friendship choice and influence in order to better understand the role of friends in the stratification process.
Publications
Flashman, Jennifer. Revise and resubmit. “Changes in the Process of College Choice among Men and Women: The Role of Two-Year Colleges.” Sociology of Education. California Center for Population Research Working Paper Series:
http://www.ccpr.ucla.edu/ccprwpseries/ccpr_067_06.pdf.
Phillips, Meredith, and Jennifer Flashman. 2007. “How Did the Statewide Assessment and Accountability Policies of the 1990s Affect Instructional Quality in Low-Income Elementary Schools?” in Standard- Based Reform and the Poverty Gap edited by Adam Gamoran. Brookings Institution Press: Washington DC.
Durand, Jorge, Edward Telles, and Jennifer Flashman. 2006. “The Demographic Foundations of the Latino Population” in Transforming Our Common Destiny: Hispanics in the United States. National Academy of Sciences: Washington DC.
Grants and Awards
· NICHD-California Center for Population Research Traineeship 2008-2009
· American Educational Research Association Research Fellowship in Education and Adolescent Health 2008-2009
· Finalist for Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship 2008
· NIH-California Center for Population Research Traineeship 2007-2008
· UCLA QGE Summer Stipend 2007
· UCLA QGE Summer Stipend 2006
· UCLA Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Fellowship 2005
· UCLA Graduate Research Mentorship Fellowship 2004-2005
· UCLA Sociology Department Fellowship 2003-2004
Advisors
Robert Mare (chair)
Judith Seltzer
Meredith Phillips
Sandra Black
Conference Presentations
Flashman, Jennifer. 2008. “The Dynamics of Adolescent Friendship Networks.” Paper to be presented at Add Health Users Group Conference in Bethesda, MD July 2008.
Flashman, Jennifer. 2008. “Are Black Students Punished for ‘Acting White’?: Race, Academic Achievement, and Friendship Choices.” Paper presented at Population Association of America Meetings in New Orleans, LA April 2008 and American Sociological Association Meetings in Boston, MA August 2008.
Flashman, Jennifer. 2006. “Friendship Networks, Homogeneity and Academic Achievement.” Paper presented at Add Health Users Group Conference in Bethesda, MD July 2006.
Flashman, Jennifer. 2006. “Changes in Process of College Choice among Men and Women: the Role of Two-Year Colleges.” Paper presented at Population Association of America (PAA) in Los Angeles, CA March 2006 and American Sociological Association (ASA) in Montreal, August 2006.
Phillips, Meredith, and Jennifer Flashman. 2006. “How Did Changes in State Accountability Systems during the 1990s Influence Teacher and Instructional Quality in Poor Schools.” Paper to be presented at Will Standards-Based Reform in Education Help Close the Poverty Gap? in Madison, WI February 2006
Edit This Page