Ruth López Turley

Assistant Professor of Sociology
4424 Sewell Social Sciences
(608) 265-0726
Fax: (608) 262-8400
rturley@ssc.wisc.edu

Alternate Webpage
Office Hours: by appt. (Fall'09)

Curriculum Vitae

Research Interest Statement
Turley studies the transition to college of high school students in the U.S.. She finds that students whose parents feel it is important for them to live at home during college are significantly less likely to apply to college. She also studies trends in the effects of social origin on the college opportunity expectations of high school seniors, and finds that while the influence of parents’ education and income on applying to college has remained about the same, its influence on applying to a four-year or a selective college has increased across cohorts. She also finds that although women are increasingly more likely to apply to college than men, they are not more likely to apply to selective colleges. In addition, she finds that although minorities are more likely to apply to college than whites, net of other factors, this advantage has decreased across cohorts.

Selected Publications:
Turley, Ruth N. López, Martín Santos, and Cecilia Ceja. 2007. "Social Origin and College Opportunity Expectations across Cohorts." Social Science Research, forthcoming.

Turley, Ruth N. López. 2006. "When Parents Want Children to Stay Home for College." Research in Higher Education, 47(7):823-846.

Turley, Ruth N. López. 2003. "Are Children of Young Mothers Disadvantaged Because of Their Mother's Age or Family Background?" Child Development, 74(2):465-474.

Turley, Ruth N. López. 2003. "When Do Neighborhoods Matter? The Role of Race and Neighborhood Peers." Social Science Research, 32(1):61-79.

Turley, Ruth N. López. 2002. "Is Relative Deprivation Beneficial? The Effects of Richer and Poorer Neighbors on Children's Outcomes." Journal of Community Psychology, 30(6):671-686.

CDE Research Theme Working Groups
Demography of Inequality
Fertility/Families and Households