2014/01/01 by Catherine Weinberger, Catherine J. Weinberger
Social Sciences · #Higher Education Research Studies #School Choice and Performance #Youth Development and Social Support
paper · doi:10.1007/s12114-014-9198-6
crossref issued 2014/01/01 · crossref published 2014/01/01 · crossref published-online 2014/01/01 · crossref published-print 2014/01/01 · openalex publication_date 2014/01/01 · crossref created 2014/08/19 · crossref deposited 2025/03/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21 · crossref indexed 2026/08/01
Participation in high school sports and leadership activities is typically associated with later adult earnings premia. In stark contrast to the large but diminishing racial disadvantage found in other measures of educational opportunity, this analysis of high school leadership development finds few examples of racial disadvantage in historical 1960 data, but an emerging disadvantage to black female students between 1972 and 2004. Earnings regressions reveal positive earnings premia to black women who engaged in sports and leadership activities as adolescents, but not to black men. Particularly large premia to higher math scores (or penalties to lower math scores) among black workers are also observed. These findings call into question any world-view in which U.S. wages are a simple function of observable worker qualifications, and highlight the continued need to monitor equitable access to educational opportunities in U.S. schools.