Your Momma Was Home and You Left?: Parental Influence on Military Service

This paper describes the relationship between a youth’s residence at age sixteen and the likelihood he eventually enlists in the military. Data from the NLSY97 show that white youths raised in two parent families are less likely to enlist than those raised in other family structures. Black youths living with fathers only are more likely to enlist than those living with mothers only. Given that men tend to be more supportive of the military, this suggests that parental preferences are transmitted through residence as a teen.