Zito publishes research in SAGE Research Methods Cases

Rena Zito, assistant professor of sociology, provides a guide to propensity score analysis in teenage childbearing research for a methods-focused publication.

Assistant Professor of Sociology Rena Zito’s article, “Teenage Motherhood and Personal Transformation: A Counterfactual Analysis Using Propensity Score Matching,” was recently published in SAGE Research Methods Cases, a methods-focused publication.

SAGE Research Methods Cases provides readers with an in-depth understanding of research methods by focusing on highlighted research projects. Each article includes an explanation of why the researcher chose their methods, how they implemented their methods in a step-by-step manner, and how they addressed problems that emerged during the research process.

Articles in SAGE Reseach Methods Cases are peer-reviewed and accompanied by learning objectives and discussion questions to facilitate their use in research methods classes at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Zito’s research methods case builds on her publication “Children as Saviors? A Propensity Score Analysis of the Effects of Teenage Motherhood on Personal Transformation,” published in the journal Youth & Society. Her research employed propensity score analysis using nearest-neighbor matching to assess the causal effect of teenage motherhood on personal transformation (i.e., self-worth, life satisfaction, and orientation towards risk, the future, and relationships) using first- and third-wave National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health data from more than 7,500 female respondents.

Her SAGE Research Methods Cases publication provides readers with a how-to guide to counterfactual analysis, with a particular focus on teenage childbearing research.