As a family and social demographer, my research focuses on the connection between family contexts and children’s development. A particular focus of my research is investigating the proximate family setting in which children live and examining factors, such as parental employment, mental health, and economic hardship, which are implicated in the (re)production of inequalities in children’s development. Much of my research considers the consequences of systems of stratification (e.g. race/ethnicity and gender) on children’s wellbeing across early childhood and adolescence. My research agenda incorporates the role of policy contexts on families’ social and economic resources by examining inequalities in children’s development cross-nationally between the US and UK.

My research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and has been published in interdisciplinary journals such as Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Family Issues, and Social, Science & Medicine.

Prior to joining University of Southampton, I held positions at University of Nottingham, Oregon State University, and University College London. I completed my Ph.D. in Social Welfare Policy from Columbia University in New York and received my B.A. in Psychology from Wellesley College in Boston.