Judith Seltzer
Judith Seltzer
Research Professor
Office: 212A Haines Hall
Email: seltzerj@ucla.edu
Phone: 310-825-5646
Biography
I study inequality within and between families.
My research interests include kinship patterns, intergenerational obligations, relationships between nonresident fathers and children, and how legal institutions and other policies affect family change. I am especially interested in kinship institutions that are in flux, such as marriage and cohabitation in the contemporary United States or divorced and non-marital families. I also explore ways to improve the quality of survey data on families. My teaching focuses on family and kinship and on population-related topics. I have served on a number of committees and panels for the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Medicine, and Engineering, including the Committee on National Statistics. I am a past president of the Population Association of America and have held elected offices in the American Sociological Association’s sections on family (which I chaired) and population. I received the ASA Distinguished Career in Family Sociology award and the Sara McLanahan award from the Population Association of America.
Publications
Selected Publications
“Doubling up when times are tough: A study of obligations to share a home in response to economic hardship,” (with Lau and Bianchi). Social Science Research, 41, 1307-1309, 2012.
“Demographic change and parent-child relationships in adulthood,” (with Bianchi). Annual Review of Sociology, 39, 275-90, 2013.
“Coresidence and geographic proximity of mothers and adult children in stepfamilies,” (with Yahirun and Bianchi). Journal of Marriage and Family, 75(5), 1164-80, 2013.
“Parent-child relationships at the transition to adulthood: A comparison of immigrant and native-born youth,” (with Hardie), Social Forces, 95(1), 321-353, 2016.
“Stepfamily structure and transfers between generations in U.S. families,” (with Wiemers, Schoeni, Hotz, and Bianchi). Demography, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-018-0740-1 (shareable: https://rdcu.be/bZckU)
“The family safety net of black and white multigenerational families,” (with Park and Wiemers). Population and Development Review, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12233
“Family change and changing family demography,” Demography, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-019-00766-6 (shareable: https://rdcu.be/bZchL)
“Spatial distance between parents and adult children in the United States,” (with Choi, Schoeni, Wiemers, and Hotz). Journal of Marriage and Family, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12606
“Disparities in vulnerability to complications from COVID-19 arising from disparities in preexisting conditions in the United States,” (with Wiemers, Abrahams, AlFakhri, Hotz, and Schoeni). Research in Social Stratification and Social Mobility, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2020.100553
“Association Between Risk Factors for Complications From COVID-19, Perceived Chances of Infection and Complications, and Protective Behavior in the US,” (with Schoeni, Wiemers, and Langa). JAMA Network Open 4(3):e213984, 2021, doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.3984 https://jamantwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2777973
“Care Received and Unmet Care Needs Among Aging Parents in Biological and Stepfamilies,” (with Patterson, Schoeni, and Freedman). Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 77 (S1), S51-S62, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbab178
“The Strength of Parent–Adult Child Ties in Biological Families and Stepfamilies: Evidence From Time Diaries From Older Adults,” (with Schoeni, Freedman, and Cornman). Demography, 59 (5): 1821–1842, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-10177468
“Stepfamily Variation in Parent–Child Relationship Quality in Later Life,” (with Lin). Journal of Marriage and Family. First published: 14 October 2023, https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12946
“The Changing Demography of Late-Life Family Caregiving: A Research Agenda to Understand Future Care Networks for An Aging U.S. Population,” (with Freedman, Agree, Birditt, Fingerman and others). The Gerontologist 64(2): 1-7. Published online March 31,2023. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnad036
