Specialty and Approach
I specialize in understanding the health and development of children and youth in today’s rapidly changing societies. I use both statistical analyses of Swedish and US longitudinal national surveys and population registers, as well as in-depth qualitative studies of local samples, in my work.
Combining these different methods allows me to achieve my primary research aims: identifying demographic trends related to social inequalities among children and youth in contemporary societies, then seeking to understand the processes underlying these trends by engaging with and developing theory rooted in sociological social psychology and the life course perspective. Current and recent funders include the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, and the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare.
“My research is influenced by the life course perspective, focusing on the reverberations of early life inequalities for human development, cultural influences on human lives, and the social embeddedness of human behaviors.”
My recent and ongoing research engages with four main areas: the implications of social inequalities for the health and development of children and youth, fertility inequalities and social norms, disparities in sexual minority health, and health lifestyles among children and youth. Each of these research areas is influenced by the life course perspective, focusing on the reverberations of early life inequalities for human development, cultural influences on human lives, and the social embeddedness of human behaviors.