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Paula Fomby
Associate Research Scientist, Population Studies Center; Associate Research Scientist, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research
Dr. Fomby’s research focuses on family structure change, family complexity, and child well-being. Her perspective considers families as embedded in broader social contexts and emphasizes how extended kin relationships, neighborhood and community cohesion, and school quality condition the ways children experience family change. Broadly, her work highlights the causes and consequences of residing in specific family arrangements in the context of high economic inequality, with particular attention to how prior socioeconomic disadvantage and exposure to poverty constrain family formation and family process.
Ph.D. and M.S. University of Madison-Wisconsin; B.A. University of California-Berkeley.
Faculty Projects
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How Does Unintended Pregnancy Affect the Outcomes of Older Children? Evidence from a New Randomized Control Trial The project: In the United States, nearly half of pregnancies are unintended, and unintended pregnancies occur five times more often among poor compared to affluent women. The consequences of unintended pregnancy for women’s education and earnings are substantial, and children born as a result of unintended pregnancy are much more likely to live in poverty […]