Molly A. Martin , Ph.D.

Fundamentally, my research seeks to understand how inequalities are produced and reproduced across generations. My training in social inequality and family demography led to projects investigating family influences on educational attainment, adult welfare use, and income inequality. After participating in the Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholars program, my research portfolio expanded to consider the role of family status characteristics and family processes for children’s health, with an emphasis on adolescent obesity. With funding from the RussellSage Foundation, I am leading an interdisciplinary team of scholars to estimate the causal effect of increasing family income on several indicators of children’s health and well-being using a natural experiment study design. In addition, I am currently part of a team funded by NICHD to examine the health of children of Mexican immigrants, wherein I explore how family socioeconomic and time resources contribute to the risk of children’s obesity. Dr. Martin’s research examines the intersection of family processes with social, economic and health inequalities.  Dr. Martin teaches courses on social stratification, sociology of families and the demography of social stratification.