Current Postdocs and Grad Students

The following students are conducting life course research at the Carolina Population Center in collaboration with each other and Glen Elder. See the Where are they now? page to follow the careers of past postdoctoral fellows.

Naomi J. Spence

Naomi is a Postdoctoral Research Associate and in her third year here. She received her doctoral degree in Sociology from the University of Florida. Naomi’s research interests are focused on well-being, broadly defined, across the life course with particular emphasis on the role of family as an important social institution wherein experiences with family are central in shaping later outcomes. Her current projects include studies of the relationship between dimensions of fertility and later life physical and mental health and mortality; an investigation of adolescent family structure as a determinant of military enlistment; and analyses of child maltreatment as a predictor of adolescent intimate partner violence and as a mediator of the relationship between pain and suicide.

Matt Bradshaw

Matt is a Postdoctoral Student who received his doctoral degree in Sociology from the University of Texas – Austin. Matt’s research focuses primarily on biosocial factors in health and well-being, with specific emphasis on the interplay of genetic and environmental influences over time. He is currently (a) developing theoretical models of gene-environment correlation and interaction as they pertain to depression and other forms of psychopathology, and (b) testing them with data collected at various stages of the life course including adolescence, young adulthood, midlife, and the later years. By employing genetically-informed designs that also take into account the complex and multifaceted nature of social contexts, his research is helping to integrate health-related scholarship from diverse disciplines including sociology, psychology, public health, biology, and medicine, among others.

Lin (Victor) Wang

Victor is a Predoctoral Trainee who received his undergraduate degree in Sociology from Renmin University of China in Beijing. Victor’s primary research interests are developmental psychology, mental health, and population studies. His dissertation explores the longitudinal relationship between mental health (internalizing and externalizing problems) and academic performance, as well as they impact on entering college. Specifically, he investigates the phenomenon that academic and mental health problems often co-occur among some adolescents using a combination of “stress process” theory and a developmental perspective. He is also working on several projects that focus on military enlistment and factors that drive young men to enter the military instead of other roles after high school. Victor will be defending his dissertation in Spring, 2009.

Cheryl Roberts

Cheryl is a Predoctoral Trainee who has an MPA from Harvard University. Cheryl’s research interests focus on inequality and health, including social determinants of health and mental health, health over the life course, and adolescent risk behavior. One of her current projects examines the relationship between adolescent health and educational attainment for African-American and white youth. Another looks at aspects of religion as a moderator between socioeconomic status and health among older Americans. Cheryl plans to defend her dissertation in Spring, 2011.

Matthew Loyd

Matthew is a Predoctoral Trainee who received his undergraduate degree in Sociology from/Anthropology from Carleton College and his Master’s in Sociology from UNC-Ch. Matthew’s research interests focus on the integration of work and family responsibilities over the life course. His current research investigates the development of the division of household labor within couples using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. This project explores the average trajectories of housework hours over the course of a marriage, and tests whether men or women adjust their housework contributions in response to job or parenthood transitions. Matthew also studies the division of household labor across nations. This research emphasizes the importance of cross-national measurement equivalence, and compares the impact of multiple dimensions of gender ideology on the division of housework in the U.S. and Japan. Matthew will be defending his dissertation in Spring, 2009.

Maria Monserud

Maria is a Postdoctoral Trainee who received her doctoral degree in Sociology from Washington State University. The main focus of her research is the development of intergenerational relationships in the family over the life course. Currently, she is examining how various factors affect relationships between grandchildren and grandparents. These factors include, but are not limited to, other intergenerational relationships in the family, life course events in different generations, grandchildren’s adult roles, and gender. Another area of her research is multigenerational households and the transmission of resources from grandparents to grandchildren. More specifically, Maria examines whether children from families with residential grandparents have different outcomes later in life than those from other family types.