RESEARCH:

Dr. McLanahan’s research interests include family demography, poverty and inequality, and social policy. Her research focuses is on the causes and consequences of non-traditional family structures. She is the author of Single Mothers and their Children: A New America Dilemma, 1986 (with Irwin Garfinkel), Growing Up with a Single Parent, 1994 (with Gary Sandefur), several edited books, and over 100 articles.

Dr. McLanahan currently directs the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a nationally-representative longitudinal birth cohort study of approximately 5,000 families, including 3,700 unmarried parents and their children. The study is designed to shed light on the health and development of low-income children, the impact of family relationships and dynamics on child wellbeing, and the impact of social policies on family relationships and child wellbeing.

Dr. Mclanahan is also editor-in-chief of The Future of Children, a policy journal on children's issues produced by Princeton University and the Brookings Institution. The journal’s latest issue, Preventing Child Maltreatment (Vol. 19, No. 2) is co-edited by Christina Paxson and Ron Haskins. Upcoming issues include: “Transition to Adulthood,” (Vol. 20, No. 1) co-edited by Gordon Berlin, Frank Furstenberg, and Mary Waters (available in spring 2010), “Fragile Families,” (Vol. 20, No. 2) co-edited by Sara McLanahan, Irv Garfinkel, and Ronald Mincy (available in fall 2010), and “Immigrant Youth,” (Vol. 21, No. 1) co-edited by Marta Tienda and Ron Haskins (available in spring 2011).