RESEARCH
My areas of expertise include sociology of gender, sexualities, aging and the life course, and health. I have three interrelated lines of research. First, I examine sexualities across the life course. Second, I investigate the nature and consequences of prejudice and discrimination toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Third, I examine issues of LGBT aging. I use both quantitative and qualitative methods in my research, including experimental survey methods, analyses of existing survey data, and interview methods.
Sexualities across the Life Course
My main area of research examines sexualities across the life course. My dissertation, “Dating and Sex across the Life Course: Understanding American Singles’ Attitudes and Behaviors” was a mixed methods project that uniquely offered an understanding of how dating and sexual intimacy vary and unfold across the life course. My article entitled, "The Perils and Pleasures of Aging: How Women's Sexualities change Across the Life Course" draws on originally collected life story interview data from the dissertation (The Sociological Quarterly, 2019). Here, I find that women's sexualities change in both positive and negative ways. Although single middle-aged and older adult women struggle to find new partners, they also report improvements in their sex lives (e.g., increases in comfort with sex, sexual assertiveness, and sexual pleasure) as they age. As a follow-up analysis, I recently published an article at Sexualities that uses the same data to examine the role of major life events, transitions, and turning points in facilitating changes in single women's sexualities. Finally, I have a forthcoming article at the Journal of Aging Studies that uses Singles in America survey data to analyze how aging differentially affects single women's and men's dating and sexual attitudes and behaviors.
The Nature and Consequences of LGBTQ Prejudice and Discrimination
Much of my other work investigates the nature and consequences of prejudice and discrimination against LGBT individuals. In “Formal Rights and Informal Privileges for Same-Sex Couples: Evidence from a National Survey Experiment” (American Sociological Review, 2014), Long Doan, Annalise Loehr, and I use original, nationally representative, survey data and find that while heterosexual Americans do not differ in their willingness to grant formal rights (e.g., partnership benefits) to same-sex and heterosexual couples, they are generally less approving of granting informal privileges (e.g., public displays of affection) to same-sex couples. Using the same data, my follow-up, articles (also with Long Doan and Annalise Loehr) extend this line of research. In “The Power of Love: The Role of Emotional Attributions and Standards in Heterosexuals’ Attitudes toward Same-Sex Couples” (Social Forces, 2015), we find that heterosexual Americans tend to perceive gay couples as less loving than heterosexual and lesbian couples, and gay couples that are perceived as less loving are also less likely to be granted informal privileges. Finally, “Contact and Heterosexuals’ Attitudes toward Same-Sex Couples: Evidence from a National Survey Experiment” (Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2015), re-investigates the contact hypothesis and finds that the effect of contact with lesbians and gays on attitudes toward formal rights and informal privileges no longer holds after accounting for selection effects.
With my collaborator Eric Anthony Grollman, I also investigate the health consequences of discrimination against people on the LGBT spectrum. Using the 2008 National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS), “The Social Costs of Gender Nonconformity for Transgender Adults: Implications for Discrimination and Health” (Sociological Forum, 2015) investigates the linkages between gender nonconformity, discrimination, and health among the transgender population. In this article, we find that transgender people who are more frequently read as gender nonconforming are more likely to face discrimination and, in turn, experience worse health than their gender conforming counterparts. By underscoring the social consequences of gender non-conformity for transgender persons, this article contributes to ongoing theoretical debates in the sociology of gender about “doing gender.” Further, it more generally highlights the role of stigma visibility in minority stress processes.
LGBT Aging
Currently, I am working on a co-authored manuscript (with sociology professor Jackie Tabor at Illinois College) on same-sex relationships across the life course. In this article, we discuss how same-sex relationships challenge and enhance understandings of the life course. We also discuss how recent liberalization in policy regarding and attitudes toward gay rights raises questions about how LGBT people's lives might unfold differently in years to come and suggest directions for future research in this area.
I also recently collected life story interview data with roughly 60 older lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. In this project, I seek to document how older sexual minorities' lives have unfolded over time, including their attitudes and experiences with "coming out," intimate relationships, marriage, family, health, and end-of-life planning issues. This data will be used to write a series of empirical journal articles and a book.
My areas of expertise include sociology of gender, sexualities, aging and the life course, and health. I have three interrelated lines of research. First, I examine sexualities across the life course. Second, I investigate the nature and consequences of prejudice and discrimination toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Third, I examine issues of LGBT aging. I use both quantitative and qualitative methods in my research, including experimental survey methods, analyses of existing survey data, and interview methods.
Sexualities across the Life Course
My main area of research examines sexualities across the life course. My dissertation, “Dating and Sex across the Life Course: Understanding American Singles’ Attitudes and Behaviors” was a mixed methods project that uniquely offered an understanding of how dating and sexual intimacy vary and unfold across the life course. My article entitled, "The Perils and Pleasures of Aging: How Women's Sexualities change Across the Life Course" draws on originally collected life story interview data from the dissertation (The Sociological Quarterly, 2019). Here, I find that women's sexualities change in both positive and negative ways. Although single middle-aged and older adult women struggle to find new partners, they also report improvements in their sex lives (e.g., increases in comfort with sex, sexual assertiveness, and sexual pleasure) as they age. As a follow-up analysis, I recently published an article at Sexualities that uses the same data to examine the role of major life events, transitions, and turning points in facilitating changes in single women's sexualities. Finally, I have a forthcoming article at the Journal of Aging Studies that uses Singles in America survey data to analyze how aging differentially affects single women's and men's dating and sexual attitudes and behaviors.
The Nature and Consequences of LGBTQ Prejudice and Discrimination
Much of my other work investigates the nature and consequences of prejudice and discrimination against LGBT individuals. In “Formal Rights and Informal Privileges for Same-Sex Couples: Evidence from a National Survey Experiment” (American Sociological Review, 2014), Long Doan, Annalise Loehr, and I use original, nationally representative, survey data and find that while heterosexual Americans do not differ in their willingness to grant formal rights (e.g., partnership benefits) to same-sex and heterosexual couples, they are generally less approving of granting informal privileges (e.g., public displays of affection) to same-sex couples. Using the same data, my follow-up, articles (also with Long Doan and Annalise Loehr) extend this line of research. In “The Power of Love: The Role of Emotional Attributions and Standards in Heterosexuals’ Attitudes toward Same-Sex Couples” (Social Forces, 2015), we find that heterosexual Americans tend to perceive gay couples as less loving than heterosexual and lesbian couples, and gay couples that are perceived as less loving are also less likely to be granted informal privileges. Finally, “Contact and Heterosexuals’ Attitudes toward Same-Sex Couples: Evidence from a National Survey Experiment” (Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2015), re-investigates the contact hypothesis and finds that the effect of contact with lesbians and gays on attitudes toward formal rights and informal privileges no longer holds after accounting for selection effects.
With my collaborator Eric Anthony Grollman, I also investigate the health consequences of discrimination against people on the LGBT spectrum. Using the 2008 National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS), “The Social Costs of Gender Nonconformity for Transgender Adults: Implications for Discrimination and Health” (Sociological Forum, 2015) investigates the linkages between gender nonconformity, discrimination, and health among the transgender population. In this article, we find that transgender people who are more frequently read as gender nonconforming are more likely to face discrimination and, in turn, experience worse health than their gender conforming counterparts. By underscoring the social consequences of gender non-conformity for transgender persons, this article contributes to ongoing theoretical debates in the sociology of gender about “doing gender.” Further, it more generally highlights the role of stigma visibility in minority stress processes.
LGBT Aging
Currently, I am working on a co-authored manuscript (with sociology professor Jackie Tabor at Illinois College) on same-sex relationships across the life course. In this article, we discuss how same-sex relationships challenge and enhance understandings of the life course. We also discuss how recent liberalization in policy regarding and attitudes toward gay rights raises questions about how LGBT people's lives might unfold differently in years to come and suggest directions for future research in this area.
I also recently collected life story interview data with roughly 60 older lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. In this project, I seek to document how older sexual minorities' lives have unfolded over time, including their attitudes and experiences with "coming out," intimate relationships, marriage, family, health, and end-of-life planning issues. This data will be used to write a series of empirical journal articles and a book.
