As a family demographer and medical sociologist, my research examines the changing intersections of marriage and parenthood and their consequences for health and well-being across the life course. My work is theoretically informed by the social structure and personality perspective, which emphasizes the importance of macro-social structures (e.g. class, gender, race), structural processes (e.g. demographic shifts), and meso-level factors (e.g. family and personal relationships) for individual personality, behavior, health, and well-being. More specifically, I study the influence of union formation, fertility, and other social ties on mental and physical health with attention to gender, race/ethnicity, and life course variations in these processes.
I received a Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin in 2000 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center on Demography and Economics of Aging at NORC and the University of Chicago before joining the faculty of the Department of Sociology at Ohio State in 2002. I am currently Professor and Vice-Chair of Sociology. I am also a Senior Scholar at the Council on Contemporary Families, Editor of Journal of Marriage and Family and former Chair of the American Sociological Association’s Section on the Sociology of Mental Health.
I regularly teach a hybrid version of Introduction to Sociology (SOCIOLOGY 1101) that combines online lecture videos with engaging in-class discussion and interactive learning. The class meets on campus 1 day per week. You can view a sample syllabus here.
When I’m not busy with all that, I love roller-skating, dancing, and seeing live music.
Greetings Professor Williams
I heard your comments on Marketplace(NPR) about marriage and family. I found the segment very interesting. I’m the only person to deliver mail into a housing project(before electronic transfers) and is willing to talk about it(Mailman To A Housing Project on Youtube; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxmVzajVTW0). On the 1st of the month the line of young mothers waiting for me was long. For 20 minutes I gave out welfare checks, food stamps, medicaid cards, and letters from prison(easily identifiable to a mail-man-they’re written in pencil). Lots and lots of letters from prison. Then I’d deliver to the “working-class” apartment complex down the street; no welfare checks, no letters from prison. Conclusion; Crime=Education Level of the Mother(see Laquan McDonald, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Alton Sterling, Sylville Smith….). Giving out welfare benefits was smart; they give teen mothers an income to keep them in school. Welfare “system”-tragic; giving out benefits without requiring classroom attendance. I know all the housing project moves; mothers aren’t getting married because the income of the father of the children reduces her benefits. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act(Welfare Reform) of 1996 was vetoed twice removing the personal responsibility part, a major mistake. Education is the answer! A 16 year-old girl belongs sitting in a classroom, not in front of a tv. I believe that teen mothers should be paid to stay in school(onsite daycare at the high school+$1000 monthly school attendance-in addition to current benefits+$5000 GI Bill-type bonus). I hope you agree. Thank you for your time