Jennifer Lundquist is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and the Associate Director of SADRI.  A social demographer with an emphasis on race and ethnic stratification, family formation patterns, and immigration, she evaluates racial disparities along a variety of demographic outcomes, including marriage, family stability, fertility, and health. By specializing in an experimental framework that compares such outcomes in the U.S. military institution to those of larger society, she provides a counterfactual perspective on the causality behind persisting race differentials in U.S. society.
   A current research project explores racial disparities in low birth weight and infant mortality, assessing whether the reduced racial stratification and universal healthcare of U.S. military service narrows black-white infant health outcome gaps.  She is also examining the role of veteran status and racial residential segregation patterns with Mary Fischer.
   Professor Lundquist's interests also include American childlessness and its intersection with race. Most research on African American fertility focuses on nonmarital childbearing or high fertility, neglecting the fact that current childlessness rates are similar for both black women and white women. Working with Professor Budig, Professor Lundquist studies the correlates of childlessness and only-child families among black and white families.

Curriculum Vitae:
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Areas of Interest:
Social Stratification, Race and Ethnicity, Family, Immigration, Social Demography.

Current Grants:
2008-10. NSF. Race and Infant Health Outcomes in the U.S. Military.

2005-07. UMass Faculty Research Grant. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Teen Childbearing: Isolating the Effects of Community-Level Segregation.

Selected Publications:
"Reevaluating Ethnic and Gender Satisfaction Differences: The Effect of a Meritocratic Institution." American Sociological Review forthcoming 2008.

"To Work or Not to Work? The Role of Poverty, Race/Ethnicity, and Regional Location in Youth Employment." In Children and Poverty Today, D. Maume and B. Arrighi (eds.), Praeger Press, 2007. With Constance Gager and Jacqueline C. Pflieger.

Demography: The Study of Human Population 3rd Edition. Chicago: Waveland Press, 2007. With David Yaukey and Douglas L. Anderton.

"A Comparison of Societal Divorce Rates to Those of Enlisted Families." Journal of Political and Military Sociology 35(2), 2007.

"The Black-White Gap in Marital Dissolution among Young Adults: What Can a Counterfactual Scenario Tell Us?" Social Problems 53(3):421-41, 2006.

“Family Formation in the U.S. Military: Evidence From the NLSY.” Journal of Marriage and the Family 67:1-13, 2005. With Herbert Smith.

“Politics or Economics? International Migration During the Nicaraguan Contra War.” Journal of Latin American Studies 37:1-25, 2005. With Douglas Massey.

“When Race Makes No Difference: Marriage and the Military.” Social Forces 83(2):1-28, 2004.