Kristen Harknett is an Associate Professor of Sociology and a Research Associate of the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include economic influences on marriage, cohabitation, and childbearing; the causes and consequences of lacking material and emotional support from friends and family; and the influence of sex ratio imbalances and other aspects of social context on romantic relationships and childbearing. Some of her current research projects include: (1) How macroeconomic conditions in the U.S. influence relationship formation, quality, and stability (2) Economic Circumstances and Family Formation in Cross-National Perspective (3) Do Support Environments Influence Fertility Intentions? Evidence from 25 European Countries
Union Formation
Education, Labor Markets, and the Retreat from Marriage (with Arielle Kuperberg), forthcoming in Social Forces (2011)
Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study and Current Population Surveys, we...
Mate Availability and Unmarried Parent Relationships, Demography (2008)
Theoretically, a shortage of males in a local marriage market may influence the formation, quality,...
Does Receiving an Earnings Supplement affect Union Formation?: Estimating Effects for Program Participants using Propensity Score Matching, Evaluation Review (2006)
This paper demonstrates a novel application of propensity score matching techniques: to estimate nonexperimental impacts...
Parenting across Racial and Class Lines: Assortative Mating Patterns of New Parents Who Are Married, Cohabiting, Dating, and No Longer Romantically Involved (with Joshua Goldstein), Social Forces (2006)
In this article, we examine the assortative mating patterns of new parents who are married,...
Explaining Racial and Ethnic Differences in Marriage among New, Unwed Parents (with Sara McLanahan), American Sociological Review (2004)
This article uses new data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study to examine...
Social Support
Who Lacks Support? An Examination of Mothers’ Personal Safety Nets (with Caroline Sten Hartnett), forthcoming in Journal of Marriage and Family (2011)
We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 12,140 person–waves)...
Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Perceptions of Social Support among New Parents, Journal of Family Issues (2010)
Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing survey (N = 4,211), this...
Racial and Gender Differences in Kin Support: A Mixed-Methods Study of African American and Hispanic Couples (with Clarisse Haxton), Journal of Family Issues (2009)
This article uses qualitative and quantitative data for a recent birth cohort from the Fragile...
More Kin, Less Support: Multipartnered Fertility and Kin Support among New Mothers (with Jean Knab), Journal of Marriage and the Family (2007)
Recent research has documented the high prevalence of having children with more than one partner,...
The Relationship Between Private Safety Nets and Economic Outcomes Among Single Mothers, Journal of Marriage and the Family (2006)
This article examines the relationship between private safety nets and economic outcomes among 2,818 low-income...
Well-being of Children
Why are Children with Married Parents Healthier? The Case of Pediatric Asthma, Population Research and Policy Review (2009)
Among a recent birth cohort in U.S. cities, young children were far more likely to...
Are Public Expenditures Associated with Better Child Outcomes in the U.S.? A Comparison Across 50 States (with Irwin Garfinkel, Jay Bainbridge, Tim Smeeding, Nancy Folbre, and Sara McLanahan), Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (2005)
Our article utilizes variation across the fifty U.S. states to examine the relationship between public...