Department of Sociology

Kara Joyner is Associate Professor of Sociology at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) and Associate Director of the Center for Family and Demographic Research. Her research addresses how a variety of factors influence the formation and dynamics of relationships, including friendships, romantic/sexual relationships, cohabiting relationships, and marriages. It also considers how different types of relationships influence well-being and identifies factors that moderate this influence. She has conducted much of this research using data from Add Health. As a Principal Investigator on an NICHD-funded subproject for a P01 (directed by H. Elizabeth Peters), she recently compared estimates of fertility across major U.S. surveys and developed population-based estimates of male fertility. Her research has been published in American Journal of Public Health, Demography, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Journal of Marriage and Family, Social Forces, Social Psychology Quarterly, and American Sociological Review.