Racial and Educational Inequality as a Consequence of Family Structure: Learning from Shotgun Marriages (2014-2015)

Using data on North Carolina births and marriages, this Bass Connections project team investigated the link between family structure and educational outcomes of children in ways that previously were not possible because of data limitations.

The team produced a paper that was accepted for publication by the Journal of Marriage and Family, the top-rated family studies journal. All of the undergraduate team members earned co-authorship on the paper due to their insights and efforts that were integral to the project’s success.

Timing

2014-2015

Team Outcomes

Anna Gassman-Pines, Christina M. Gibson-Davis, Corey Vernot, Maggie Butler, Natalie Hall, Lauren Taylot, Katherine Eastwood, Xinri Zhang. “They Should Say I Don’t: Norms About Midpregnancy Marriage and Job Loss.” 2017. Journal of Marriage and Family 79(2):405-418.

Christina M. Gibson-Davis, Elizabeth O. Ananat, Anna Gassman-Pines. 2016. “Midpregnancy Marriage and Divorce: Why the Death of Shotgun Marriage Has Been Greatly Exaggerated. Demography.

This Team in the News

Faculty Perspectives: Anna Gassman-Pines

Faculty Perspectives: Elizabeth Ananat

Corey Vernot: Making Statistics Work Across Many Fields

Should Shotgun Weddings Take Place?

This project team was originally part of the Education & Human Development theme of Bass Connections, which ended in 2022. See earlier related team, Racial and Educational Inequality as a Consequence of Family Structure: Learning from Shotgun Marriages (2013-2014).

Team Leaders

  • Anna Gassman-Pines, Sanford School of Public Policy
  • Christina Gibson-Davis, Sanford School of Public Policy

/undergraduate Team Members

  • Katherine Eastwood, Economics (BS)
  • Natalie Hall, Public Policy Studies (AB)
  • Maggie Hammerle, Psychology (AB)
  • Vivian Li, Computer Science (AB)
  • Lauren Taylor, Economics (BS)