Kelly Musick

Shows that prior to the pandemic, shifting to remote work increased gender gaps in housework but decreased gaps in childcare. Remote work worsened mothers' work environments relative to fathers' as mothers more frequently report combining paid work and childcare.

Argues that although parents tend to enjoy time with their children, mothers report less happiness, more stress, and greater fatigue in time with children than fathers, due largely to their disproportionate share of basic and solo caregiving, as well as their lower quality sleep and leisure.

Documents a weakening association between cohabitation and parental separation, given marriage occurs at some point before or after the couple’s first birth.

Finds that college attendance promotes marriage among men and women from socially advantaged backgrounds, but reduces marriage changes among the socially disadvantaged, suggesting a mismatch in the marriage market between individuals’ education and their social origins.

Examines the oft-studied association between family dinners and adolescent wellbeing, finding weaker evidence of their benefits than reported elsewhere, net of a rich set of controls and other tests of causality.

Finds many similarities in the effects of transitioning to marriage and cohabitation on men’s and women’s well-being, with differences by union status tending to be small, dissipating over time, and not always favoring marriage.

Argues that the higher completed fertility of less educated women is due largely to unintended childbearing and cannot be traced to common explanations in previous research, calling for further attention to alternative mechanisms, including social class differences in barriers to contraceptive use and relationship dynamics.