About:

Jessica Halliday Hardie received her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Family Demography and Individual Development at Penn State University. She specializes in the areas of sociology of education, inequality, family, and the transition to adulthood. In particular, her research explores how class, race and gender shape young people’s trajectories through adolescence and young adulthood. She has conducted qualitative and quantitative research on adolescent social capital, race and racism in high school, economic resources and romantic relationship quality among cohabiting and married couples, and the relationship between maternal health and child wellbeing. She is currently working on a longitudinal qualitative and quantitative study of class and race differences in young women’s transitions to adulthood, with attention to how they balance work, school, and family life during this period.