PSC In The News
Frey says more deaths than births among white Americans signals big demographic shifts
Frey says young white Americans will play smaller role in the nation's demographic future
Bound's work cited in look at how retirement affects health and life expectancy
Highlights
Trainees Nelson Saldaña, Sarah Seelye and Ellen Compernolle awarded PSC grants
Arline Geronimus wins Excellence in Research Award from School of Public Health
Yu Xie to give DBASSE's David Lecture April 30, 2013 on "Is American Science in Decline?"
U-M grad programs do well in latest USN&WR "Best" rankings
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Jennifer S. Barber
Funded Research:
Group-Based Trajectory Modeling of Pregnancy Desire in Young Adulthood (PSC Initiatives Fund)
Scholars in Health Policy Research Program (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
The Role of Research in Enhancing Family Planning and Pregnancy Prevention for Teens (Grant, WT)
Developmental Idealism in the U.S.: Acceptance among a Sample of Young Women (PSC Initiatives Fund)
The Role of Violence in the Processes Leading to Unintended Pregnancy (PSC Initiatives Fund)
Ideational Influences on Marriage and Childbearing (NICHD)
Young Women's Relationships, Contraception, and Unintended Pregnancy (NICHD)
Intergenerational Influences on Family Formation in a Changing Social Context (NICHD)
Research Professor, Population Studies Center.
Research Professor, Survey Research Center.
Professor, Sociology.
Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Barber's research is at the intersection of family sociology, demography, and social psychology. Her work has two main foci. First, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, she is currently collecting longitudinal data from a cohort of 18- and 19-year-old women in Michigan. The "Relationship Dynamics and Social Life" project explores the types of attitudes, relationships, and contraceptive practices that produce unintended pregnancies. The project is collecting and analyzing multiple types of data -- including surveys, semi-structured interviews, observation, and administrative data. The second project, funded through multiple grants from NICHD to a collaborative team of researchers at Michigan and across the country, focuses on childbearing and contraceptive use in rural Nepal. The current focus is on intergenerational and familial influences on childbearing behavior.
Recent Publications
Journal Articles
Jennings, Elyse Ann, and Jennifer S. Barber. Forthcoming. "The influence of neighbors' family size preference on women's progression to higher parity births." Studies in Family Planning. NIHMSID: NIHMS443182.
Moreau, Caroline, Kelli Hall, James Trussell, and Jennifer S. Barber. Forthcoming. "Effect of Prospectively-Measured Pregnancy Intention Indicators on the Consistency of Contraceptive Use among Young Women." Human Reproduction. PMCID: PMC Journal - In Process.
Miller, Warren, Jennifer S. Barber, and Heather Gatny. 2013. "The effects of ambivalent fertility desires on pregnancy risk in young women in the USA." Population Studies, 67(1): 25-38. PMCID: PMC3570750. DOI. Abstract.
East, P., N. Chien, and Jennifer S. Barber. 2012. "Adolescents' Pregnancy Intentions, Wantedness, and Regret: Cross-Lagged Relations With Mental Health and Harsh Parenting." Journal of Marriage and Family, 74(1): 167-185. PMCID: PMC3337683. DOI. Abstract.
Barber, Jennifer S., Yasamin Kusunoki, and Heather H. Gatny. 2011. "Design and Implementation of an Online Weekly Survey to Study Unintended Pregnancies." Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, 9: 327-334. PMCID: PMC3298188. Abstract. Public Access.
Barber, Jennifer S., and Patricia East. 2011. "Children's Experiences After the Unintended Birth of a Sibling." Demography, 48(1): 101-125. PMCID: PMC3313449. DOI. Abstract.
Axinn, William, Jennifer S. Barber, and Ann E. Biddlecom. 2010. "Social organization and the transition from direct to indirect consumption." Social Science Research, 39(3): 357-368. PMCID: PMC2877213. DOI. Abstract.
Vahratian, Anjel, Jennifer S. Barber, Jean M. Lawrence, and Catherine Kim. 2009. "Family-Planning Practices Among Women With Diabetes and Overweight and Obese Women in the 2002 National Survey for Family Growth." Diabetes Care, 32(6): 1026-1031. PMCID: PMC2681041. DOI. Abstract.
Barber, Jennifer S., and Patricia L. East. 2009. "Home and Parenting Resources Available to Siblings Depending on Their Birth Intention Status." Child Development, 80(3): 921-939. PMCID: PMC3070662. DOI. Abstract.
Chapters
Axinn, William, Dirgha Ghimire, and Jennifer S. Barber. 2008. "The influence of ideational dimensions of social change on family formation in Nepal." In International Family Change: ideational perspectives edited by Rukmalie Jayakody; Arland Thornton; William G Axinn. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Current PSC Trainees:
Elizabeth Ela, Caroline Sten Hartnett.