Alyssa Alexander’s research interests focus on care work and inequality, the relationship between family structure and child/youth outcomes, and military families. She also has a special interest in comparative research across countries, especially as it relates to care work and gender inequality. She holds a B.S in Sociology from Brigham Young University, a M.S. in Sociology from Brigham Young University, and, as of May 2021, a Ph.D. in Sociology from North Carolina State University. Her dissertation examined the effects of parenthood, race, and gender on the wages of care workers in the United States. Alyssa has taught Sociology of the Family for five semesters at NCSU as a graduate instructor. She enjoys learning from her students and helping them become engaged in the research and learning process.

Sociology of the family; gender inequality; parenthood wage gap; care work; comparative research; family structure; military families

My current research focuses on the intersection between work and family sociology, focusing specifically on the role of parenthood in shaping wages within nurturant care work. I look at the parenthood wage gap within and across 1—care work broadly, focusing on the intersecting nature of gender and race; 2—specific care work subsectors such as religion and medical health care; and 3—birth cohorts. I have also worked on projects studying the impact of family structure of various childhood outcomes such as BMI, gender ideology development, and behavioral problems in the US, UK, and Germany. I am also interested in exploring military families and gender inequality further.

Peer-Reviewed Articles:

Dufur, Mikaela J., and Alyssa J. Alexander. 2017. “Does Childhood Family Structure Create Stratification in Adult Education and Labor Market Attainment? An Argument for the Selectivity Perspective.” Sociology Compass 11(1):e12442.

Forthcoming:

Alexander, Alyssa, and Toby L. Parcel. “Location, Location, Location?: School District, Length of Residence and Attitudes Towards Diversity and Neighborhood Schools in the Upper South.”American Behavioral Scientist, forthcoming.

Under Review:

Alexander, Alyssa J., Mikaela Dufur, Jonathan Jarvis, Michael Cope, and Amy Read. “Family Structure and Youth Gender Ideologies in Germany and South Korea.” Submitted November 2020 for review at Journal of Comparative Family Studies.

Works in Progress:

Alexander, Alyssa J., and Anna Manzoni. “Labor Pains: Care work & The Cost of Children”

Dufur, Mikaela, Kristie Rowley, Jon Jarvis, Shana Pribesh, Alyssa J. Alexander, Carolina Otero, Michelle Lucier, and Can Cheng. “Family Structures, Transitions, and Child Weight in the US and the UK.”