Sara McLanahan is an American sociologist.

She is the William S. Tod Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University

. She received her B.A. in Sociology from the University of Houston

University of Houston

The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...

 and her PhD in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin

University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...

, and she previously taught at the University of Wisconsin.

At Princeton, Professor McLanahan is the founding director of the Center for Research on Child Wellbeing and a principal investigator of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study

. She is editor-in-chief of the journal The Future of Children

The Future of Children

The Future of Children is a collaboration of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and the Brookings Institution. The mission of The Future of Children is to translate the best social science research into information that is useful to policymakers,...

 and serves on the National Advisory Committee of the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program. She is a trustee of the Russell Sage Foundation

Russell Sage Foundation

The Russell Sage Foundation is the principal American foundation devoted exclusively to research in the social sciences. Founded in 1907 and headquartered in New York City, the foundation is a research center, a funding source for studies by scholars at other institutions, and a key member of the...

 and the W.T. Grant Foundation, a fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

American Academy of Political and Social Science

The American Academy of Political and Social Science was founded in 1889 to promote progress in the social sciences. Sparked by Professor Edmund J. James and drawing from members of the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, and Bryn Mawr College, the Academy sought to...

, and, in 2011, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences

United States National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

. She also has served as president of the Population Association of America.

McLanahan is known for her work on the family as a major institution in the American stratification system. Her early work examined the consequences of divorce and remarriage for parents and children, and her recent work focuses on families formed by unmarried parents. She is interested in the effects of family structure on social inequality and the roles that public policies can play in addressing the needs of families and children.

Selected Works

• McLanahan, Sara, Irwin Garfinkel, Ron Mincy, and Elisabeth Donahue. Editors. 2010. The Future of Children: Fragile Families. 20(2). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

• McLanahan, Sara. 2009. “Fragile Families and the Reproduction of Poverty.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 621: 111-131.

• McLanahan, Sara and Christine Percheski. 2008. “Family Structure and the Reproduction of Inequalities.” Annual Review of Sociology. 34: 257-276.

• Meadows, Sarah O., Sara S. McLanahan, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. 2008. “Family Structure and Maternal Health Trajectories.” American Sociological Review. 73(2): 314-334.

• Carlson, Marcia, Sara McLanahan, and Paula England. 2004. “Union Formation in Fragile Families.” Demography. 41(2): 237-261.

• McLanahan, Sara. 2004. “Diverging Destinies: How Children Fare Under the Second Demographic Transition.” Demography. 41(4): 607-627.

• McLanahan, Sara and Gary Sandefur. 1994. Growing up with a Single Parent: What Helps, What Hurts. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

• Garfinkel, Irwin and Sara McLanahan. 1986. Single Mothers and Their Children: A New American Dilemma. Baltimore: Urban Institute Press.

• McLanahan, Sara. 1985. “Family Structure and the Reproduction of Poverty.” American Journal of Sociology. 90(4): 873-901.