Alan Booth

Research and Teaching Interests

Divorce, changes in marital quality, and alterations in parent-child relations
Hormones and family processes

Professional Awards and Achievements

• Editor of the Journal of Marriage and the Family from 1986 to 1991
• President of the Midwest Sociological Society in 1990
• Chair of the American Sociological Association Family Section in 1991
• Pennsylvania State University Faculty Scholar Award for Outstanding Achievement 1995
• Chair of the National Council on Family Relations Research and Theory Section from 1996-1997
• Program chair for the National Council on Family national meeting in 2002
• Recipient of the American Sociological Association Family Section Distinguished Career Award in 2002.

He is principal investigator of two major research projects. The first, Marital Instability Over the Life Course, is a longitudinal study of more than 2,000 married persons and their offspring funded by the National Institute on Aging. Commencing in 1980. The focus of study has been on factors that influence and are influenced by divorce, changes in marital quality, and alterations in parent-child relations. The second,.Hormones, Family Relations, and Child Development, is a longitudinal study of 400 families with children funded by the W. T. Grant Foundation. The focus of the study is the inter-relationships between hormones and family processes.

Selected Publication

• Booth, A. & Amato, P. 2001. Parental pre-divorce relations and offspring post-divorce well-being. Journal of Marriage and Family, 63, 197-212.
• Amato, P. & Booth, A. 2001. The legacy of parents’ marital discord: consequences for children’s marital quality, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 627-638.
• Myers, S., & Booth, A. 2002. Forerunners of Change in Nontraditional Gender Ideology.  Social Psychology Quarterly.
• Booth, A., Carver, K., & Granger, D. 2002 Biosocial perspectives on the family. Journal of Marriage and the Family.
• Booth, A., Johnson, D., & Granger, D. 1999. Testosterone and men’s depression: The role of social behavior. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 40, 130-140.
• Johnson, D., & A. Booth. 1998. Is marital quality a product of the dyadic environment or individual factors? Panel evidence from individuals in successive marriages. Social Forces, 76, 883-904.
• Amato, P., & A. Booth. 1997. Generation at Risk: Growing Up in an Era of Family Upheaval. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
• Brown, S., & A. Booth. 1996. Cohabitation versus marriage: A comparison of relationship quality. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 668-678.
• Booth, A., D. Johnson, A. Branaman, & A. Sica. 1995. Belief and behavior: Does religion matter in today's marriage. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57,661-671.
• Booth, A. & D. R. Johnson. 1994. Declining health and marital quality. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 56,218-223.
• Booth, A., & J. Dabbs. 1993. Testosterone and Men's Marriages. Social Forces, 72,463-477.
• Booth, A., J. Edwards & D. Johnson. 1991. Social integration and divorce. Social Forces, 70, 207-224.