Professional Bio

Research and Teaching Interests

Areas:  Survey research methods; quantitative methodology, family, mental health

Current research interests included marital quality over the life course; handling missing data in surveys; analysis of longitudinal panel data; health and marital quality; social factors in infertility; and hormones and family behavior.  Teaching interests include survey research methods, quantitative methodology and statistics, and family.

Research Interests

My recent research has focused on quantitative and survey research methods, change in marital quality and health over the life course, marital naming, and community and personal factors impacting child neglect. I have co-authored a series of articles related to issues in handling missing data in family research, including in longitudinal studies and those with a secondary interview with a partner or spouse.

Research Projects

Currently, I am actively working on four research projects, two with primarily methodological focus, and two with focus on family issues. One project compares two large surveys conducted three years apart in the same population but using two different survey modes to assess the how the mode affects the validity of the survey responses. A second study explores, using simulation methods, how the statistical model used affects the results of change in child problem behavior with different methods of parental discipline. A third set of projects examines the relationship between marital quality, health and disability in two large longitudinal studies. A current project funded by NIH is examining the role of child sleep patterns and duration on parental child neglect.

Professional Awards and Achievements

• Editorial Board Journal of Marriage and Family, 1985–current

• Deputy Editor, Journal of Marriage and Family. 2007–2009

• Investigator on the Marital Instability over the Life Course project (Alan Booth, PI) funded by NIA and other agencies from 1980–2002.

• Principal investigator on “The Community Context of Rural and Urban Child Neglect” funded by NIMH 2001–2005.

• Co- Principal Investigator “Infertility: Pathways and psychosocial outcomes” funded by NICHD (Lynn White co-PI)  2004–2010.

• University of Nebraska Distinguished Teaching Award 1989.

• Rueben Hill Award for 2002 from National Council on Family Relations (for best article in 2001 combining theory and empirical research in the family)

• Distinction in the Social Sciences Award.  College of the Liberal Arts, Penn State, 2010

• National Conference on Family Relations Fellow 2011

Selected Publications

• Choi, H,,  Yorgeson, J, Johnson, D.R.  Marital Quality and Health in Middle and Later Adulthood: Dyadic Associations.  Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences. 2016.

• Young, R. & Johnson, D.R.  Handling Missing Values in Longitudinal Panel Data With Multiple Imputation. Journal of Marriage and Family. 2015. 77: 277–294 DOI:10.1111/jomf.12144
• Shreffler, K., Greil, A., McQuillan, J. & Johnson D. R. Surgical Sterilization, Regret, and Race: Contemporary Patterns. Social Science Research 2015. 50: 31–45 DOI:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.10.010

• Young, R. & Johnson D. R.  Methods for handling missing secondary respondent data.  Journal of Marriage and Family 2013. 75: 221 – 234 DOI:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2012.01021.x

• Johnson, D.R. and R. Young. “Toward best practices in analyzing datasets with missing data: Comparisons and recommendations,” Journal of Marriage and Family, 2011 73:926-945.

• Johnson, K. and D. R. Johnson. Partnered Decisions? U.S. Couples and Medical Help-Seeking for Infertility. Family Relations, 2009 58:431-444.

• Yorgason, J., A. Booth and D. R. Johnson. Health, Disability, and Marital Quality: Is the Association Different for Older Persons?  Research on Aging, 2008 30:623-648.

• Johnson, D. R.  “Two-wave panel analysis: comparing statistical methods for studying the effect of events and transitions,” Journal of Marriage and Family, 2005. 67:1061-1075.

• Amato, P.R. , D.R. Johnson , A. Booth and S.J. Rogers . "Continuity and Change in Marital Quality between 1980 and 2000." Journal of Marriage and Family, 2003 65(1):1-22.

• Johnson, David R., & Jian Wu. “AAn empirical test of crisis, social selection, and role explanations of the relationship between marital disruption and psychological distress: a pooled time-series analysis of four-wave panel data”, Journal of Marriage and the Family, 2002 64:211-224.

• Vanlaningham, Jody, David R. Johnson, & Paul Amato.  “Marital happiness, marital duration, and the U-shaped curve: evidence from a five-wave panel study”, Social Forces, 2001 79:1313-1342

• Booth, Alan, Johnson, David. R., & Granger, Douglas A.   “Testosterone and men=s depression: The role of social behavior.”  Journal of Health and Social Behavior.  40 (June 1999).

• Johnson, David R. & Elliott, Lisa. “Sampling Design Effects: Do They Affect the Analyses of Data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH)?”  Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1998. 60:993-1001.

• Johnson, David R. , & Booth, Alan.  “Is marital quality a product of the dyadic environment or individual factors?  Panel evidence from individuals in successive marriages,”  Social Forces, 1998. 76:883-904.

• Johnson, David R. & Scheuble, Laurie K.  "Marital naming in two generations: A national study,"   Journal of Marriage and the Family.  57 (August 1995).

• Johnson, David R.  "Alternative methods for the quantitative analysis of panel data in family research: Pooled time-series models,"  Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1995.  57:1065-1077.

• Johnson, David R., Amoloza, Theodora, & Booth, Alan.  "Stability and developmental change in marital quality: a three-wave panel analysis,"  Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1992. 54(3).

• Booth, Alan, Johnson, David R., & Edwards, John.  "Social integration and divorce," Social Forces, 1991 70 (1):207-224.

• Johnson, David R., & Scheuble, Laurie K.  "Gender bias in the disposition of juvenile court referrals:  The effects of time and location,"  Criminology 1991 29(4): 677-699.