Shelley Clark
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shelleydclark.bsky.social
Shelley Clark
@shelleydclark.bsky.social
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James McGill Professor of Sociology, McGill University. A demographer whose research focuses on gender, health, family dynamics, and life course transitions.

https://www.mcgill.ca/sociology/contact-us/faculty/clark
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shelleydclark.bsky.social
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41277108/

Now available:

"From Birth to Death: The Marital Consequences of Child Loss for Unmarried Mothers"

Stud Fam Plann 2025 Nov 23. doi:10.1111/sifp.70041. Online ahead of print.
Abstract High levels of premarital childbearing in Africa have spurred considerable interest in its consequences for women. Premarital childbearing corresponds with women's poor health, as well as their subsequent life course outcomes, including their marriage timing and quality. However, this work has not considered the survival of women's premaritally born children, leaving unclear what happens to unmarried mothers when their children do not survive. In this paper, we ask how infant death affects unmarried mothers' subsequent life course outcomes. We analyze recent Demographic and Health Survey data from 26 countries to examine the marital outcomes of unmarried mothers-differentiating between those whose firstborn survived infancy and those whose child did not. We find that, although premarital childbearing is generally known to correspond with marriage disadvantages, unwed mothers whose premarital births ended in the death of an infant have distinctive marital trajectories and experiences compared to their peers with a surviving child. Although child loss accelerates unmarried mothers' entry into marriages, these bereaved mothers are more likely to marry less educated, polygynous, and violent husbands, especially among younger birth cohorts. The results demonstrate the double disadvantages unmarried women face in both bearing and losing a child.
November 26, 2025 at 12:08 AM
shelleydclark.bsky.social
psu.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/t/1_np...

"The current pro-natalist project is weaponizing an imaginary rural America in ways that harm real rural Americans today."

My DeJong Lecture, and the others in the 20th anniversary event, is now available: "How pro-natalist policies harm rural Americans."
November 3, 2025 at 1:21 PM
shelleydclark.bsky.social
While, yes, marriage rates are much lower among Blacks than among whites, within each racial group, children are more likely to be raised in marital households in cities than in rural areas. (citation in a post at the end of the thread, forthcoming.)

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January 31, 2025 at 5:01 PM
shelleydclark.bsky.social
Looking more closely at relation types. Rural areas have seen relative growth in both cohabitation and divorce, and outstrip urban areas in both.
tinyurl.com/RPRN2024
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January 31, 2025 at 5:01 PM
shelleydclark.bsky.social
Marriage is especially unlikely among rural women who have children. 54% of rural births now occur outside of marriage, compared to 45% of urban births.
tinyurl.com/RPRN2024
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January 31, 2025 at 5:01 PM
shelleydclark.bsky.social
I’m a family demographer studying rural/ urban differences. The stereotypes DOT may be relying on are out of date. In an article in Demography, my coauthors & I show that fertility rates have converged, while marriage is now slightly more common in urban areas.
doi.org/10.1215/0070...
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January 31, 2025 at 5:01 PM
shelleydclark.bsky.social
New Trump admin guidelines prioritize transportation spending and infrastructure for “communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average,” which many are reading as a shorthand for subsidizing white rural communities.
The truth is complicated.
tinyurl.com/DOTpolicy2025
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January 31, 2025 at 5:01 PM