Sociologist to Address Race, Ethnicity, and Divorce In Oct. 16 Lecture at Pitt

PITTSBURGH--Megan Sweeney, associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles, will deliver a Pitt Center on Race and Social Problems (CRSP) lecture from noon to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 16, in the School of Social Work Conference Center, 2017 Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Ave. The talk is free and open to the public; lunch will be provided. Registration is not required.

The title of Sweeney's talk is "Race, Ethnicity, and Divorce in the United States: What Do We Know?" Sweeney's research focuses on social stratification and the formation and the disruption of the family. She will talk about the variations among White, Black, and Mexican American women in their risk factors for divorce. She also will discuss the increasing difficulty in documenting these patterns because of changes in the availability of appropriate data.

Her article, "Stepfather Families and the Emotional Well-Being of Adolescents," is scheduled to be published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior in March 2007. Other published articles include "Can Differential Exposure to Risk Factors Explain Recent Racial and Ethnic Variation in Marital Disruption?" in Social Science Research, and "Premarital Cohabitation and the Risk of Marital Disruption Among White, Black, and Mexican American Women," in the Journal of Marriage and Family.

A faculty member in UCLA's Department of Sociology since 2001, Sweeney recently completed a one-year fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, Calif. She holds a Ph.D. degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Sweeney's lecture is part of the CRSP Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Fall 2006 Speaker Series. For more information, call 412-624-7382.

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