W. Bradford Wilcox

W. Bradford Wilcox is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies. He is Director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia and a member of the James Madison Society at Princeton University. 

Professor Wilcox’s research has focused on marriage, fatherhood, and cohabitation, especially on the ways that family structure, civil society, and culture influence the quality and stability of family life in the United States and around the globe. His research has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Slate, National Review Online, NPR, NBC’s The Today Show, and many other media outlets. He has also published articles on marriage, cohabitation, parenting, and fatherhood in The American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Journal of Marriage and Family and Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 

His first book, Soft Patriarchs, New Men: How Christianity Shapes Fathers and Husbands, (Chicago, 2004) examines the ways in which the religious beliefs and practices of American Protestant men influence their approach to parenting, household labor, and marriage. In his latest work with Nicholas H. Wolfinger, Soul Mates: Religion, Sex, Love, and Marriage Among African Americans and Latinos (Oxford, 2016), Wilcox shines a much-needed spotlight on the lives of strong and happy minority couples.

Prior to coming to the University of Virginia, he held research fellowships at Princeton University, Yale University and the Brookings Institution. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia and his Ph.D. at Princeton University.

Read the abstract of the paper Professor Wilcox presented for STI's Whither the Child? experts meeting.

Read a summary of Soft Patriarchs.

Read articles he has published in the Wall Street Journal:  

• To Have, to Hold, for a While
• God Will Provide -- Unless the Government Gets There First
• The Real Pregnancy Crisis
• Can the Recession Save Marriage?
• The Generation That Can't Move On Up (with Andrew Cherlin)

Find other articles concerning his studies at:

• The Washington Post: Couples Who Share Religious Practices Tend to be Happier Than Those Who Don't 
• YG Network: Pro-Family Policies. To Strengthen Marriage and Give Kids a Better Shot at the American Dream