Laurie DeRose

Laurie DeRose is a Research Assistant Professor with the Maryland Population Research Center at the University of Maryland at College Park, where she has served since its inception in 2001. She is the Director of Research for the World Family Map project, as well as an Adjunct Lecturer of the Department of Sociology at Georgetown University.

Professor DeRose has been researching demographic outcomes and decision-making processes in disadvantaged contexts, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Her research focuses on demographic effects of educational reversals, the meaning of education in underdeveloped settings, and the demography of hunger, expanded to include breastfeeding and related public health issues.

Her current research is focused on global family demography. Her work has shown that maternal union transitions are associated with poorer child health outcomes throughout the Global South, just as they are in contexts with more substantial material resources supporting children’s health. She has co-edited a book: Family Inequality in Europe and the Americas: Causes and Consequences (2018), published by Cambridge University Press.