Career
Currently, Hofferth is Professor Emerita at the School of Public Health and Research Professor at the Maryland Population Research Center, University of Maryland at College Park. [5]
Before joining the University of Maryland, Hofferth was a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan from 1994 to 2001. [8] During this period, she co-directed the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics and led its Child Development Supplement. [9] She also served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Sociology and a research associate at the Population Studies Center. [5]
Earlier, she was affiliated with the Urban Institute in Washington, DC, where she worked as a Senior Research Associate from 1988 to 1994 and directed major national studies, including the National Child Care Survey of 1990, [10] and collaborated on "A Profile of Child Care Settings." Before that, she served in various capacities within the same organization from 1977 to 1983, focusing on policy research on women and families. [11]
From 1983 to 1988, Hofferth held roles at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), including Health Scientist Administrator and Expert in the Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch. [7]
Hofferth has engaged in research for over four decades in the context of public policy, focusing on child development, family dynamics, and health. [12] From 2012 through 2021, she served as the Principal Investigator on a NICHD-funded grant titled "Time Use Data for Health and Well-Being," a collaborative project with the Minnesota Population Center and the Centre for Time Use Research at University College London. [13]
In 2012, she received the Distinguished Career Award from the American Sociological Association Family Section. [14] She has also served on the Policy Council of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, as Vice President of the Population Association of America, and as Chair of the American Sociological Association's Section on the Sociology of Children. [2]
Research
Sandra Hofferth's academic research spans five principal domains: gender, work, and family; child health [15] and well-being; electronic communication; migration and immigrant adaptation; [16] and public policy. [4]
Hofferth has conducted research over the past four decades on family decision-making, particularly about the evolving roles of mothers and fathers. One of her findings challenged long-standing demographic assumptions regarding maternal employment. Using time-use data, she demonstrated that, contrary to earlier beliefs, employed mothers in the late 1990s were spending as much time with their children as non-employed mothers had in the early 1980s. [17]
Her more recent studies have examined paternal involvement, revealing that fathers have devoted more time to childcare over recent decades, a trend aligned with broader shifts in gender roles. [18] [19]
Her findings also show that father involvement is positively associated with child health outcomes. [20]
Hofferth is known for her contributions to measuring and analyzing child health and developmental outcomes. A significant focus of her research has been the use of time diary data to assess physical and sedentary activities among children. [21] Notably, she directed a National Institutes of Health-funded project titled Measuring Children's Activity in its Social Context, which compared diary-based reports of children's physical activity to objective accelerometer data. [21] Her findings indicated that time diaries are a valid and reliable method for capturing children's activity levels. [21] These insights have influenced subsequent research methodologies, including those used in adult obesity studies. She has also published on methodological issues, including structural equation modeling and measurement bias, [22] and co-edited the Handbook of Measurement Issues in Family Research. [23] Her work has further examined the reliability and validity of well-being indicators in national data sets, including the American Time Use Survey. [24]
Hofferth has conducted research into trends in children's and adolescents’ use of electronic media, including computers and mobile phones. [25] Her studies tracked the rapid increase in digital media engagement from the late 1990s through the 2000s. [26] One of her key contributions was demonstrating that increased computer use was linked to improved verbal test scores, especially among girls and minority children. [25] [26] Further research revealed that texting on mobile phones was associated with higher reading test scores, whereas voice calls showed no such relationship. [27]
Hofferth’s research on immigrant families has emphasized the academic and social integration of children from immigrant backgrounds. Her studies have shown that children of immigrants often demonstrate strong academic performance, sometimes surpassing their non-immigrant peers in reading and mathematics. [16] These findings challenge conventional narratives about immigrant disadvantage and highlight successful trajectories into adulthood for this demographic group. [28] [29]
Hofferth has contributed to policy-relevant scholarship by applying demographic frameworks to issues such as childcare and maternal employment. [30] Her early work examined how families select childcare arrangements and how paid childcare influences maternal employment patterns. [31] By introducing population-based data and demographic methods into policy analysis, she helped clarify the role of childcare access in supporting working parents, especially mothers. [32]
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