Overview
Christina M. Gibson-Davis is a professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, with a secondary appointment in sociology. Her research interests center around social and economic differences in family formation patterns. Her current research focuses on the how divergent patterns of family formation affect economic inequality.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy
·
2019 - Present
Sanford School of Public Policy
Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the Sanford School of Public Policy
·
2024 - Present
Sanford School of Public Policy
Professor of Sociology
·
2019 - Present
Sociology,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Faculty Research Scholar of DuPRI's Population Research Center
·
2010 - Present
Duke Population Research Center,
Duke Population Research Institute
Affiliate of the Center for Child and Family Policy
·
2026 - Present
Center for Child and Family Policy,
Sanford School of Public Policy
Recent Publications
Net Worth Poverty in Childhood: Duration, Timing, and Educational Outcomes.
Journal Article Demography · April 2026 Net worth poverty (NWP) is the modal form of poverty for American children, but how it is experienced across childhood and its associations with human capital accumulation are unknown. Using data from the 1999‒2021 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynami ... Full text CitePartisan Divergence in Fertility Change Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Florida.
Journal Article Population research and policy review · October 2025 Motivated by political-based differences in pandemic perceptions, this study analyzed whether Republican- and Democratic-leaning counties exhibited differential fertility shifts, leading to a partisan fertility gap. As COVID-19 emerged, the political right ... Full text CiteChildren and Wealth Contexts in the United States: Differences by Household Type.
Journal Article Journal of marriage and the family · September 2025 ObjectiveTo examine whether the wealth context of households with children, marked by high rates of inequality and low levels of wealth for those at the bottom, also applies to elderly households and households without children.Background ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
A Different Type of Economic Fragility: Wealth and Adolescent Problem Behavior
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of Pittsburgh · 2023 - 2028NextGenPop -- Recruiting the Next Generation of Scholars into Population Research
Inst. Training Prgm or CMESpeaker · Awarded by University of Wisconsin - Madison · 2021 - 2026Net Worth Poverty and Children's Development
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2022 - 2025View All Grants
Education
Northwestern University ·
2001
Ph.D.
Bates College ·
1992
B.A.