Leora Lawton is the Emerita Executive Director of the Berkeley Population Center (BPC) as of July 2022, and now conducts research on a variety networks and/or family structure. She is Director of UCNets, and is also a researcher on CenSoc, an R01 project with Josh Goldstein to study mortality linking the 1940 Full Count Census with Social Security death records. She worked for many years in the private sector as a survey research methodologist before returning to academia and still is occasionally available for consulting. She is interested more broadly in family demography–especially intergenerational relations. She received an AB in Economics (UC Berkeley, 1978), an MA in Demography (Hebrew University, 1985), and a Ph.D. in Sociology with an emphasis in social demography (Brown University, 1991).
360 Barrows Hall, MC 2120. Email: llawton@berkeley.edu; Ph: 510-643-1270.
Selected Publications
Soria, Christopher and Leora Lawton (2022). Connecting Fathers: Fathers’ Impact on Adult Children’s Social Networks. International Journal of Human Development. 96(1):19-32. NIHMSID 1810822. https://doi.org/10.1177/00914150221106645
Weiss, Jordan, Lawton, Leora and Fischer, Claude (2022) Life course transitions and changes in network ties among younger and older adults. Advances in Life Course Research, vol. 22, Article 100478. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2022.100478. PMC9519061
Child, Stephanie, Ruppel, Emily, Albert, Michelle and Leora Lawton (2021). Network Support and Negative Life Events Associated with Chronic Cardiometabolic Disease Outcomes. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 62(1): E21-E28, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2021.06.022. 2021 May; 55(5): 446–459. PMC8122471
Child, Stephanie, Ruppel, Emily, Zhong, Mia and Leora Lawton (2020). Direct and moderating causal effects of network support on sleep quality: Findings from the UC Berkeley Social Networks Study. (2021). Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 55(5): 446–459. PMC8122471
Child, Stephanie and Leora Lawton (2020). Personal networks and associations with psychological distress among young and older adults. Social Science and Medicine, v. 246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112714.
Child, Stephanie and Leora Lawton (2017). Loneliness and social isolation among young and late middle-age adults: Associations with personal networks and social participation. Aging and Mental Health, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2017.1399345 PMC5967985
Lawton, L. (2015). Jewish Deadheads: A cultural demographic story. Journal of Popular Music Studies. 27(1): 69-89. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpms.12111
Chowdhury, A.A., Mielnika, T.C. Lawton, L., Sullivan, M. and Katz, A. (2005). System reliability worth assessment at a midwest utility—survey results for residential customers. International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, 27(9, 1)): 669-673 http://doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.ijepes.2005.08.009.
Lawton, L. & Bures, R. (2001). Parental divorce and the switching of religious identity. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 99-111. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/0021-8294.00041
Goldscheider, F. & Lawton, L. (1998). Family experiences and the erosion of support for intergenerational coresidence. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 623-632. www.jstor.org/stable/353533.
Silverstein, M., Bengtson, V., & Lawton, L. (1997). Intergenerational solidarity and the structure of adult child-parent relationships in American families. American Journal of Sociology, 103: 429-460. (See Authorship Change, 2001, 106(4)). https://doi.org/10.1086/231213 and https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/519983.
Lawton, L., Silverstein, M. & Bengtson, V. (1994). Affection, contact and geographic distance between adult children and their parents. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 56, 57-68. www.jstor.org/stable/352701.
Speare, A. Jr., Avery, R. & Lawton, L. (1991). Disability, residential mobility, and changes in living arrangements. Journal of Gerontology: 46(3): S133-S142. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronj/46.3.S133
Avery, R., Speare, A. Jr. & Lawton, L. (1989). Social support, disability and independent living in the United States. Journal of Aging Studies 3(4): 279-293. https://doi.org/10.1016/0890-4065(89)90002-9.