U of U Family and Consumer Studies

Lori Kowaleski-Jones

Associate Professor, Department of Family and Consumer Studies

Associate Investigator, Institute for International and Public Affairs

Investigator, Program in Cancer Control & Population Sciences, Huntsman Cancer Institute
lk2700@fcs.utah.edu

Phone: 801.585.0074
Fax: 801.581.5156
Office: 238 Alfred Emery Building
Ph.D., Sociology, The Ohio State University; Postdoctoral Fellowship, Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University
 
  Dr. Kowaleski-Jones is interested in the ways in which youth are affected by family structure, community resources and public policy. Current research uses multiple approaches to better understand the determinants of energy balance among youth and adults.   Kowaleski-Jones' research agenda also focuses on the effects of food assistance programs and food insecurity on child well being.  
 

Selected Publications
  • Zick, Cathleen, Smith, Ken., Brown, Barbara., Fan, Jessie, and Kowaleski-Jones, Lori.  Running to the Store Forthcoming, Social Science and Medicine.
  • Barbara Brown, Ikuho Yamada, Jessie Fan, Ken Smith, Lori Kowaleski-Jones and Cathleen Zick. Mixed land use and walkability: Variations in land use measures and relationships with BMI, overweight, and obesity. 2009, forthcoming, Health & Place.
  • Kowaleski-Jones, Lori., Barbara Brown, Jessie Fan, Ken Smith, and Cathleen Zick.  Are You What Your Mother Weighs? Evaluating the Impact of Maternal Weight Trajectories on Youth Overweight. 2009, forthcoming, Maternal and Child Health.
  • Kowaleski-Jones, Lori. C. Andre Christie-Mizell.  2009. Depression and Adolescent Overweight: Exploring race differences. Forthcoming.  Youth and Society.
  • Shaff, Kimberly, Nicholas Wolfinger, Lori Kowaleski-Jones, Ken R. Smith, “Family Structure Transitions and Child Achievement,” Sociological Spectrum 2008 28(6): 681 – 704
  • Ken Smith, and Cathleen Zick, Barbara Brown, Kowaleski-Jones, Lori, Yamada, Ikuho, and Jessie Fan.  2008.  Walkability and Body Mass Index: Density, Design, and New Diversity Measures.  American Journal of Preventive Medicine 35(3):237-44.
  • Fan, Jessie, Brown, Barbara, Kowaleski-Jones, Lori, Smith, Ken and Zick, Cathleen.  2007. Patterns of Household Food Expenditures: A Cluster Analysis. Monthly Labor Review.  (4): 38-51.
  • Zick, Cathleen, Smith, Ken., Brown, Barbara., Fan, Jessie, and Kowaleski-Jones, Lori.  2007.  Physical Activity during the Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood.  Journal of Physical Activity and Health.4(2):  125-137.
  • Dunifon, Rachel and Kowaleski-Jones, Lori. 2007. The Role of Grandparents in Single-Mother Families.  Journal of Marriage and Family. 69(2):  465-481
  • Kowaleski-Jones, Lori. and Dunifon, Rachel.  2006. Family Structure and Community Context:  Evaluating Influences on Adolescent Outcomes.  Youth and Society. 38(1):  110-130.
  • Kowaleski-Jones, Lori. and Dunifon, Rachel, and Geoffrey Ream.  2006.  Community Contributions to Scholastic Success. Journal of Community Psychology34(3):  343-362.
  • Kowaleski-Jones, Lori. 2006.  Food Shortages. in Encyclopedia of World Poverty New York:  Sage Publications.
  • Kowaleski-Jones, Lori and Cox, Alisa.  2006. Are the Kids All Right?  In Zick, C.D. and Smith, K.R.(Ed.) Utah in the New Millennium: A Demographic Perspective. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press.
  • Kowaleski-Jones, Lori and Wolfinger, Nicholas.  2005.  Fragile Families and Marriage Agenda. Springer Academic Press.
  • Dunifon, Rachel. and Kowaleski-Jones, Lori. 2005. Race Differences in the Influence of Single-Parenthood on Children: Examining the Role of Parental Social Networks.   Fragile Families and Marriage Agenda, Edited Volume (with Nicholas Wolfinger), Springer Academic Press
  • Wolfinger, Nick, Kowaleski-Jones, Lori and Smith, Ken.  2004.  Double Impact:  Studying the Effects of Parental Divorce with Sibling Data.  Social Biology 50:58-76
  • Kowaleski-Jones, Lori. and Dunifon, Rachel.  2004. Children’s Home Environments: Understanding the Role of Family Events in Middle Childhood. Journal of Family Issues 25(1): 3-28.
  • Dunifon, Rachel, and Kowaleski-Jones, Lori. 2003.  The Influence of Participation in the National School Lunch Program and Food Insecurity on Child Well-Being Social Service Review 76(4): 72-92.
  • Dunifon, Rachel E. and Kowaleski-Jones, Lori. 2002. Who’s in the House?  Race Differences in Cohabitation, Single-Parenthood and Child Development. Child Development   73(4):  1249-1264.
  • Kowaleski-Jones, Lori.  and Duncan, Greg. J. 2002.   Effects of Participation in the WIC Food Assistance Program on Children’s Health and Development: Evidence from NLSY Children. American Journal of Public Health 92(5):  799-804.
  • Kowaleski-Jones, Lori. 2000.  Staying Out of Trouble: Neighborhood Influences on Adolescent Problem Behavior. Journal of Marriage and the Family 62:  449-464.
  • Kowaleski-Jones, Lori and Greg J. Duncan.  1999.  The Structure of Achievement and Behavior across Middle Childhood. Child Development, July/August 70(4): 930-943.
  • Kowaleski-Jones, Lori.  1999.  Welfare Receipt and Family Structure: Evaluating the Effects of Public and Private Support Systems on Child Cognitive Outcomes. Sociological Focus 32(2): 181-200.
  • Kowaleski-Jones, Lori and Frank L. Mott. 1998. Sex, Contraception, and Childbearing among High-Risk Youth: Do Different Factors Influence Males and Females? Family Planning Perspectives, 30(4): 163-169.
  • Menaghan, Elizabeth G., Lori Kowaleski-Jones, and Frank L. Mott.   1997.  The Intergenerational Costs of Parental Social Stressors: Academic and Social Difficulties in Early Adolescence for Children of Young Mothers. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 38: 72-86.
  • Mott, Frank L., Lori Kowaleski-Jones, and Elizabeth G. Menaghan.  1997.  Paternal Absence and Child Behavior: Does Child Gender and Recency of Paternal Absence Make a Difference? Journal of Marriage and the Family 59: 103-118.
  • Mott, Frank L., Michelle Fondell, Paul Hu, Lori Kowaleski-Jones, and Elizabeth G. Menaghan. 1996. The Determinants of First Sex by Age 14 in a High Risk Adolescent Population.   Family Planning Perspectives 28(1): 13-18.
  • Kowaleski, L., Zeller, R.A., & Willis, C.  1991. An assessment of AIDS education: a quasi-experimental exploration.   Journal of Allied Health 20(3): 191-202.
 

Working Papers
  • Community Influences on Parenting and Child Behavior:  Exploring Race Differences. (with Rachel Dunifon)
  • Alternative Measures of Food Deserts:  Fruitful Options or Empty Cupboards (with Zick, Cathleen, Smith, Ken., Brown, Barbara., Fan, Jessie)
  • County Food environment and Household Food Insecurity:  evidence from the early childhood longitudinal study
  • The Timing of Television:  Varying Effects on Achievement Across Middle Childhood.
  • Gender Differences in Sexual Activity: What Role do Parents Play in Shaping Behaviors? (with Elizabeth Cooksey and Frank Mott).
  • Social Capital and Adolescent Substance Abuse:
    The Role of Family, School and Neighborhood Contexts (with Ming Wen and Lei Jin )
 

External Funding
  Neighborhood Characteristics and Body Mass Index:  Selection or Causation?  (R21 DK080406-01) National Institute for Health, The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).  Co- Principal Investigator (with Ken Smith) Barbara Brown, Jessie Fan, Ikuho Yamada, and Cathleen Zick, Co-Investigators, Project Period 9/08-9/10.

3R21DK080406-02W1(Smith/Kowaleski-Jones)09/01/09-08/31/10 NIH/NIDDK  ARRA Administrative Supplement to Neighborhood Characteristics and Body Mass Index: Selection or Causation?

Multiple Contexts of Food Insecurity:   Mapping the influence on Youth Energy Balance.  United States Department of Agriculture/FANRP.  Grant period October 2006-December 2009, Principal Investigator.

“Social Context and Youth Competence: Assessing the Benefits of Community Resources.” The William T. Grant Foundation.  Grant period September 2002-September 2005, Principal Investigator (with Rachel E. Dunifon).

“Exploring the Effects of the National School Lunch Program on Child Obesity and Development Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study.”  Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison and the United States Department of Agriculture.  Grant period July 2002-December 2003, Principal Investigator (with Rachel E. Dunifon).

“Moderating the Effects of Food Insecurity on Child Outcomes:  The Role of Food Assistance Programs” Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison and the United States Department of Agriculture.  Grant period July 2000-August 2001, Principal Investigator (with Rachel E. Dunifon and Mary Corcoran).

“Family Matters: The Role of Children’s Home Environment in Determining Achievement. ”The American Educational Research Association.  Grant period November 1998-October 1999, Principal Investigator (with Greg J. Duncan).

“Effects of Participation in Food Assistance Programs: Evidence from NLSY Children.” Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison and the United States Department of Agriculture.  Grant period June 1998-May 1999, Principal Investigator (with Greg J. Duncan).
 

Courses Taught
  FCS 2400 - Family Studies Across the Life Course
FCS 3430 - Introduction to Family Policy
FCS 2570 - Development, Learning & Motivation in Middle
                     Childhood
FCS 5200/6200  -Families and Social Policy
 

course materials for FCS 5200/6200
  family policy syllabus