Family demographer Dr. Jay Teachman of Western Washington University will be the first speaker in Bowling
Green State University’s College of Arts and Sciences 2009 forum series.
His talk, "Demographic Contours of Divorce: What We Know and What We Need to Know," will begin
at 12:30 p.m. Sept. 28 in 308 Bowen-Thompson Student Union following a noon luncheon.
The talk is free and open to the public.
Co-sponsored by the college and the National Center for Family and Marriage Research at BGSU, Teachman’s
talk will outline the factors associated with divorce. He focuses on the most important variables that
predict divorce, including social, family, personal and historic indicators. Teachman also asks why
certain predictors of divorce should change over time and examines the empirical evidence for such
change. Finally, he asks what we should know about the predictors of divorce but do not yet know.
Teachman is a professor of sociology at Western Washington. Before moving to WWU in 1998, he was a
professor and founding chair of the Department of Human Development at Washington State University, from
1993-98.
As a family demographer, Teachman has a longstanding interest in studying the well-being of families and
children, with particular focus on relationship statuses and transitions. He is a Fellow of the National
Council on Family Relations and chair-elect of the Family Section of the American Sociological
Association.
He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago in 1978 and is the author of two books
and numerous book chapters and refereed journal articles, with 18 externally funded grants.
The noon lunch is $7.75, plus tax, payable by cash or check (made payable to BGSU). Reservations are due
by Sept. 22, to Mary Hitt at (419) 372-2340 or [email protected]. Those wishing to come at 12:30 p.m. for
the lecture only are welcome.
