Scholarly interests

Family sociology. Aging and the life course. Quantitative methods. Sex and gender. Race/ethnicity. Race, gender, and class.

Academic profile

Natalia Sarkisian's research utilizes her expertise in quantitative methodologies to examine variation in extended family experiences by race/ethnicity, gender, age, and marital status and explore the structural circumstances and cultural values that may account for this variation. Her recent publications examine the racial/ethnic differences in extended family integration, the relationship between marriage and extended family involvement, and the gender gap in extended family caregiving. She is also a co-Principal Investigator on a cross-national study of age and employment, funded by the Sloan Foundation.

Courses Typically Taught

SC008 - Marriage and the Family
SC361 - Family and Work
SC704 - Topics in Multivariate Statistics
SC705 - Advanced Statistics
SC706 - Longitudinal Data Analysis
SC708 - Hierarchical Linear Modeling

Professional honors and awards

Visiting Scholar Fellowship, Russell Sage Foundation. 2011-2012.

Oliver Cromwell Cox Article Award, Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities, American Sociological Association. “Street Men, Family Men: Race and Men‟s Extended Family Involvement.” (Social Forces, December 2007). 2008.

Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Article Award. Race, Gender, and Class Section, American Sociological Association. “Extended Family Integration Among Euro and Mexican Americans: Ethnicity, Gender, and Class.” (Journal of Marriage and Family, February 2007, with Mariana Gerena and Naomi Gerstel.) 2008.

Faculty Fellowship, Boston College. Project title: “Nuclear and Extended Family Ties: Cooperation or Competition?” 2007-2008.     

Rosabeth Moss Kanter International Award for Research Excellence in Families and Work. Center for Families at Purdue University and the Boston College Center for Work & Family. “Explaining the Gender Gap in Help to Parents: The Importance of Employment.” (Journal of Marriage and Family, May 2004, with Naomi Gerstel.) 2005.

Junior Faculty Fellowship, College of Arts and Sciences, Boston College. 2005-2007.

Selected publications

Sarkisian, Natalia, and Naomi Gerstel. 2011 (Under Contract). Family Values and Family Practices: The Importance of Gender, Race, and Class for Nuclear and Extended Families. New York: Routledge.

Collins, Amy L., Natalia Sarkisian, and Ellen Winner. 2009. "Flow and Happiness in Later Life: An Investigation into the Role of Daily and Weekly Flow Experiences." Journal of Happiness Studies, 10, 6 (December), 703-709.

Garroutte, Eva, Natalia Sarkisian, Dedra Buchwald, Jack Goldberg, and Jan Beals. 2008. "Perceptions of Medical Interaction between Providers and American Indian Older Adults." Social Science and Medicine, 67, 4 (August), 546-556.

Sarkisian, Natalia, and Naomi Gerstel. 2008. "Till Marriage Do Us Part: Adult Children's Relationships with Parents." Journal of Marriage and Family, 70, 2 (May), 360-376.

Sarkisian, Natalia. 2008. "Neural Networks as an Emergent Method in Quantitative Research: An Example of Self-Organizing Maps." Pp. 625-654 in Sharlene Hesse-Biber and Patricia Leavy (Eds.), The Handbook of Emergent Methods. New York: Guilford Press.

Sarkisian, Natalia. 2007. "Street Men, Family Men: Race and Men's Extended Family Involvement." Social Forces, 86, 2 (December), 763-794.

Sarkisian, Natalia, Mariana Gerena, and Naomi Gerstel. 2007. "Extended Family Integration among Euro and Mexican Americans: Ethnicity, Gender, and Class." Journal of Marriage and Family, 69, 1 (February), 40-54.

Gerstel, Naomi, and Natalia Sarkisian. 2006. "Marriage: The Good, the Bad, and the Greedy." Contexts, 5, 4 (November), 16-21.

Sarkisian, Natalia, Mariana Gerena, and Naomi Gerstel. 2006. "Extended Family Ties among Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Whites: Superintegration or Disintegration?" Family Relations, 55, 3 (July), 331-344.

Sarkisian, Natalia, and Naomi Gerstel. 2004. "Kin Support Among Blacks and Whites: Race and Family Organization." American Sociological Review, 69, 4 (December), 812-837.

Sarkisian, Natalia, and Naomi Gerstel. 2004. "Explaining the Gender Gap in Help to Parents: The Importance of Employment." Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 2 (May), 431-451.