Holly E. Heard, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor Assistant Director, Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life Department of Sociology, MS-28 Rice University 6100 S. Main Street Houston, TX 77005-1892 Office: SH 586 Tel. (713)348-3415 Fax (713)348-5296 Email:

Curriculum Vitae: PDF

Courses

Areas of Interest

• Families and Children
• Social Demography
• Life Course
• Adolescence
• Racial & Ethnic Inequality
• Education

Biography

Holly Heard (Ph.D., 2002, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Rice. She completed her undergraduate education at the University of Notre Dame and received her M.A. at the Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Heard’s primary research interest is in the implications for children of social inequality in family organization and family dynamics. Specifically, her work focuses on two main topics: the impact of family structure and family trajectories on indicators of adolescent and young adult well-being, including education, fertility, and health; and the patterns and consequences of family relationships for adolescents and adults. A consistent theme throughout her work is an interest in gender, racial, and ethnic inequality in family structure and family process. Current projects include research on racial variation in parental involvement, the relationships between parental involvement and adolescent racial identity in multiracial families, theoretical and empirical explanations for the impact of family instability on adolescent outcomes, and the patterns and correlates of Asian family structure.

Dr. Heard is also assistant director of CORRUL, the Center on Race, Religion, and Urban Life. For more information on the center, click here. At Rice, Dr. Heard serves as faculty advisor to the Black Students Association and is a faculty associate at Lovett College, where she received the Distinguished Associate Award in 2004. She is a member of the American Sociological Association, the Population Association of America, and the National Council on Family Relations.

Recent Publications

• Heard, Holly E., Bridget K. Gorman, and Carolyn A. Kapinus. Forthcoming. “Family Structure and Self-Rated Health in Adolescence and Young Adulthood.” Population Research and Policy Review.
• Bratter, Jenifer and Holly E. Heard. Forthcoming, 2008. “In the Name and Race of the Father? The Role of Father-Child Interactions in the Identity of Multiracial Adolescents.” Proceedings of the conference, “Multiethnic Families: Development, Identity, and Wellbeing.” University of Hawaii Press.
• Heard, Holly E. 2007. “Fathers, Mothers, and Family Structure: Family Trajectories, Parent Gender, and Adolescent Schooling.” Journal of Marriage and Family, 69: 435-450.
• Heard, Holly E. 2007. “The Family Structure Trajectory and Adolescent School Performance: Differential Effects by Race and Ethnicity.” Journal of Family Issues, 28: 319-354.
• King, Valarie, Kathleen Mullan Harris and Holly E. Heard. 2004. "Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Nonresident Father Involvement." Journal of Marriage and the Family , 66:1-21.
• King, Valarie and Holly E. Heard. 1999. "Nonresident Father Visitation, Parental Conflict, and Mother's Satisfaction: What's Best for Child Well-Being?" Journal of Marriage and the Family , 61:385-396.