Cassandra Cotton
@cassandracotton.bsky.social
Family sociologist & demographer. Assistant Professor at Arizona State University🌵Kinship, motherhood, romantic relationships across the life course
Pinned
Staying Apart for the Kids? Older American Daters and the Preservation of Family Wealth
Romantic repartnering in later life has received substantial scholarly and public attention in light of population aging and changes in family dynamics. In the United States, the importance of househ...
doi.org
Excited to finally share my new paper (w/Raphaël Charron-Chénier) out in BJS! Staying Apart for the Kids looks at how older adults consider preserving family wealth in their new relationships. Drawing on my interviews with mid/late-life daters, we show how accumulated wealth shapes dating decisions.
Excited to finally share my new paper (w/Raphaël Charron-Chénier) out in BJS! Staying Apart for the Kids looks at how older adults consider preserving family wealth in their new relationships. Drawing on my interviews with mid/late-life daters, we show how accumulated wealth shapes dating decisions.
Staying Apart for the Kids? Older American Daters and the Preservation of Family Wealth
Romantic repartnering in later life has received substantial scholarly and public attention in light of population aging and changes in family dynamics. In the United States, the importance of househ...
doi.org
October 9, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Excited to finally share my new paper (w/Raphaël Charron-Chénier) out in BJS! Staying Apart for the Kids looks at how older adults consider preserving family wealth in their new relationships. Drawing on my interviews with mid/late-life daters, we show how accumulated wealth shapes dating decisions.
A good time to announce I’m now running the ASU Sociology PhD program! We are excited to announce we are taking applications for students to start Fall 2026. Folks can sign up to learn more about the program in our info sessions, or interested students can reach out to me directly #sociology
September 24, 2025 at 3:02 PM
A good time to announce I’m now running the ASU Sociology PhD program! We are excited to announce we are taking applications for students to start Fall 2026. Folks can sign up to learn more about the program in our info sessions, or interested students can reach out to me directly #sociology
Last spring, I led 13 students in a research capstone where we collaboratively designed an interview study on dating in college. A few students worked with me to write a report on their key findings - ASU wrote a little story about it & their experiences doing research. news.asu.edu/b/20250813-s...
Sociology students study dating culture among young adults | ASU News
What does dating look like for young adults in 2025?For a group of sociology undergraduates at Arizona State University, the answers to the above question covered a lot more ground than texting and ap...
news.asu.edu
August 20, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Last spring, I led 13 students in a research capstone where we collaboratively designed an interview study on dating in college. A few students worked with me to write a report on their key findings - ASU wrote a little story about it & their experiences doing research. news.asu.edu/b/20250813-s...
Reposted by Cassandra Cotton
In “Child Migration in Eastern and Southern Africa,” Menashe-Oren uses HDSS data from 5 countries to examine tied & independent child migration, finding that most first out-migrations are indeed tied but some are related to death or mother’s migration history. read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...
July 30, 2025 at 6:28 PM
In “Child Migration in Eastern and Southern Africa,” Menashe-Oren uses HDSS data from 5 countries to examine tied & independent child migration, finding that most first out-migrations are indeed tied but some are related to death or mother’s migration history. read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...
Received a little seed grant to start a new line of my work on older adults & dating! I really appreciate these small internal grants that can kickstart a bunch of qualitative data collection.
April 24, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Received a little seed grant to start a new line of my work on older adults & dating! I really appreciate these small internal grants that can kickstart a bunch of qualitative data collection.
A new paper to share - part of special issue on Demographic Change & Challenges in the Americas. This uses data from my Romance & Dating in Later Life project, showing how older adults think (very!) differently about their families vs. the kin of potential partners. 1/3 doi.org/10.1007/s426...
The Specter of Kin: Older Americans’ Considerations of Family in Later-Life Dating and Repartnering - Canadian Studies in Population
Shifts in union formation and dissolution coupled with aging populations across the Americas have fundamentally reshaped the experiences of adults interested in repartnering. Dating and repartnering i...
doi.org
April 14, 2025 at 4:54 PM
A new paper to share - part of special issue on Demographic Change & Challenges in the Americas. This uses data from my Romance & Dating in Later Life project, showing how older adults think (very!) differently about their families vs. the kin of potential partners. 1/3 doi.org/10.1007/s426...
So sad I'm missing out on #PAA2025! I wish I was there to present some of my work on older adult dating and to hear all the things people are working on! I hope everyone is having a great time.
April 11, 2025 at 4:58 PM
So sad I'm missing out on #PAA2025! I wish I was there to present some of my work on older adult dating and to hear all the things people are working on! I hope everyone is having a great time.
Reposted by Cassandra Cotton
Spare a thought for your green-card holding and naturalized colleagues, many of whom are now doing risk-benefit calculations before speaking on anything that could be considered remotely political
March 10, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Spare a thought for your green-card holding and naturalized colleagues, many of whom are now doing risk-benefit calculations before speaking on anything that could be considered remotely political
I'm organizing the regular session on Parenthood and would love to read your work on parenthood in any form & in any kind of family & context
The deadline for proposals for ASA 2025 Annual Meeting in Chicago is next week! Send us your papers, extended abstracts, courses, precons, symposiums, & workshops by Feb. 26. https://bit.ly/ASA2025Call.
February 18, 2025 at 7:28 PM
I'm organizing the regular session on Parenthood and would love to read your work on parenthood in any form & in any kind of family & context
ASU highlighted some of my work on older adult dating for Valentine's Day - how the search for love can be (to put it mildly) challenging in light of the political climate in the US. news.asu.edu/20250210-law...
The politics behind picking a romantic partner | ASU News
A new study reveals the role that politics play when picking out a romantic partner — particularly for older adults.“Findings show that politics are highly salient in partner selection across gender, ...
news.asu.edu
February 14, 2025 at 5:51 PM
ASU highlighted some of my work on older adult dating for Valentine's Day - how the search for love can be (to put it mildly) challenging in light of the political climate in the US. news.asu.edu/20250210-law...
A little joy in what's shaping up to be a rough week (month? year(s)?): A new paper in DR! We use interview, GIS, and survey data to look at kinship and child fostering, thinking about spatiality and transitions over time. I'm dreaming of data that would let us do this on a larger scale! #demography
Combining geo-coded, survey, & interview data, cassandracotton.bsky.social & Oduor's study highlights kinship linkages and child fostering over time and space & paint a picture of child fostering complexities & how they rely on the constellations of available kin scattered across geographical space.
February 11, 2025 at 6:17 PM
A little joy in what's shaping up to be a rough week (month? year(s)?): A new paper in DR! We use interview, GIS, and survey data to look at kinship and child fostering, thinking about spatiality and transitions over time. I'm dreaming of data that would let us do this on a larger scale! #demography
Finishing the 1st week of the semester excited to have a new group of sociology students starting a project on college dating/situationships/'just talking'! My advanced methods students are designing & conducting interviews to understand who dates & who doesn't. Any fun readings to suggest?
January 17, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Finishing the 1st week of the semester excited to have a new group of sociology students starting a project on college dating/situationships/'just talking'! My advanced methods students are designing & conducting interviews to understand who dates & who doesn't. Any fun readings to suggest?
Fun to start the year with a new publication in Population Studies! I use Demographic & Health Surveys to explore maternal migration's impact on child fostering across African countries, looking at type, timing & motivation for migration. doi.org/10.1080/0032...
Child fostering and maternal migration in sub-Saharan Africa
Rising feminization of migration has resulted in substantial flows of women migrating in Africa, increasing the importance of migration in women’s lives. Although child fostering is an enduring fea...
doi.org
January 13, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Fun to start the year with a new publication in Population Studies! I use Demographic & Health Surveys to explore maternal migration's impact on child fostering across African countries, looking at type, timing & motivation for migration. doi.org/10.1080/0032...
18 more papers until the end of the longest semester of my life. I really enjoy teaching, but I'm so looking forward to having some space and time to to rest before January!
December 11, 2024 at 11:04 PM
18 more papers until the end of the longest semester of my life. I really enjoy teaching, but I'm so looking forward to having some space and time to to rest before January!
Delighted to share our paper on fostering among moms in informal settlements in Nairobi. We used interviews & birth histories to explore the role of maternal migration & place of residence. So excited to have gotten a mixed-methods piece in Demography & the final paper from my dissertation out!
“Maternal Migration & Child Fostering Arrangements in Nairobi’s Slums”: In this mixed-methods study, @cassandracotton.bsky.social & Clement Oduor delve into "the role of maternal migration, economic precariousness, and place of residence” in child fostering.
read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...
read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...
December 4, 2024 at 4:09 PM
Delighted to share our paper on fostering among moms in informal settlements in Nairobi. We used interviews & birth histories to explore the role of maternal migration & place of residence. So excited to have gotten a mixed-methods piece in Demography & the final paper from my dissertation out!
Excited that I'll be presenting some fun work on older adult dating at #PAA2025 & that two sessions I organized on kinship support & networks will be on the program! Every time I organize sessions, I love & hate it - I read so many excellent papers & wish I could have suggested more sessions!
November 22, 2024 at 7:18 PM
Excited that I'll be presenting some fun work on older adult dating at #PAA2025 & that two sessions I organized on kinship support & networks will be on the program! Every time I organize sessions, I love & hate it - I read so many excellent papers & wish I could have suggested more sessions!
We are looking for a new Director at ASU’s School of Social & Family Dynamics! This is a great position for an experienced full prof interested in leading a great group of folks. #sociology #demography #familyscience
www.agbsearch.com/searches/dir...
www.agbsearch.com/searches/dir...
www.agbsearch.com
November 19, 2024 at 4:25 PM
We are looking for a new Director at ASU’s School of Social & Family Dynamics! This is a great position for an experienced full prof interested in leading a great group of folks. #sociology #demography #familyscience
www.agbsearch.com/searches/dir...
www.agbsearch.com/searches/dir...