Melissa Milkie

Melissa Milkie

Professor
Sociology

Melissa Milkie is Professor of Sociology and Chair of the tri-campus Graduate Department. Professor Milkie’s research focuses on structural and cultural changes in gender, work and family life over recent decades and how work-family configurations are linked to mental health and well-being. She has a special focus on time and health, and is Principle Investigator of the 2019-2024 Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight grant on the complexities of family members’ time together and apart in Canada and the U.S. Her current work examines time allocations of and time pressures on parents; work-family conflicts and health; refugee mothers’ strains as they integrate children into new communities; and cultural contestations of family in media. Her research has also been supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has published in journals such as American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Journal of Marriage and Family, Society and Mental Health and Social Psychology Quarterly and is author of the award-winning book Changing Rhythms of American Family Life, written during her time as Professor at the University of Maryland. Professor Milkie was recently named as one of the top-cited work-family researchers in the world by the Work-Family Researchers Network (WFRN). Up-to-date publications and information on Professor Milkie’s Research Team PACT (Parents and Children Together) can be found at https://melissamilkie.com/.

Education
Ph.D. (Sociology, Indiana University)
B.A. (Psychology/Journalism, Indiana University)

Publications

Recent Selected Publications

Milkie, Melissa A. and Kei Nomaguchi. 2024. “Who’s Caring for Our Kids? Social Status Dimensions of Assessing ‘Childcare’ Time versus All Time with Children.” In Research Handbook on Time-Use and Society, edited by Oriel Sullivan and Michael Bittman. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Nomaguchi, Kei, Melissa A. Milkie, Veena Kulkarni, and Amira Allen. 2024. “Beyond Intensive Mothering: Racial/Ethnic Variation in Maternal Time with Children.” Social Science Research.

Scheibling, Casey, Marisa Young, Melissa A. Milkie and Scott Schieman. 2024. “Gender, Work, and the Family’s Morning Rush Hour: The Strains Associated with Preparing Children for the Day.” Community, Work & Family. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2023.2298313  

Collins, Caitlyn, Ameeta Jaga, Nancy Folbre, Rosario Castro, Sherry Leiwant, Vicki Shabo, Melissa A. Milkie, and Janet Gornick. 2023. “Work Family Justice: Its Meanings and Its Implementation.” Community, Work & Family (Special issue: Work-Family Justice – Meanings and Possibilities) 26:543-61. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2023.2272571 

Milkie, Melissa A., Heejung Chung, and Ameeta Jaga. 2023. “Work-Family Justice – Meanings and Possibilities: Introduction to the Work and Family Researchers Network Special Issue.” Community, Work & Family (Special issue: Work-Family Justice) 26:525-42. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2023.2275975

Milkie, Melissa A. and Dana Wray. 2023. “Beyond Mothers’ Time in Childcare: Worlds of Care and Connection in the Early Life Course.” Time & Society 32:367-91. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961463X231203574

Nomaguchi, Kei and Melissa A. Milkie. 2023. “Trends in the Parenthood Gap in Health and Well-being Among U.S. Women From 1996 to 2018.” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World 9. https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231221145067

Young, Marisa, Melissa A. Milkie, and Scott Schieman. 2023. “Mother-Father Parity in Work-Family Conflict? The Importance of Selection Effects and Nonresponse Bias.” Social Forces 101:1171-98. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soac015

Berghammer, Caroline and Melissa A. Milkie. 2021. “Felt Deficits in Time with Children: Individual and Contextual Factors Across 27 European Countries.” British Journal of Sociology 72:1168-99. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12899

Milkie, Melissa A., Dana Wray and Irene Boeckmann. 2021. “Creating Versus Negating Togetherness: Perceptual and Emotional Differences in Parent-Teenager Reported Time.” Journal of Marriage and Family 83:1154-75. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12764 

Schieman, Scott, Philip J. Badawy, Melissa A. Milkie, and Alex Bierman. 2021. “Work-Life Conflict During the Covid-19 Pandemic.” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World 7. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023120982856

Milkie, Melissa A. 2020. “Changing Times: New Parenting Stressors and the Shifting Meanings of Time With and For Children.” In COVID-19: Social Consequences and Cultural Adaptations, edited by J. Michael Ryan. New York: Routledge.

Milkie, Melissa A., Neda Maghbouleh, and Ito Peng. 2020. “Stress in Refugee Resettlement: Syrian Mothers’ Strains and Buffers During Early Integration.” In A National Project: Syrian Refugee Resettlement in Canada, edited by Leah Hamilton, Luisa Veronis, and Margaret Walton-Roberts. Kingston, ON: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Nomaguchi, Kei and Melissa A. Milkie. 2020. “Parenthood and Well-Being: A Decade in Review.” Journal of Marriage and Family 82:198-223. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12646 *Journal of Marriage and Family’s most cited recent article*

Shafer, Kevin, Casey Scheibling, and Melissa A. Milkie. 2020. “The Division of Domestic Labor Before & During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada: Stagnation vs. Shifts in Fathers’ Contributions.” Canadian Review of Sociology 57:523-49. https://doi.org/10.1111/cars.12315

Maghbouleh, Neda, Laila Omar, Melissa A. Milkie, and Ito Peng. 2019. “Listening in Arabic: Feminist Research with Syrian Refugee Mothers.” Meridians: Feminism, Race, Trans-nationalism 18(2):482-507. https://doi.org/10.1215/15366936-7789739

Milkie, Melissa A., Kei Nomaguchi, and Scott Schieman. 2019. “Time Deficits with Children: The Link to Parents’ Mental and Physical Health.” Society and Mental Health 9(3):277-295. https://doi.org/10.1177/2156869318767488 (Lead Article)

Nomaguchi, Kei and Melissa A. Milkie. 2019. “What Should Children Learn? Americans’ Changing Socialization Values, 1986-2018.” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World 5:1-17. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023119879016

Schieman, Scott, Leah Ruppanner, and Melissa A. Milkie. 2018. “Who Helps with Homework? Parenting Inequality and Relationship Quality Among Employed Mothers and Fathers.” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 39:49-65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-017-9545-4

Nomaguchi, Kei and Melissa A. Milkie. 2017. “Sociological Perspectives on Parenting Stress: How Social Structure and Culture Shape Parental Strain and the Well-Being of Parents and Children.” In Parental Stress and Early Child Development: Adaptive and Maladaptive Outcomes, edited by Kirby Deater-Deckard and Robin Panneton. New York: Springer.

Milkie, Melissa A., Joanna R. Pepin, and Kathleen E. Denny. 2016. “What Kind of War? ‘Mommy Wars’ Discourse in U.S. and Canadian News, 1989-2013.” Sociological Inquiry 86(1):51-78. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12100

Other

Specialization
Mental Health/Health; Gender; Work and Family; Culture
Current Courses
SOC318H5, SOC344H5