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Jessica Cohen, PhD

Jessica Cohen, PhD

Teaching Professor
Department of Sociology
Office: 3201 Arch Street, 202
jac595@drexel.edu

Education:

  • PhD, Sociology, Bowling Green State University
  • MA, Sociology, Bowling Green State University
  • BA, Sociology, The Pennsylvania State University

Curriculum Vitae:

Download (PDF)

Research Interests:

  • Cohabitation
  • Marriage
  • Union Transitions
  • Marital Intentions
  • Dating
  • Relationship Quality
  • Child Well-Being
  • Divorce
  • Fertility Behaviors and Intentions
  • Adolescent Union Formation and Childbearing

Bio:

Dr. Cohen joined the ranks of Drexel University faculty in 2016 and is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Sociology. She demonstrates passion for her field of study by sharing it with students from all majors, in all stages of their undergraduate careers. Dr. Cohen especially appreciates teaching undergraduate introductory courses because they give her the chance to spark the curiosity of non-sociology majors and burgeoning social scientists alike. Her primary goal is to show students of all backgrounds the value of Sociology in their everyday lives. Through this approach, she gives them tools to develop their sociological imaginations. Both face-to-face and online sections of Dr. Cohen’s Introduction to Sociology, Social Problems, and Sociology of the Family courses are regularly available through the Department of Sociology at Drexel University.

Dr. Cohen’s scholarly work in family sociology chronicles the demographic and social aspects of family life in the United States and seeks to understand how the dynamics of intimate relationships have changed over the past several decades, as well as to identify the challenges that modern-day romantic relationships and families face. She studies these topics because Dr. Cohen firmly believes the backbone to any effective social policy concerning the family is methodologically sound and rigorous social science research. Her scholarship also explores contemporary social issues, such as divorce and teenage childbearing. In this way, Dr. Cohen’s work seeks to find solutions to the social problems our society faces and support happy, healthy families. She brings her extensive background in quantitative methodology, survey data, and the extant family demographic literature to her teaching of the Sociology of the Family each term.
Dr. Cohen values her service commitments to Drexel University and the Department of Sociology. For several years, she has served on both the College of Arts and Sciences and Department of Sociology Curriculum Committees, and she looks forward to beginning her three-year term as faculty senator in the fall of 2024. She and colleague Dr. Brad Nabors worked together, alongside dedicated Sociology majors and minors, to establish the department’s first-ever Sociology Club. In addition, she and Dr. Nabors co-organize the annual Sociology Film Series. Such student-centered programing provides Dr. Cohen and her colleagues with the opportunity to build relationships with students outside the classroom and serves to strengthen the Drexel University community.

Selected Publications:

  • Cohen, Jessica A. 2015 “Using the Nacirema to Explore the Difference between Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism in the Classroom.” Class Activity published in TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology. Washington DC: American Sociological Association. (http://trails.asanet.org)
  • Cohen, Jessica A. 2015 “What is the Difference between a Private Trouble and a Public Issue? Exploring the Sociological Imagination.” Class Activity adapted from 2010. Class Activity by D. S. Adams. “Technique 4: Sociological and Individualistic (or Non- sociological) Explanations for Human Behavior” published in TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology. Washington DC: American Sociological Association. (http://trails.asanet.org)
  • Manning, Wendy D. and Jessica A. Cohen. 2015. “Teenage Cohabitation, Marriage and Childbearing.” Population Research and Policy Review 34(2): 161-177. DOI 10.1007/s11113-014-9341-x
  • Cohen, Jessica A. “Demographic Changes: Cohabitation Rates.” (2014). In Lawrence Ganong, Marilyn Coleman, and Geoffrey J. Golson (Eds.), The Social History of the American Family. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
  • Manning, Wendy D. and Jessica A. Cohen. 2012. “Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution: The Significance of Marriage Cohort.” Journal of Marriage and Family 74(1): 377-387. DOI 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2012.00960.x
  • Cohen, Jessica A. (2011). Children in Cohabiting Unions, (FP-11-07), National Center for Marriage & Family Research. Retrieved from https://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/college-of-arts-and-sciences/NCFMR/documents/FP/FP-11-07.pdf
  • Manning, Wendy D., Jessica A. Cohen, and Pamela J. Smock. 2011. “The Role of Romantic Partners, Family and Peer Networks in Dating Couples’ Views about Cohabitation.” Journal of Adolescent Research 26(1):115-149. DOI 10.1177/0743558410376833
  • Cohen, Jessica A. and Wendy D. Manning. 2010. “The Relationship Context of Premarital Serial Cohabitation.” Social Science Research 39(5):766-776. DOI 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2010.04.011