Janet Chen-Lan Kuo

My research aims to explore gendered patterns in the interplay between workplace and family dynamics. I investigate how these interactions influence individuals’ marital decisions, fertility choices, and other family behaviors. Additionally, I examine how gendered experiences within family and work contexts impact labor participation and work outcomes, ultimately affecting personal health and well-being with implications for gender inequality.

In the realm of family behavior research, my study delved into cohabitation patterns among young people in the United States. I analyzed why cohabitation behaviors exhibit socioeconomic and racial disparities. My research findings challenge cultural interpretations of increasingly diverse cohabiting behaviors across different ethno-racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. Furthermore, I explored the impact of “parental coresidence” on unmarried offspring’s marriage behavior, evaluating the gendered mechanisms underlying the association between delayed marriages and living with parents. Additionally, I investigated how individuals’ work characteristics and job types influence their likelihood of establishing families and maintaining stable intimate relationships. These work characteristics encompass occupational gender composition, autonomy, and time demands.

In my research on work outcomes, I investigated the wage penalties that mothers may encounter in the workplace. I examined how these penalties vary based on different job characteristics. Beyond analyzing structural factors affecting maternal wage penalties, my study proposed strategies to mitigate the negative impact of family responsibilities on women’s work achievements by enhancing working conditions. Both work and family demand significant time and effort, often competing for an individual’s limited resources. The critical question is whether investing time in either domain—such as work—necessarily results in corresponding rewards. To explore this exchange of “time” for monetary compensation, I analyzed data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. Specifically, I investigated how various forms of time demands in jobs (e.g., overtime as a quantitative demand versus the need for flexible coordination, face-to-face interactions, or irregular schedules as qualitative demands) influence individual compensation and how gender differences manifest in this compensation.

In recent research, I’ve continued to explore family and work-related issues, with a specific focus on understanding how gendered workplace and family experiences impact health outcomes for both men and women. Notably, I’ve investigated Taiwan’s response to its low birth rate by implementing subsidies for infertile married couples using assisted reproductive technologies. Leveraging the “Taiwan Assisted Reproductive Database,” I assess how fertility policies and medical guidelines influence clinical decisions among assisted reproductive technology practitioners. Specifically, I delve into aspects such as ovarian stimulation methods, embryo implantation numbers, and the choice between fresh and frozen embryos. Furthermore, I examine how these policy initiatives, along with any adjustments made by medical practitioners in response to related restrictions and government guidelines, shape maternal-infant health risks faced by Taiwanese families. Considering that women often assume primary caregiving roles, I also explore how the use of Assisted Reproduction Technology intersects with caregiving demands, reinforcing traditional gendered divisions of labor—such as the “breadwinner-homemaker” model—within families.

Education

Ph. D. in Sociology, University of Texas at Austin (2015)
M.A. in Sociology, National Chengchi University (2006)
B.A. in Sociology (Social Work), National Chengchi University (2003)

Employment

Associate Professor, Department of Sociology at National Taiwan University (2020.7-)

Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology at National Taiwan University (2016.2-2020.6)

• Yu, W. H., & Kuo, J. C. L. (2024). Research Note: New Evidence on the Motherhood Wage Penalty. Demography, 11218936.
• Yu, Wei-hsin and Janet C. Kuo (2023). “Going the Extra Mile at Work: Relationships Between Working Conditions and Discretionary Work Effort.”  PLOS ONE , 18(8), e0288521.
• Yu, Wei-hsin and Janet C. Kuo. (2022). “Time is Money? Wage Premiums and Penalties for Time-related Occupational Demands.” American Journal of Sociology, 128(3): 820–865.
• Yu, W. H., and Janet. C. L. Kuo (2021). “Gender-Atypical Occupations and Instability of Intimate Unions: Examining the Relationship and Mechanisms.” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World,  7: 1-18.
• Yu, Wei-Hsin and Janet C.-L. Kuo (2018). “Does Parenthood Foster Traditionalism? Childrearing and Alterations in Gender and Family Attitudes in Japan.” Social Forces, 97(1): 221-250.
• Yu, Wei-Hsin and Janet C.-L. Kuo (2017). “The Motherhood Wage Penalty by Work Conditions: How Do Occupational Characteristics Hinder or Empower Mothers?” American Sociological Review 82(4): 744-769
• Yu, Wei-Hsin and Janet C.-L. Kuo (2017). “Another work‒family interface: Work characteristics and family intentions in Japan” Demographic Research 36(13): 391-426.
• Yu, Wei-Hsin and Janet C.-L. Kuo (2016). “Explaining the Effect of Parent-Child Coresidence on Marriage Formation: The Case of Japan.” Demography 53(5): 1283-1318.
• Kuo, Janet Chen-Lan and R. Kelly Raley (2016). “Diverging Patterns of Union Transition among Cohabitors by Race-Ethnicity and Education: Trends and Marital Intentions” Demography.53 (4): 921-935.
• Kuo, Janet C.-L. and R. Kelly Raley. (2016) “Is It All About Money? Work Characteristics and Women’s and Men’s Marriage Formation in Early Adulthood”  Journal of Family Issues 37(8): 1046-1073. (First published online in 2014).
• McClendon, David, Janet C.-L. Kuo, and R. Kelly Raley. (2014). “Opportunities to Meet: Occupational Education and Marriage Formation in Young Adulthood.” Demography 51(4): 1319-1344.
• Takei, Isao, Arthur Sakamoto, and Janet C.-L. Kuo. (2014). “Managerial Attainment of College-Educated, Native-Born Asian Americans.” Global Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences 3(5): 62-72.