Editorial Board

Brian J. Willoughby, Ph.D. is currently an associate professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. He received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Brigham Young University and then went on to receive a masters and doctoral degree in Family Social Science from the University of Minnesota under the advisement of Dr. William Doherty. Dr. Willoughby is considered an international expert in the field of couple and marital relationships, sexuality, and emerging adult development. His research generally focuses on how adolescents, young adults, and adults move toward and form long-term committed relationships. Dr. Willoughby has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on young adult development, couple dynamics, marriage, and sexuality in the leading family science, psychological and sociological journals. He is the author of the recently published book, The Marriage Paradox: Why Emerging Adults Love Marriage Yet Push it Aside, published by Oxford University Press. Dr. Willoughby’s research on sexuality and relationships has recently appeared in such top journals as the Journal of Family Psychology, the Journal of Family Issues, the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, the Journal of Sex Research and Archives of Sexual Behavior. Dr. Willoughby also currently serves on the editorial boards for Emerging Adulthood, the Archives of Sexual Behavior, the Journal of Sex Research and the Journal of Adult Development and has been elected as a full member of the International Academy of Sex Research. Dr. Willoughby is a sought after expert, interviewed regularly by journalists associated with both national print and online outlets. His research has been widely cited in the media, appearing in such outlets as USA Today, MSNBC, Men’s Health, the Washington Post, ABC News, Psychology Today, and Prevention Magazine. He has appeared in live broadcasts on such news outlets as HuffPost Live and NPR and has a recurring guest role on the Matt Townson Show, a national radio show dedicated to dating and family relationships. His research has won international awards from organizations such as the National Council on Family Relations. He has also been the recipient of the Mary Lou Fulton Young Scholar Award from the College of Family, Home, and Social Science at BYU and the Class of 1949 Young Scholar Award from Brigham Young University as one of Brigham Young University’s top young scholars. Dr. Willoughby currently teaches several classes at Brigham Young University in the areas of family dynamics and couple process. He is the primary instructor for Introduction to Family Processes, a lower-division general education course on family dynamics that reaches hundreds of students each year. He also regularly teaches Family Adaptation and Resiliency, an upper division course focused on helping families overcome challenges and adversity. Dr. Willoughby has been married for fifteen years to his wife Cassi and together they have four children.

Mark Regnerus is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin and a senior fellow at the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture. His research is in the areas of sexual behavior, family, marriage, and religion. Mark is the author of over 40 published articles and book chapters, and three books. His latest book is entitled Cheap Sex and the Transformation of Men, Marriage, and Monogamy (Oxford, 2017,) in which he describes the world that has come to be due to the influence of technology on sex and sexuality. Before that, he wrote Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think about Marrying (Oxford, 2011), which describes the norms, behaviors, and mating market realities facing young adults, and Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers (Oxford, 2007), which tells the story of how religion does—and does not—shape teenagers' sexual decision-making. His work has been widely reviewed, including in Slate, the Dallas Morning News, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and The New Yorker, and his research and commentary has been featured in numerous media outlets.

Alan J. Hawkins is the Camilla E. Kimball Endowed Professor of Family Life at Brigham University in Provo, Utah. He earned a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies at The Pennsylvania State University in 1990. Professor Hawkins’ has taught and conducted research and outreach at Brigham Young University since 1990. In 2012, he received the university's prestigious Karl G. Maeser Research Award. His scholarship and outreach focuses on educational and policy interventions to help couples form and sustain healthy relationships and enduring marriages. In 2003-2004, he was a visiting scholar with the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services), working on the federal healthy marriages initiative. He is the current Co-Chair of the Utah Marriage Commission.

Jason Carroll is a Professor of Marriage and Family Studies in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University and a Fellow at the Wheatley Institution. He received his Ph.D. in Family Social Science from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Carroll is an internationally-recognized researcher and educator in the areas of marital intimacy, marriage readiness among young adults, the effectiveness of marriage education, and modern threats to marriage (such as pornography, delayed age at marriage, materialism, premarital sexuality, and non-marital childbirth). Dr. Carroll’s work has been featured in the Economist, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, LA Times, Newsweek, USA Today, Psychology Today Magazine, National Public Radio, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and other popular media and news outlets. In 2014, Dr. Carroll received the Berscheid-Hatfield Award for Distinguished Mid-Career Achievement, a biennial award given for distinguished scientific achievement by the International Association for Relationship Research. Dr. Carroll has authored over 100 scientific articles, book chapters and public scholarship pieces; and has presented numerous papers at national and international conferences. He is a professional member of the International Association for Relationship Research (IARR) and the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood (SSEA). Dr. Carroll’s research has appeared in leading scientific journals such as the Journal of Family Psychology, Journal of Sex Research, Aggressive Behavior, Journal of American College Health, and the Journal of Adolescent Research. He recently authored a chapter entitled, “Marriage and Emerging Adulthood” in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Emerging Adulthood and previously authored a chapter, entitled “Theorizing About Marriage” in the Sourcebook of Family Theories and Research. Most recently, Dr. Carroll was the research director and co-author of a highly publicized report entitled “Knot Yet: The Benefits and Costs of Delayed Marriage in America” (www.twentysomethingmarriage.org) that was funded by the National Marriage Project, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, and the RELATE Institute. Dr. Carroll served as a visiting scholar and was a research advisor for a national media campaign on healthy marriage targeting young adults that was conducted by the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). In 2003, Dr. Carroll was commissioned by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to co-author a guiding report for the National Healthy Marriage Initiative entitled: A Comprehensive Framework for Marriage Education. Dr. Carroll previously served as a section editor for the journal Family Process and he currently serves on the editorial board for three journals: Emerging Adulthood, Family Relations, and the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy.