People

Research Interests:

Isabel H. M. Brooks has a BA in Geography and a Certificate in GIS from the University of Mary Washington; a Master of City and Regional Planning from the Edward J. Bloustein School for Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, and a doctorate from the University of Texas, where she is an alumna of the Population Research Center. She is an environmental and social demographer with a particular interest in fertility and family dynamics. Dr. Brooks‘s work largely centers around two lines of inquiry. First, what are the consequences of climate change for family formation? Extant literature on climate change and population largely focuses on migration or health but misses an important focus on climate’s effects on fertility, and even more so on the psychosocial antecedents of fertility: ideal family size and desire and timing for a child. Recent work was published in the Vienna Yearbook of Population Research. She will be expanding the location and context of this line of inquiry as a postdoc. Second, she explores the role of social environment and emotion in reproductive behavior, showing how religiosity and guilt drive contraceptive behavior for young women. This work was recently published in Demography.