University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Department of Sociology Faculty Affiliate Center for Research on Families
200 Hicks Way
W30 Machmer Hall
Amherst,
MA
USA
01003
Email:
schalet@soc.umass.edu
Biographical Sketch:
Currently, Ms. Schalet is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at University of MA, Amherst. Prior to this appointment, she was the Ibis Social Science Fellow at the Center for Reproductive Heath Research and Policy at University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Schalet’s research has focused on sexuality and culture and she has authored several publications on comparative adolescent sexuality. Her research examines the cultural and institutional mechanisms that prevent the sexual maturation of teenagers in the Netherlands from becoming the psychological, physical, familial and economic “drama” which it all too often becomes in the U.S. The Dutch “normalize” adolescent sexuality, making it easier for teens to make choices about their sexuality and to use contraceptives effectively, resulting in teen abortion and fertility rates that are only a fraction of the U.S. rates. Her article “Raging Hormones, Regulated Love: Adolescent Sexuality and the Constitution of the Modern Individual in the United States and the Netherlands” is assigned frequently in undergraduate and graduate sociology courses. Dr. Schalet's article "Must We Fear Adolescent Sexuality?" was named Medscape General Medicine’s “Best Article of 2004” in Ob/Gyn & Women's Health and is now used by educators and health care providers as an educational tool. A book based on this research on adolescent sexuality will be published by University of Chicago Press in 2006. As an Ibis fellow, Dr. Schalet is developing a collaborative research project that investigates the relationship between attitudes toward non-marital sexuality and abortion among different U.S. populations. In addition to her research on sexual and reproductive health, Dr. Schalet researches and writes on inequality, poverty, and welfare, and has co-authored a report and several articles about the wages and working conditions at the University of California, Berkeley. Finally, Dr. Schalet teaches courses and consults on qualitative research methodology. .