Mindy E. Scott

Senior Research Scholar

Research Focus

Education & certification

Ph.D., Sociology and Demography, Pennsylvania State University

Mindy E. Scott

Senior Research Scholar, Bethesda, MD

Mindy E. Scott, Ph.D., is a leading expert on fatherhood and healthy relationships for federal agencies, researchers, practitioners, and the media. In addition to leading many research and evaluation projects, Dr. Scott is regularly invited to present research for audiences including the Department of Health and Human Services and for practitioner groups including The Dibble Institute.  Her work has been featured in The New York Times , USA Today, The Washington Times, and other leading publications.

Currently, Dr. Scott is the principle investigator on an OPRE-funded project on Youth Education and Relationship Services (YEARS), aimed at building the knowledge base around healthy-relationship programming for young people. She also leads Child Trends’ work with the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse, developing new ways to reach and educate fatherhood practitioners and fathers directly.

Dr. Scott has co-authored multiple peer-reviewed papers published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, Parenting: Science and Practice, and many other leading journals. She is interested in the increasing complexity of families, and is looking for new ways to measure the relative stability of diverse family structures that have yet to be explored with data.

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