Professor of Sociology

Zhenchao Qian joined Brown University and the PSTC in 2015. His current research focuses on changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation, and assortative mating and how the patterns vary by gender, race/ethnicity, nativity status, and educational attainment. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Qian's research interests include marital experiences and health outcomes, racial identification among children born to interracial couples, integration patterns of immigrants in the United States, and demographic and social changes in China.

Selected Publications

Qian, Zhenchao and Daniel T. Lichter. 2018. “Marriage Markets and Intermarriage: Exchange in First Marriages and Remarriages.” Demography. DOI: /10.1007/s13524-018-0671-x

Sassler, Sharon, Kathleen M. Michelmore, and Zhenchao Qian. 2018. “Transitions from Sexual Relationships into Cohabitation and Beyond.” Demography 55: 511-534. DOI: 10.1007/s13524-018-0649-8

Lichter, Daniel T. and Zhenchao Qian. 2018. “Boundary Blurring? Racial Identification among the Children of Interracial Couples.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 677: 81-94. DOI: 10.1177/0002716218760507 

Qian, Zhenchao, Daniel T. Lichter, and Dmitry Tumin. 2018. “Divergent Pathways to Assimilation? Local Marriage Markets and Intermarriage among U.S. Hispanics.” Journal of Marriage and Family 80: 271-288. DOI: 10.1111/jomf.12423    

Painter, Matthew and Zhenchao Qian. 2016. “Wealth Inequality among New Immigrants.” Sociological Perspectives 59: 345-367. DOI: 10.1177/0731121415589138

Scholarly Interests

Family demography, Immigration, Race and ethnicity, Social Inequality

Affiliated Departments

Department of Sociology