Chris Wienke
Associate Professor
Dr. Wienke joined Sociology in Fall 2008. His work is primarily in the areas of mental health, family, gender, and sexuality.
CURRENT RESEARCH
As a result of various demographic and cultural trends, Americans are experiencing increasingly complex sequences of marital and non-martial transitions over their lives. Instead of spending their adult years with just one partner, which was the prevailing pattern for Americans a half century ago, more and more men and women are going through their adulthood with a string of partners, one at time, marital or otherwise. Limited research has specifically examined serial monogamy, meaning sequential intimate relationships. The purpose of this study is to better understand how serial monogamists – defined here as men and women who have married or cohabited three or more times -- make sense of, and adjust to, changes in personal and family that follow their partner transitions. The study will focus on the determinants of serial monogamy, using the narratives that respondents adopt to account for their complex marital and cohabiting partner histories, the potential consequences of serial monogamy, including social, psychological, and interpersonal outcomes, and how respondents experience, cope with, and manage the stigma that society has historically attached to persons with multiple marital and cohabiting unions. In reflecting on these issues, the study also will consider how the experience of serial monogamy varies across gender, racial-ethnic, sexual, and educational categories.
Areas of Specialization and Interest
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Sociology of Family (esp. marriage; same-sex relationships; gay and lesbian families; parenthood; family and work issues; adult well-being)
- Sociology of Sexuality (esp. gendered sexuality; sexual technologies; sexual trends; and LGBT sexuality; sexualities and space)
- Mental Health (esp. neighborhoods; social inequality; social epidemiology; medicalization)
- Sociology of Gender (esp. men’s studies; gender movements; and feminist theory)
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Social Inequality
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Cultural Sociology
Selection of Courses Taught
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SOC 340: Family
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SOC 490: Sociology of Sexuality
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SOC 530: Seminar on the Sociology of Sexuality
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SOC 542: Seminar on the Family
Recent Publications
Wienke, Chris Rachel B. Whaley, and Rick Bratz. Forthcoming. “Assessing How Areas with High Densities of Same-sex Couples Impact the Mental Health of Sexual Minority and Majority Young Adults” in Alex Bitterman and Daniel Hess (eds), The Life and Afterlife of Gay Neighborhoods: Resurgence and Renaissance. New York: Springer.
Wienke, Chris. Forthcoming. “Marriage, Cohabitation, Divorce, and Economic Status” in Robert S Rycroft (ed), Inequality in America: Causes and Consequences of the Rich-Poor Divide. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO Press.
Wienke, Chris. 2017. “Divorce” in Robert S Rycroft (ed), The American Middle Class: An Economic Encyclopedia of Progress and Poverty. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio Press.
Wienke, Chris and Rachel J. Whaley. 2017. “(How) Does the Proportion of Same-sex Couples in Neighborhoods Impact the Mental Health of Sexual Minority Young Adults?” in Frances Earley (ed), Sexual Orientation: Perceptions, Discrimination, and Acceptance. Nova Science Publishers, pp. 81-108.
Wienke, Chris and Tony James Silva. 2016. “Marriage Equality: The Effects on Well-being and Relationships” in Abbie E. Goldberg (ed), The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, pp. 732-737.
Wienke, Chris and Rachel B. Whaley. “Same-gender Sexual Partnering: A Reanalysis of Trend Data” 2015, Journal of Sex Research. 52: 162-173.
Wienke, Chris and Gretchen J. Hill. 2013. “Does Place of Residence Matter? Rural-Urban Differences and the Well-Being of Gay Men and Lesbians.” Journal of Homosexuality. 60: 1256-1279.
Wienke, Chris and Gretchen J. Hill. 2013. “The Relationship between Multiple Roles and Well-Being among Gay, Lesbian, and Heterosexual Adults.” Journal of GLBT Family Studies. 9: 305-329.
Manuscripts under review
Wienke, Chris. “Justifications, Excuses, and Self-blame: An Exploration of How Serially Married and Cohabiting Men and Women Account for their Unexpected Relationship Histories.” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Revise and Resubmit.