Achievement

IRSP trainee Natalya Maisel (a social psychologist) did her internship with Gary Gates (a demographer) and Lee Badgtt (an economist). To prepare for the internship, she took courses in social demography. Based on work completed as part of the internship, Natalya has co-authored a research paper in The Review of Economics of the Household (2008) comparing the demographic and economic characteristics of lesbians and gay men who register for domestic partnerships versus those who do not. Using a large random sample of California gay and lesbian individuals, the researchers found that the likelihood of registering for a domestic partnership increased with income for gay men, with age for lesbians, and with the duration of the relationship for both gay men and lesbians. This study is one step towards understanding the predictors of legal recognition in same-sex couples.