Dr. Rin Reczek is a sociologist and social demographer who has published a book and over 80 articles and book chapters on the topics of family and health. Rin’s most recent book is on family estrangement, out in 2025.
Rin’s next book project is on estranged and “no contact” families.
“Families We Keep” shows how and why LGBTQ adults stay in troubled ties with parents.
This volume brings together experts in the field of family relationships, sexuality, gender, and health for a new primer on same-sex couples and well-being.
Check out Rin’s edited volume on marriage and health!
Marriage and Health Research
How does marriage matter for health?
How does gender and sexuality matter in this relationship?
A strand of Rin’s work focuses on how marriage matters for health. Rin uses qualitative in-depth interviews with people in marital relationships to show the “health work” partners do — or don’t do—to make each other healthy. This strand of work has been supported by the NIA (National Institute of Aging).
Rin also uses survey data to look at population trends in how marriage matters for health. This work was supported by the NICHD (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development).
Rin’s book on this topic, with Hui Liu and Lindsay Wilkinson (2020, Rutgers) is titled “Marriage and Health: The Well-Being of Same-Sex Couples”
Parent-Child Ties and Health
Why do we keep our intergenerational ties as adults?
How do intergenerational ties matter for health?
Rin’s work on parent-child ties has two strands. The first uses longitudinal survey data to link the quality and content of parent-child ties with health across the life course for both parents and children. This strand of work is currently supported by an R01 with the National Institutes of Aging.
The second uses qualitative in-depth interviews to unravel the gendered meaning of parent- adult child ties. Rin sees that while some parent-child ties are fabulous, others are deeply painful. Rin’s book with Emma Bosley-Smith explores the parent-adult child tie in this way with a focus on LGBTQ adults. Rin’s next book on estrangement will explore the darker side of family ties.
About Rin
Rin was awarded a PhD in Sociology, with certificates in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Population Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2011.
Rin is now a Professor of Sociology at Ohio State University, with faculty affiliation in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, the Institute for Population Research, and the Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Applied Developmental Science.
Nationally, Rin is the Past-Chair of the Medical Sociology Section of ASA, and is currently on the editorial boards of several journals including Socius, Demography, The Journal of Health and Social Behavior, The Journal of Gerontology: B Series, The Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Family Issues, and Sociological Focus. Rin has previously been a Deputy Editor at The Journal of Marriage and Family and Editor-in-Charge at Innovation in Aging.