I am a professor of sociology and the Associate Dean for Faculty Evaluation in the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences at Brigham Young University. I study how children’s and adolescents’ social ties promote their well-being and pro-social behaviors. My work on social capital has focused on how the capital children build and use in their families and schools affects their educational, behavioral, and health outcomes. One of my current projects extends these questions beyond the US context to examine youth in Australia, Germany, South Korea, and the UK. I also study effects of family structure transitions on children, with a special focus on single-father families.
I am also interested in sport as an institution, and especially the role of sport in stratification processes. A current project uses data from more than 26,000 college football players and coaches to examine racial patterns of leadership.
Here are my Google Scholar and ResearchGate profiles.
I teach courses on adolescent family structure and processes and on the sociology of sport.
Recent Publications
Leppard TR, Dufur MJ. 2021. Paternal Closeness in Adolescence: The Association of Sports and Gender. Sociology of Sport Journal. 11. [Website]
Rasmussen K, Dufur MJ, Cope MR, Pierce HM. 2021. Gender Marginalization in Sports Participation Through Advertising: The Case of Nike. International Journal of Environmental Research Public Health . 18(7759):1-22.
Usevitch M, Dufur MJ. 2021. Single-Parent Marriage: Do Children Benefit?. Family Relations. 70(4):1206-1221. [Website]
Pribesh SL, Carson JS, Dufur MJ, Yue Y, Morgan K. 2020. Family Structure Stability and Transitions, Parental Involvement, and Educational Outcomes. Social Sciences. 9(12). [Website]
Barton HS, Thorpe JD, Dufur MJ. 2020. Social Capital and Prosocial Behavior among German Children. Social Sciences. 9(11). [Website]
Jarvis JA, Corbett A, Thorpe J, Dufur MJ. 2020. Too Much of a Good Thing: Social Capital and Academic Stress in South Korea. Social Sciences. 9(11):187. [Website]
Hoffmann JP, Thorpe JD, Dufur MJ. 2020. Family Social Capital and Delinquent Behavior in the United Kingdom. Social Sciences. 9(178):1-15.
Dufur MJ, Shafer KM, Silveira F, Green MR. 2020. Ethnicity and Parental Discipline Practices: A Cross-National Comparison. Journal of Marriage and Family. [Website]
Rowley KJ, Edmunds CC, Dufur MJ, Jarvis JA, Silveira F. 2020. Contextualizing the Achievement Gap: Assessing Educational Achievement, Inequality, and Disadvantage in High-Income Countries. Comparative Education. 56(4):459-483 .
Sigler EK, Usevitch MT, Heninger KA, Dufur MJ, Pribesh SL, Jarvis JA, Rowley KJ. Children's Family Structure Transitions in Australia, the UK, and the US. Socius.
Thorpe JT, Dufur MJ, Shafer KMT. Social Capital and Adolescent Mental Health. Society and Mental Health.
Pribesh SL, Usevitch M, Sigler EK, Heninger KA, Yue Y, Dufur MJ, Jarvis JA. 2019. The Flow of Family Transitions of Australian Families. Australian Population Studies. 3(2):37-40. [Website]
Pribesh SL, Morgan K, Dufur MJ, . Family Structure Stability and Transitions' Relationships with Parental Involvement and Academic Outcomes. Journal of Education Research.
Rowley KJ, McNeill SM, Dufur MJ, Edmunds C, Jarvis JA. 2019. Trends in International PISA Scores over Time: Which Countries Are Actually Improving?. Social Sciences. 8(8):18. [Website]
Dufur MJ, Thorpe JD, Barton HS, Hoffmann JP, Parcel TL. 2019. Can Social Capital Protect Adolescents from Delinquent Behavior, Antisocial Attitudes, and Mental Health Problems?. Archives of Psychology. 3(6):1-22. [Website]
Silveira F, Dufur MJ, Jarvis JA, Rowley KJ. 2019. The Influence of Foreign-Born Population on Immigrant and Native-Born Students’ Academic Achievement. Socius. 5:1-19. [Website]
Rowley KJ, Silveira F, Dufur MJ, Jarvis JA. 2019. US Achievement Underperformance in an International Context: Are Low PISA Scores from the Poor to Blame?. Teachers College Record. 121(10). [Website]
Hoffmann JP, Dufur MJ. 2018. Family Social Capital, Family Bonds, and Juvenile Delinquency. American Behavioral Scientist. 62(11):1525-1544. [Website]
Silveira F, Dufur MJ, Shafer KM, Green MR. Race and Parental Discipline Practices: A Cross-National Comparison. Child Abuse and Neglect.
Dufur MJ, Alexander AJ. 2017. Does Childhood Family Structure Help Create Stratification in Adult Education and Labor Market Attainment?: An Argument for the Selectivity Perspective. Sociology Compass. 11(1):1-13.
Gibbs BG, Erickson LD, Dufur MJ, Aaron M. 2015. Extracurricular Associations and College Enrollment. Social Science Research. 50:367-381.
Gibbs BG, Shafer KM, Dufur MJ. 2015. Why Infer? The Use and Misuse of Population Data in Sport Research. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. 50(1). [Website]
Feinberg SL, Dufur MJ, Famelos A, Fisher V. 2014. Senseless Messaging: Advertising Images of Illegal Driving and Deviant Behavior. Deviant Behavior. 35(22):843-858.
Heaton TB, Dufur MJ, Amoateng AY. 2014. Race Differences in Educational Attainment of Youth Aged 7-18 in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The role of Family Structure, Resources and School Quality. South African Journal of Sociology. 101-121.
Flake CR, Dufur MJ, Moore EL. 2013. Holding Serve: Productivity and Pay Differentials in Men’s and Women’s Professional Tennis. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. 48:366-376. [Website]
Dufur MJ, Parcel TL, Troutman KP. 2013. Does Capital at Home Matter More than Capital at School?: Social Capital Effects on Academic Achievement. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility. 31(1):1-21. [Website]
Dufur MJ, Parcel TL, McKune BJ. 2013. The Differential Effects of Social Capital at Home and at School in Predicting Youth Drug and Alcohol Use. Journal of Drug Issues. 43(1):85-102. [Website]
Gibbs BG, Jarvis JA, Dufur MJ. 2012. The Rise of the Underdog?: The Relative Age Effect Reversal among Canadian-born NHL Hockey Players: A Response to Nolan and Howell. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. 47:644-649.
Dufur MJ, Howell NC, Downey DB, Ainsworth JW, Lapray AJ. 2010. Differences in Parenting Behaviors in Single-Mother and Single-Father Households. Journal of Marriage and Family. 72(5):1092-1106. [Website]
Dufur MJ. 2010. Title IX and Other Legal Interventions in Sport: Consequences for Female Athletes, Male Athletes, and Gender Construction. Sociology Compass. 9(4):732-748. [Website]
Parcel TL, Dufur MJ, Zito RC. 2010. Capital at Home and at School: A Review and Synthesis. Journal of Marriage and Family. 72(4):828-846. [Website]