Alex Sheridan
I am currently a student of the European Doctoral School of Demography (EDSD), hosted by Institut National d’Études Démographiques (INED). I’m sponsored by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.
I’m mainly interested in inequalities in childhood. I’ve participated in cross-country projects investigating possible factors that influence disparities in child development, including, but not limited to: parental socioeconomic status, tracking at school, family structure, parenting styles, gender.
Most often, I adopt a longitudinal approach with survey data. Datasets I’m most familiar with include Étude Longitudinale Française depuis l’Enfance (Elfe), Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), Direction de l’évaluation, de la prospective et de la performance (DEPP), European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
Publications
Just in!
Dräger, J., Washbrook, E., Schneider, T., Akabayashi, H., Keizer, R., Solaz, A., Waldfogel, J., de la Rie, S., Kameyama, Y., Kwon, S. J., Nozaki, K., Perinetti Casoni, V., Sano, S., Sheridan A. & Shikishima, C. (In print). “Cross-national differences in socioeconomic achievement inequality in early primary school: The role of parental education and income in six countries.” AERA Open. Available as discussion paper on SocArXiv, 18 January 2023. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/hzpwm
2024
Solaz A., Panico L., Sheridan A., Dräger J., Schneider T., Olczyk M., Washbrook E., Perinetti Casoni V., Kwon S., & Waldfogel J. (2024). “Does Family Structure Account for Child Achievement Gaps by Parental Education? Findings for England, France, Germany and the United States.” Population and Development Review. https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12623
Berger, L., Panico L., Sheridan A., Thévenon O. (2024). “Parental emotional support and adolescent well-being: A cross-national examination of socio-economic and gender gaps based on PISA 2018 surveys”, OECD Papers on Well-being and Inequalities, No. 20, OECD Publishing, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/2b7a2ac6-en
2023
Dräger, J., Schneider, T., Olczyk, M., Solaz, A., Sheridan, A., Washbrook, E., Perinetti Casoni, V, Kwon S. J., & Waldfogel, J. (2023). “The relevance of tracking and social school composition for growing achievement gaps by parental education in lower secondary school: a longitudinal analysis in France, Germany, the United States, and England.” European Sociological Review. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcad076
Presentations
2024
Early Career Scholars’ Master Class on Families and Child Development and Well-being, Edinburgh, June 2024. Oral presentation. “Sex Differentials in Early Childhood Hygiene: A Comparative Study of France and of the UK.”
European Population Conference, Edinburgh, June 2024. Poster. “Sex Differentials in Early Childhood Hygiene: A Comparative Study of France and of the UK.”
Séminaire Jeunes Chercheurs, Ined, March 2024. Oral presentation. “Sex Differentials in Early Childhood Hygiene: A Comparative Study of France and of the UK.”
2023
Policy Evaluation and Research Unit lunch seminar, Manchester, November 2023. Oral presentation. “Comparative work on toilet training in France and in the UK: gender and social variations.”
Children of the noughties: a conference to celebrate 21 years of the Millennium Cohort Study, London, June 2023. Oral presentation. “Parental care during the first year of life: gender and social variations in practices and tastes.”
The skills that help us do and convey our research
I’m always excited to talk about the skills that help us with our research, such as public speaking, writing, coding, and self-reflection. We develop these as we accumulate experience, but I’m sure that talking and reading about them can help too. Reach out to me if you share this interest.
Books and research
People who know me know books are one of the loves of my life. And they’ve found their way into my research.
Here are some of my favourites.
Love, Money, and Parenting: How Economics Explains the Way We Raise Our Kids, by Matthias Doepke and Fabrizio Zilibotti
When I tell people I’ve graduated in economics, they tend to ask me about financial markets, or about taxes. I was also puzzled as to where economics started and ended, especially given my interest in family and childhood. This book is a page-turner in itself, but on top of that, it finally cleared up for me how the prism of economics could further our understanding of parenting and childhood inequalities.
I love showing my (patient) loved ones the introduction of this book: “See, this is what I do!”
Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project That Matters to You (and the World), by Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea
Boy, I wish someone had pointed me to this book when I was trying to figure out my research question for my Master’s degree thesis at Paris School of Economics. Instead, I found it while bookshop browsing (here).
Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded, by Joshua Schimel
Schimel’s research “sits at the interface of ecosystem and microbial ecology”. That is to say that the examples he uses in his book on writing are tough to understand. Yet, this is the book I would recommend to help feel less anxious when faced with the noble task of writing.
Write It Up: Practical Strategies for Writing and Publishing Journal Articles, by Paul J. Silvia
This book is very down to earth when giving tips on team work, picking journals, tone and style of writing, and lots more. I like that its authors take positions on pet peeves. It’s refreshing.
A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum, by Jessica McCrory Calarco
What a madhouse academia can be. I love that Jessica McCrory Calarco wrote a book to help young researchers save themselves some pain. It also helps lighten the load of our best mentors out there, who might sacrifice their focus on their own research when spending time supporting their mentorees. A lot of this book’s advice applies to the US context a lot better, but for me, just acknowledging some of the madness does it.
I love book recommendations, let me know what your favourites are.
And outside of research
