About

Anna Manzoni is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at NC State University, located in 1911 Bldg, room 364. Her research areas include the life course, labor market, social inequality, stratification, immigration, demography, sociology of the family, survey methods, and longitudinal data analysis. She has contributed to the understanding of family social capital, intergenerational support, and the impact of parenthood on earnings, among other topics. Her work explores how social factors influence individual life trajectories and societal structures, with a focus on longitudinal data analysis to inform her research.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Economics
• Demography
• Labour economics
• Demographic economics
• Economic growth
• Social psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Psychology

Selected publications

• PARENTAL SUPPORT AND YOUTH OCCUPATIONAL ATTAINMENT

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-03-05

  datasetOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Little is known about the role of parental assistance in youths’ transition to adulthood. This study fills this gap by conceptualizing development within a life course perspective that links social inequality and early life course transitions. Specifically, it analyzes the implications of direct monetary transfers and support through co-residence for youths’ early occupational attainment. . <br>

  PublisherDOI

• Bonding ties that get ahead?: family social capital and early occupational attainment

  Journal of Youth Studies · 2025-12-31

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Intergenerational Support and Later Life Health: Associations by Role, Type and Direction of Support

  Journal of Marriage and the Family · 2025-12-08 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  ABSTRACT Objective This study aims to examine the health consequences of intergenerational support, distinguishing between providers and receivers (role), financial and practical support (type), and upward and downward support (direction). Background Intergenerational support is an important pillar for coping with some of the challenges of aging societies. However, its health implications may differ across health outcomes, for providers and receivers, as well as the resources being transferred. Method We draw on six waves from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), collected 2004–2017, and focus on respondents aged 60 or older whose youngest child was aged 25–60. Respondents may be both children and parents. Using fixed effects modeling, we analyze the association between the provision and receipt of intergenerational support and changes in five subjective and objective measures of physical and mental health (grip strength, chronic conditions, self‐rated health, depression, and quality of life). Results Both providing and receiving support are associated with decreases in health. Providing support is associated with more chronic conditions and lower mental health and well‐being. Practical and upward support to parents mostly accounts for these findings. Receiving practical support in particular is associated with health declines, specifically if received upwardly. Conclusion Our study suggests that extensive reliance on informal support arrangements may come with longer‐term health costs. This may undermine the potential for intergenerational solidarity needed to cope with individual and societal crises.

  PublisherDOI

• The Effect of Parenthood on Care Workers’ Earnings: Exploring Identity Mobilization’s Applicability

  Sociological Quarterly · 2024-07-16

  articleSenior author

  The parenthood wage gap is well-documented in professional work, but we know little about parenthood's effects on earnings among care workers. As employers may use stereotypes linked to parental identity to determine rewards, care workers may leverage their parental identity to signal appropriateness for work, possibly leading to higher, rather than lower, earnings. At the same time, gender and racial identity may signal different levels of appropriateness to employers according to how they fulfill employer-held gender and racial stereotypes. Using data from the American Community Survey (ACS), we test the applicability of identity mobilization to show that mothers experience wage penalties compared to fathers and non-mothers, while fathers experience wage premiums. Additionally, mothers of color experience smaller penalties than White women, while fathers of color experience smaller premiums compared to White fathers. We also show differences across occupations. Overall, this study showcases the ways in which gender and racial inequality remain entrenched in society, rejecting identity mobilization's applicability to care work wage gaps.

  PublisherDOI

• Parental separation and intergenerational support

  Journal of Family Research · 2023-01-09 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Objective: We investigate support between parents and adult children across families exposed and not exposed to parental separation in Germany, by examining multiple types of support (i.e. emotional, material, and instrumental), both directions of provision (i.e. giving and receiving), and exchanges with mothers and fathers. Background: As parental separation may have implications for parent-child relationships and exchanges, with consequences for individuals' wellbeing, improving our understanding of the association between separation and support exchanges becomes paramount. Method: Using data from the German Family Panel (pairfam, 2009-2016, N=4,340 respondents and 13,481 observations), we estimate a range of support exchanges between parents and children simultaneously using generalized linear regression models with correlated random terms across equations. Additionally, we assess whether these associations vary by the timing at which parental separation occurred and social background. Results: Parental separation is negatively associated with support between parents and children, especially for fathers. However, no significant differences emerge between mothers who separated and mothers who did not in receiving material support from their children. The negative associations between parental separation and support between child and fathers are lower if parental separation occurs when the child is an adult. Further, when mothers are highly educated, separation has a less negative association with downward material support. Conclusion: Overall, lower intergenerational assistance among families experiencing separation suggests increasing disadvantage for those already disadvantaged.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Moving Away from One’s Origins: Predictors of Becoming a First-Generation College Graduate and Not Becoming a Continuing-Generation Graduate

  Sociological Quarterly · 2023-04-11 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st author

  Nearly a third of students whose parents do not have bachelor's degrees become first-generation college graduates and over a third of students with at least one parent with a bachelor's degree do not become continuing-generation college graduates. We apply insights from social reproduction theory to study educational mobility, examining which factors are associated with becoming a first-generation college graduate and not becoming a continuing-generation college graduate. Drawing on data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we find that students with low educational origins who become first-generation college graduates have parents who possess and pass down high levels of some resources for their educational level and are well equipped to use the resources they receive. Likewise, students with high educational origins who do not become continuing-generation graduates tend to have parents who possess few resources for their education level, pass down few of some resources, and are less well equipped to use the resources they receive. We discuss the implications of our findings for the openness of the American educational system.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Women’s Configurations of Family, Work, and Education: Mapping Diverse Pathways Throughout Adulthood

  Social Currents · 2023-09-12

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  We investigate how women's family, work, and education statuses are configured over the life course, defining different pathways throughout adulthood. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent and Adult Health, we conduct a repeated measures latent class analysis to explore the various pathways of family, work, and education that women take between their late teens and early forties. Additionally, we investigate the extent to which these pathways vary by race and socioeconomic background. We find seven distinct pathways. In three of the pathways, women are likely to become mothers at an earlier age, but differ in terms of education and work patterns. Three other pathways include women who focus primarily on college in early adulthood, but differ in terms of their work and family patterns. An additional pathway comprises women who remain largely independent while working and continuing education into adulthood. Pathways vary significantly by race, parents' education, and early family poverty. This study highlights the fluidity of women's work and educational experiences across adulthood, and articulates significant nuances in the different combinations of women's family, work, and education across demographic backgrounds.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Young adults' labour market transitions and intergenerational support in Germany

  Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2023-02-20

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Research has shown that parents provide considerable support to their children; however, we know little about the influence of young adults’ employment experiences on the support they receive from their parents. We draw on data from the German Family Panel pairfam for birth cohorts 1981–1983 and 1991–1993 and use a first difference panel estimator with asymmetric effects to examine the extent to which young adults’ employment transitions affect material, emotional, and instrumental support from parents. We find stark differences across types of support: parental material support changes in response to transitions in and out of employment, especially when to and from education. Other types of support seem less contingent on labour market transitions. Instrumental support only increases for transitions from education to employment and from employment to NEET. The latter effect is mainly driven by women entering parental leave. We do not find strong evidence of differences between transitions to standard and non-standard work. The association between employment transitions and intergenerational material support flows suggests that families act as safety nets, raising concerns about those whose families are unable to help.

  PublisherDOI

• Young adults’ labour market transitions and intergenerational support in Germany

  European Sociological Review · 2023-02-20 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Research has shown that parents provide considerable support to their children; however, we know little about the influence of young adults’ employment experiences on the support they receive from their parents. We draw on data from the German Family Panel pairfam for birth cohorts 1981–1983 and 1991–1993 and use a first difference panel estimator with asymmetric effects to examine the extent to which young adults’ employment transitions affect material, emotional, and instrumental support from parents. We find stark differences across types of support: parental material support changes in response to transitions in and out of employment, especially when to and from education. Other types of support seem less contingent on labour market transitions. Instrumental support only increases for transitions from education to employment and from employment to NEET. The latter effect is mainly driven by women entering parental leave. We do not find strong evidence of differences between transitions to standard and non-standard work. The association between employment transitions and intergenerational material support flows suggests that families act as safety nets, raising concerns about those whose families are unable to help.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Pathways of Intergenerational Support between Parents and Children throughout Adulthood

  Sociological Perspectives · 2023 · 8 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Developmental psychology
  • Psychology

  This paper examines varying patterns of exchanges in financial and residential support between parents and children. We apply a life course perspective to explore how patterns of intergenerational support unfold throughout adulthood. Using Waves 3 to 5 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we conduct a repeated measure latent class analysis and identify six pathways of intergenerational exchange. About one-third of individuals have minimal intergenerational exchange while the majority share some form of residential and financial assistance with their parents between their late teens and early forties. Upward and downward intergenerational exchanges are most common among Blacks, Hispanics, and families with less formal educational backgrounds, whereas pathways of complete independence are most common among White families. This paper challenges the notion of complete independence as a necessary marker of adulthood and maps out the diverse patterns of intergenerational exchange along multiple dimensions over the life course.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Ruud Luijkx

  10 shared

• Ruud Muffels

  Tilburg University

  10 shared

• Irma Mooi‐Reci

  University of Melbourne

  6 shared

• Didier Fouarge

  Maastricht University

  5 shared

• Jessi Streib

  4 shared

• Dean R. Lillard

  The Ohio State University

  4 shared

• Juho Härkönen

  European University Institute

  4 shared

• Steve McDonald

  3 shared