Prof J Hobcraft

 

Professor John Hobcraft

Contact details

Telephone: (01904) 321278
Fax: (01904) 321270
Email: john.hobcraft@york.ac.uk

Biography

Up to the early 1990s my research was in demography, with a strong methodological focus but also contributing to empirical knowledge on a broad range of topics both for the developing world and for the UK and Europe. Some of this work (on the determinants of infant and child mortality) had a profound effect on family planning policies and programmes for the developing world.

I have explored two key tenets of a social exclusion (and inclusion) approach to social policy: an emphasis on dynamics and an insistence on exploring multiple outcomes, including qualifications, income, welfare position, social class, well being, health, demographic outcomes, and housing.

My other broad current research theme is concerned with understanding human reproductive behaviour and also links to gender and generation themes. This work has helped to shape the design of the ‘Generation and Gender Programme’ under the auspices of the UNECE.

Current research interests

  • Intergenerational and life-course pathways to adult social exclusion
  • Understanding human reproductive and partnership behaviour
  • Role of gender and generations in human behaviour
  • Population policies, especially sexual and reproductive health and rights
  • Understanding genetic, evolutionary, mind, brain, and endocrinological pathways and their interplays with behaviour.

Selected publications and reports

Hobcraft J, and Kiernan KE (2010), Predictive Factors from Age 3 and Infancy for Poor Child Outcomes at Age 5 Relating to Children’s Development, Behaviour and Health: Evidence from the Millennium Cohort Study, University of York. Available online [PDF]. Tables and Figures [PDF].

Hobcraft J (2009),Circumstances of young adults: results from the Generations and Gender Programme. In UNECE How Generations and Gender Shape Demographic Change: Towards Policies Based on Better Knowledge. New York and Geneva, United Nations. pp. 83-106.

Sigle-Rushton W, Hobcraft J, and Kiernan K (2005), Parental Disruption and Adult Well-Being: A Cross Cohort Comparison, Demography, 43, 3, 427-446

Sigle-Rushton W, and Hobcraft J (2005), An Exploration of Childhood Antecedents of Female Adult Malaise in two British Birth Cohorts: Combining Bayesian Model Averaging and Recursive Partitioning. CASEpaper 95, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE (58pp) 

Hobcraft J (2004), Method, Theory and Substance in understanding choices about becoming a parent: progress or regress? Comment on Caldwell and Schindlmayr’s “Explanations of the fertility crisis in modern societies: a search for commonalities”. Population Studies 58(1): 81-84

Hobcraft J (2004), Parental, Childhood and Early Adult Legacies in the Emergence of Adult Social Exclusion: Evidence on What Matters from a British Cohort. In P.L Chase-Lansdale, K.E. Kiernan and R.J. Friedman (Eds.) Human Development Across Lives and Generations: The Potential for Change. Cambridge U.P.

Consultancy

Any recent consultancy work.

Professional activities

I chair a Consortium Board of the major European demographic institutes and some national statistical offices and the UNECE International Working Group for this project.

Research team

Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Child Development and Well-being.

PhD projects/grants available

Details of studentships and grant funding that might be available.

Last Updated: July 19, 2011 | Webmaster, iee

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