Caroline Sanner

Caroline Sanner is an assistant professor of family science at Virginia Tech. Her research focuses on relationships and dynamics in post-divorce families and stepfamilies. She uses critical theories and qualitative methods to explore family processes such as coparenting; stepparenting; stepfamily formation; intergenerational relationship development; social constructions of kinship; emotion labor; conflict management; negotiations of power and control; and stepfamily dissolution. Her work also considers how complex families are impacted by culture and society. For example, how do our laws, policies, and institutions benefit some family structures (e.g., two-parent families) to the disadvantage and exclusion of other family forms? How do cultural messages about parenting, gender, and family status (e.g., biological, step) shape family members’ experiences? Dr. Sanner’s work has been published in family science journals including Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Family Theory and Review, Journal of Family Psychology, and Family Relations.