Soo-Yeon Yoon, PhD

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Advising Area

• General

About

As a sociologist and social demographer, my primary research and teaching interests lie in the areas of the family, gender equality, and population changes. My research focuses on the theoretical importance of work-family balance through achieving gender equality as a determinant of family demography. Utilizing large panel survey datasets or micro-level census data, my work aims to improve understanding population changes and their micro- and macro-level determinants, generating insights to inform theory as well as decision-makers in the areas of public policy and members of the general public.  

Before joining the faculty at SSU, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. My ongoing study investigates changes in patterns and determinants of transition to adulthood over time in South Korea. Using data from the 1990 and 2010 Korean Census, my research compares the transition to adulthood among Korean young adults over the last two decades, focusing on gender and socioeconomic differentials in that transition. Currently, I am also engaged in several projects that examine how gender equality is associated with demographic outcomes (e.g., marriage formation and low fertility) in South Korea and East Asia more broadly. 

Education

PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Academic Interests

Social demography, Sociology of the Family, Work and Family, Health, Gender, Quantitative Methods, East Asia

Selected Publications & Presentations

Yoon, Soo-Yeon and Sue-Yeon Song. Forthcoming. “Who Goes to Graduate School? Overeducation and Expansion of Higher Education in South Korea.” in Korean Education Yesterday and Today, edited by Hyeyoung Woo and Hyunjoon Park. University of Michigan Press.

Menghan Zhao and Soo-Yeon Yoon. “Telling a Different Story: Disparities in Perceived Fairness of Housework Division among East Asian Men.” Asian Population Studies. (Corresponding author; online available) https://doi.org/10.1080/17441730.2022.2041241 

Yoon, Soo-Yeon, Sojung Lim, and Lanu Kim. 2021. “Labor Market Uncertainty and the Economic Foundations of Marriage in South Korea.” Asian Population Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441730.2021.1932065 

Lian, Bin and Soo-Yeon Yoon. 2020. “Burdens, Resilience and Mutual Support: A Comparative Study of Families in China and South Korea amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Journal of Comparative Family Studies 51 (3/4): 337-346. (Corresponding author) https://doi.org/10.3138/jcfs.51.3-4.009

Baralt, Lori, Emily Carian, Amy Lynne Johnson, Sojung Lim, and Soo-Yeon Yoon. 2020. “Millennials and Gender in an Era of Growing Inequality” Sociological Perspectives 63(3): 452-460. (Equal authorship, alphabetical order) https://doi.org/10.1177/0731121420915870

Yoon, Soo-Yeon. 2020. “Integrating Men’s Gender Roles and Fertility Attitudes into the Study of Low Fertility in South Korea.” In Korean Families Yesterday and Today, edited by Hyunjoon Park and Hyeyoung Woo. University of Michigan Press.  

Yoon, Soo-Yeon. 2017. “The Influence of Supportive Environments for Family on Women’s Fertility Intentions and Behavior in South Korea.” Demographic Research 36(7): 227-254.  

Yoon, Soo-Yeon. 2016. “Is Gender Inequality a Barrier to Realizing Fertility Intentions? Fertility Aspirations and Realizations in South Korea.” Asian Population Studies 12(2): 203-219.