Spotlight on Leadership: A Conversation with Award Winning Researcher Dr. Sonia Molloy

This month, we are honored to spotlight award-winning researcher Dr. Sonia Molloy, an Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State York and the Secretary of Division 51, the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinities. Dr. Molloy leads the innovative "Men in Families and Society" research team, focusing on enhancing our understanding of father involvement, masculinities, and intersectionality. Dr. Molloy recently received the Outstanding Consulting Editor Award from our flagship journal, Psychology of Men & Masculinities (PMM). We recently sat down with Dr. Molloy to discuss key moments from her career and her dedication to advancing the field through thoughtful editorial leadership. Join us as we explore Dr. Molloy’s influential contributions, career trajectory, and advice for aspiring PMM authors.

What is an experience from your professional background that has shaped your career to date?

After I graduated with my undergraduate degree in Human Development and Family Studies, I went straight into working with children and families for many years. My professional work path included a variety of experiences from early childhood care and education to working with families through treatment foster care and as a parent educator.

My experiences with families greatly impacted my journey as a researcher, higher education educator, and mentor. At one point in my career, I worked on a grant-funded program that provided in-home parent education and case management services to mothers whom a local hospital identified as at-risk. In this work, I would occasionally meet the fathers of the babies. I engaged them in my services and became aware of how fathers are often left out of the picture as primary parents and how engaging fathers was an asset to all family members.

This experience was the first time I deeply thought about the value of learning and advocating for engaging fathers and was the beginning of my plan to pursue a master's degree in Psychology and a doctoral degree in Human Development. These experiences still shape my career as a researcher, educator, and advocate.

How did your journey lead you to research on fatherhood, masculinities, and intersectionality? How can applying intersectional frameworks to research with men serve to advance our understanding of masculinities?

I appreciate how a journey is like seemingly random puzzle pieces that fit together, creating a final, complete picture. The puzzle pieces of my journey were pieces on fatherhood, masculinities, and intersectionality. These pieces were provided to me from experiences, mentors, and research revelations.

I began my advanced degree trajectory with a mission and a plan based on my previous professional experiences. When I began my master's degree in Psychology, I immediately approached one of my professors, Dr. Anthony Isacco, as he had researched fathering in the past. He graciously invited me to participate in his research on fathers and religiosity. After attending my first American Psychological Association (APA) conference in 2013, we began working on a project examining fathers' help-seeking behaviors. At this time, Dr. Isacco introduced me to Dr. Daniel Singley, who was working on a research project to develop a scale that assessed father involvement for fathers of infants. As I learned and met many scholars in Division 51, I continued to expand my knowledge and curiosity about masculinities and gendered parenting.

When I entered my Ph.D. program, I worked with Dr. April Few-Demo, an expert in feminist theory and intersectionality theory and the theories’ integration with family studies. These puzzle pieces continued to fit perfectly with my passion for advocating for father involvement from the moment men become fathers and my understanding of the many barriers that men can face in this transition to fathering due to their identities.

At this time, I began my own qualitative research that deeply examined men's perceptions of fathering, grounded in intersectionality theory. To this day, I still have the privilege of working with Dr. Isacco, Dr. Singley, and his research team, and Dr. Few-Demo, as well as spearheading my qualitative research on fathers of young children. In addition, these collaborations led to my co-editing the multidisciplinary Handbook of the Psychology of Fatherhood with my co-editors, Dr. Isacco and Dr. Pierre Azzam. The puzzle pieces will continue to reveal themselves in my research journey to put together a picture of fathering, masculinities, and intersectionality to inform research, practice, and policy.

The second part of this question regarding applying intersectional frameworks to studying men and masculinities is complex and vital. Intersectionality is a multifaceted theory that challenges us to go beyond an additive approach of privileged and marginalized identities to an examination of the intricacies and nuances of men’s perceptions of their experiences. Being able to articulate and research this complexity presents a challenge to researchers. For example, I seek to extrapolate the complexities of men's experiences based on their identities and interactions with others and social institutions in my qualitative research. However, explaining or quantifying these complexities presents a more significant challenge. I challenge myself and fellow researchers to take on these intricacies in employing intersectionality theory in research to understand fathers' experiences, which is crucial in promoting effective practice and policy.

As a consulting editor for PMM, what do you look for in an ideal manuscript?

I focus on the big picture of an article, meaning that I look for how researchers put together the whole package of their manuscript. I look to see that their research is grounded in previous knowledge and theory that guides their research questions and study methodology. I then look for purposeful research methods and data analysis grounded in the information presented in the introduction. For the methods, I am looking for clarity that provides fellow scholars with enough information to replicate or pursue further research of their findings. Finally, in the discussion, I am looking for a summary of the research findings and how the research is interpreted for application to future research and to work with individuals and families. Again, based on my personal professional trajectory, I look for research that informs practice and policy to promote healthy development for individuals and families.

What advice would you give to an aspiring PMM author?

My number one advice is to persevere and invest in your work. Research is a professional and personal experience. As a qualitative and quantitative researcher, I want to ensure that the participants' voices are understood and expressed in research.

I also want to ensure that the research we pursue is of the highest standards and designed to make a difference in the lives of others. Sometimes our research pushes the envelope and may not be accepted into the norm. I challenge myself and other researchers to push that envelope and propel research to new heights to continue to promote positive and healthy development throughout the life course of individuals and families.

Sonia Molloy, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, Health and Human Development

Penn State York

1031 Edgecomb Avenue

York, PA 17403-3326