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Robert G. Wood
Senior Fellow
Robert Wood is a senior fellow. His research focuses on policies affecting low-income families and disadvantaged youth.
Wood currently serves as project director for the evaluation of the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), a large-scale initiative to replicate evidenced-based adolescent pregnancy prevention programs nationwide. He also serves as project director and principal investigator for the Building Strong Families evaluation, a relationship skills education program for low-income, unmarried parents.
In addition, Wood serves as principal investigator for the National Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED), which Mathematica is conducting in partnership with the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin. CSPED is examining an innovative approach to promote employment among noncustodial parents with substantial child support arrearages. Wood’s other research has focused on dropout prevention initiatives, the economic progress of welfare recipients, and strategies for improving the outcomes of teenage parents.
Wood joined Mathematica in 1994 and is area leader for its family support research. He has published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Human Resources, Children and Youth Services Review, Contemporary Economic Policy, and Social Services Review. Wood holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan.
Staff Profile
- Areas of Expertise
- Key Projects
- Professional Activities
- Publications
- Programs and policies affecting low-income families and disadvantaged youth
- What Works Clearinghouse
- Building Strong Families Evaluation
- Personal Responsibility Education Program
- Family Support Area Leader
- "The Effects of Building Strong Families: A Healthy Marriage and Relationship Skills Education Program for Unmarried Parents." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (February 2012, published online ahead of print)
- "BSF's Effects on Couples Who Attended Group Relationship Skills Sessions: A Special Analysis of 15-Month Data" The Building Strong Families Project (May 2011)
- "Relationship Skills Education and Child Support: Evidence from a Program Partnership in Texas" (November 2010)