Dr. Carolyn Cowan

Biography

Carolyn Pape Cowan is an expert in research clinical work with couples transitioning to parenthood and the challenges families face as their children move through different life stages. Her work particularly focuses on couple relationships during adult life transitions, marital distress, and parenting issues that support fathers' involvement. Throughout her career, she led longitudinal studies, most notably the 'Becoming Family Project,' which tracked families from late pregnancy through their child's transition to elementary school, addressing significant questions about the impact of childbirth on couple relationships and parental well-being. Carolyn and her husband, Philip Cowan, have co-directed various intervention studies that underline the importance of couple relationships in parenting. Their research has shown that interventions can effectively enhance both marital satisfaction and parenting quality. This work has garnered funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and continues to explore enhancing father involvement in low-income families. She also made substantial contributions to policies supporting families and has actively participated in community outreach initiatives. Carolyn Cowan is a retired faculty member at UC Berkeley and is available to mentor graduate students interested in family and relationship research topics.

Research Interests