people

David Lawson

David Lawson
Anthropology
University of California, Santa Barbara
Assistant Professor

David W Lawson is an evolutionary and cultural anthropologist interested in family life, gender and global health. He directs the Applied Evolutionary Anthropology Lab at UCSB. His research aims to better understand conflicts and trade-offs in family relationships, and in turn inform related public/global health practice. To do this he conducts mixed-methods field research, mostly in Tanzania, online surveys and secondary analyses of demographic datasets. He completed his PhD in Anthropology in 2009 from University College London (UCL), before doing postdoctoral fellowships at both UCL and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Grants, Awards and Distinctions:

Cultural Evolution Society Transformation Fund - Norm misperception and conformity as barriers to positive change in gender ideology: a mixed methods study in northern Tanzania. $107,165

National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant - The cost of change: The social and reproductive ramifications for men supporting women’s empowerment. $25,175

National Science Foundation Senior Research Award (PI). 2019-2020. Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Cultural Practices. $199,074. 

Hellman Fellowship (PI). 2018-2019. Understanding Men’s Incentives for Women’s Empowerment: Testing predictions from sexual conflict theory in Tanzania. $40,905.

UCSB Regents Junior Faculty Fellowship (PI). 2019. Understanding Men’s Incentives for Women’s Empowerment: Testing predictions from sexual conflict theory in Tanzania. $7,500.

dlawson@anth.ucsb.edu
http://davidwlawson.mystrikingly.com
Biodemography and Evolution
Family Demography
Sex and Gender

Publications

Lawson DW, Chen Z, Kilgallen JA, Brand CO, Ishungisa AM, Schaffnit S, Kumogola Y, Urassa M. 2024. 
"Misperception of peer beliefs reinforces inequitable gender norms among Tanzanian men. "
Evolutionary Human Sciences.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography, Population Health and Environment, Sex and Gender
Lawson, D. W., Alami, S., & Somefun, O. D. 2023. 
"Gendered conflict in the human family. "
Evolutionary Human Sciences, 5, e12. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 5, e12.
Research Themes:
Family Demography, Sex and Gender
Baraka, J., Lawson, D. W., Schaffnit, S. B., Wamoyi, J., & Urassa, M. 2023. 
"Why marry early? Parental influence, agency and gendered conflict in Tanzanian marriages. "
Evolutionary Human Sciences, 4, e49
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution
Kilgallen JA, Schaffnit SB, Kumogola Y, Galura A, Urassa M. Lawson DW. (2022). 
"Positive correlation between women’s status and intimate partner violence suggests violence backlash in Mwanza, Tanzania. "
Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Population Health and Environment
Lawson, D., Schaffnit, S., Kilgallen, J., Kumogola, Y., Galura, A., & Urassa, M. 2021. 
"He for she? Variation and exaggeration in men's support for women's empowerment in northern Tanzania. "
Evolutionary Human Sciences, 3, E27. doi:10.1017/ehs.2021.23
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Population Health and Environment
Urassa M, Lawson DW, Wamoyi J, Gurmu E, Gibson MA, Madhivanan P, Placek C. 2021. 
"Cross-cultural research must prioritize equitable collaboration. "
Nature Human Behaviour. 5:668-671. 
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution
Schaffnit SB, Urassa M, Wamoyi J, Dardoumpa M, & Lawson DW. 2021. 
"“I have never seen something like that”: Discrepancies between lived experiences and the global health concept of child marriage in northern Tanzania. "
PLOS ONE. 16(4): e024920. 
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Lawson DW. 2021. 
"Are Men Animals? How modern masculinity sells men short. Men and Masculinities. "
Book Review.
Research Themes:
Sex and Gender
Schaffnit SB & Lawson DW. 2021. 
"Married too young? The behavioral ecology of 'child marriage'. "
Social Sciences. 10: 161
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Lawson DW, Schaffnit SB, Kilgallen JA, Kumogola Y, Galura A & Urassa M. 2021. 
"He for She? Variation and exaggeration in men’s support for women’s empowerment in northern Tanzania. "
Evolutionary Human Sciences. 3: E27. 
Research Themes:
Sex and Gender
Lawson DW, Schaffnit SB, Hassan A, & Urassa M. 2021. 
" Shared interests or sexual conflict? Spousal age gap, women’s wellbeing and fertility in rural Tanzania. "
Evolution and Human Behavior. 42: 165-175 
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Berg V, Lawson DW, Rotkirch A. 2020. 
"Financial opportunity costs and deaths among close kin are independently associated with reproductive timing in a contemporary high-income society. "
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Lawson DW, Lynes R, Morris A & Schaffnit SB. 2020. 
"What does the American public know about 'child marriage'? "
PLOS ONE 15(9):e0238346. 
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Schaffnit SB, Wamoyi J, Urassa M, Dardoumpa M, & Lawson DW. 2020. 
"When marriage is the best available option: perceptions of opportunity and risk in female adolescence in Tanzania. "
Global Public Health. 
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Lawson DW & Gibson MA. 2019. 
"Evolutionary Approaches to Population Health: Insights on Polygynous Marriage, ‘Child Marriage’ and Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting. "
Burger O, Lee R & Sear, R. (Eds). Human Evolutionary Demography.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Lawson DW. 2019. 
"Parental care."
In Koster J, Scelza B, Shenk M (Eds). Human Behavioral Ecology.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Hassan A, Schaffnit SB, Sear R, Urassa M & Lawson DW. 2019. 
"Fathers favour sons, mothers don’t discriminate: sex-biased parental care in north-western Tanzania. "
Evolutionary Human Sciences. 1, e13.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Hedges S, Lawson DW, Todd J, Urassa M & Sear R. 2019.
"Sharing the load: the influence of co-resident children on the allocation of work and schooling in north-western Tanzania. "
Demography. 
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Schaffnit SB, Urassa M & Lawson DW. 2019. 
"‘Child marriage’ in context: Exploring local attitudes towards early marriage in rural Tanzania. "
Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters. 27:1 
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Hedges S, Sear R, Todd J, Urassa M & Lawson DW. 2019. 
"Earning their keep? Fostering, children’s education and work in north-western Tanzania. "
Demographic Research.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Schaffnit SB. Hassan A, Urassa M & Lawson DW. 2019. 
"Parent-offspring conflict unlikely to explain ‘child marriage’ in northwestern Tanzania. "
Nature Human Behaviour. 3:346-353. 
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Lawson DW & Gibson MA. (2018)
"Understanding ‘Harmful Cultural Practices.’ "
Anthropology News 59: 3; e219-e222.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography, Sex and Gender
Gibson MA & Lawson DW. 2018.
"Population issues in development. International Encyclopedia of Anthropology."
Wiley.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution
Hedges S, Sear R ,Todd J, Urassa M, & Lawson DW. 2018.
"Trade-offs in children's time allocation: Mixed support for embodied capital models of the demographic transition in Tanzania."
Current Anthropology.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Lawson DW, Gibson MA. 2018.
"Polygynous marriage and child health in Sub-Saharan Africa: What is the evidence for harm?"
Demographic Research 39: 177-208.
Research Themes:
Family Demography, Sex and Gender
Lawson DW, Núñez-de la Mora A, Cooper GD, Prentice AM, Moore SE, Sear R. 2017. 
"Marital status and sleeping arrangements predict salivary testosterone levels in rural Gambian men."
Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology 3:221-240.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography, Sex and Gender
Lawson DW, Schaffnit SB, Hassan A, Ngadaya E, Ngowi B, Mfinanga SGM, James S, Borgerhoff Mulder M. 2017. 
"Father absence but not fosterage predicts food insecurity, relative poverty and poor child health in northern Tanzania."
American Journal of Human Biology 29 e22938.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Sear R, Lawson DW, Kaplan H, Shenk M. 2016. 
"Understanding variation in human fertility: What can we learn from evolutionary demography?"
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 371, 20150144.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution
Hedges S, Borgerhoff Mulder M, James S, Lawson DW. 2016. 
"Sending children to school: rural livelihoods and parental investment in education in northern Tanzania."
Evolution & Human Behavior 37:142-151.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Lawson DW & Borgerhoff Mulder M. 2016. 
"The offspring quantity-quality trade-off and human fertility variation."
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 371, 20150145.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography
Lawson DW, James S, Ngadaya E, Ngowi B, Mfinanga SGM, Borgerhoff Mulder M. 2016. 
"Reply to Rieger and Wagner: Context matters when studying purportedly harmful cultural practices."
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
Research Themes:
Biodemography and Evolution, Family Demography, Sex and Gender