Spencer L. James is a senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies and an associate professor in the School of Family Life and the Africana Studies program at Brigham Young University. His research focuses on family relationships and the influence of those relationships on the wellbeing of children, adolescents, and adults, in both developing and developed countries. Within this broader stream of research, he focuses on two lines: the first on the consequences of family relationships for child well-being, and the second addressing how and why people form, maintain, and dissolve romantic relationships. Currently, he is working on several projects that examine how family structure and child well-being are linked in sub-Saharan Africa.