Amy Adamczyk, Ph.D.

Dr. Amy Adamczyk is Professor of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Programs of Doctoral Study in Sociology and Criminal Justice at The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the Pennsylvania State University in 2005. She also holds M.A. degrees from the University of Chicago and the CUNY Graduate Center/Queens College, a B.A. from Hunter College, and an A.A.S. in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

A first-generation college student, Dr. Adamczyk grew up on a dairy farm in Turtle Lake, Wisconsin. Her research focuses on how different contexts—including nations, counties, and friendship groups—as well as personal religious beliefs, shape people’s deviant, criminal, and health-related attitudes and behaviors.

She has published over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles in leading outlets, including the American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Justice Quarterly, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Science Research, Social Science Quarterly, Sociological Quarterly, Sociology of Religion, and Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

Dr. Adamczyk is the author or coauthor of three books. Her most recent work, Fetal Positions: Understanding Cross-National Public Opinion about Abortion (Oxford University Press, 2025), examines the global forces that shape attitudes about abortion. Her coauthored book, Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation, was a finalist for Christianity Today’s 2022 Book of the Year Award in the Marriage & Family category. Her first book, Cross-National Public Opinion about Homosexuality: Examining Attitudes across the Globe, received the 2018 Outstanding Book Award from the International Section of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.

Numerous awards, including the 2023 Distinguished Sociology of Religion Journal Article Award from the Association for the Sociology of Religion and the 2017 Best Paper of the Year Award from the Journal of Management, Spirituality, and Religion. At John Jay College, she has received the Donald MacNamara Award for Junior Faculty (2009), the Midcareer Award (2011), and the Research Excellence Award (2008, 2009, 2012, 2016, 2019, and 2024), which have recognized her scholarship.

Grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and the Global Religion Research Initiative have supported Dr.Adamczyk’s work.

Numerous media outlets, including CNN, BBC, NPR, ABC, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, PBS, The Huffington Post, Journey TV, The Muslim Times, and The Christian Century, have referenced her research.