Health in Social Context
The establishment on campus of a school of public health emphasizing the social and behavioral sciences provides the opportunity to integrate innovative basic social science approaches pioneered by MPRC scholars with outstanding research on improving health and reducing health disparities situated in a social and environmental context. Examples to date include the application of time use methods to obesity, the application of models of gender and parenthood to health, and the environmental context of physical activity.
Research in this area includes:
- determinants of infant, child, and youth health;
- health and aging; and
- impact of health care systems and social programs.
Some examples of current research in this area can be seen below.
High school friendship (in)stability from adolescence to young adulthood
Jacobsen studies implications for behavioral trajectories and life outcomes carried by changes in friendship dynamics
The nexus of the risk of depression and residential mobility for urban poor mothers in Nairobi
Residential mobility is associated with dislocation and stress
Racial and ethnic discrimination (RED) & tobacco use and cannabis co-use behaviors among young adults
Study by Faculty Associate Craig Fryer links racial discrimination, coping strategies, and tobacco / cannabis use.
The modern mortgage set the stage for the US baby boom
The dramatic changes in the accessibility of home ownership may have “set the stage” for the baby boom
The relationship between familial deaths and one's own mortality among Black Americans
Familial loss increases midlife mortality risk among Black Americans
Untapped human capital in sub-Saharan Africa
Kennth Leonard investigates knowledge-practice gaps; emphasizes importance of indigenous solutions
Grandmothers' support and its effect on mental health among young mothers in Nairobi
Madhavan and colleagues examine grandmothers' employment and living status impact on support to daughters and grandchildren
The impact of mental health treatment on women's alcohol use
Faculty Associate Kerry Green and colleagues find mental health treatment is linked to reduced alcohol use disorders in women
Examining the effects of maternal smoking on offspring depression
Maternal smoking quantity seen as vital factor
Temporal trends in mental health disparities among sexual minorities
Research shows persistent mental health disparities among sexual minority populations
Improving mental health for older adults
Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) could reduce health disparities
The built environment and traffic collisions in the United States
Quynh Nguyen and Thu Nguyen examine how built environment features affect U.S. traffic collisions
Medication and procedural abortions before 13 weeks gestation and risk of psychiatric disorders
Faculty Associate Julia Steinberg and colleaguse set out to test risks associated with having a medication or procedural abortion prior to 13 weeks of pregnancy
Wildfires and Child Health
Faculty Associate Michel Boudreaux leads an R01 to measure impact of increasing particulant pollution on child health
Elementary School Desegregation and Mid-Life Cognitive Function
Walsemann research identifies integrated early childhood education as factor for improved cognitive function for Black individuals
State level structural racism and alcohol and tobacco use behaviors
New paper by Faculty Associate Kerry Green examines structural racism impacts among a national probability sample of Black Americans
Inequities in childrens' exposure to neurotoxicants
Payne-Sturges' scoping review of the literature and recommendations to narrow health disparities
Asian Americans & Racism: Individual and Structural Experiences (ARISE)
Thu Nguyen to address the underrepresentation of Asian Americans in Alzheimer's and aging research through $3.4 million NIA grant
Environmental Systems and Occupational Health Policy Analyses to Interrupt the Impact of Structural Racism
Payne-Sturges leads multi-disciplinary research team
13 million Facebook users weigh in on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, vaccination, and mask wearing
Quynh Nguyen and colleagues use big data from the Facebook-based U.S. COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey to identify predictors of attitudes and behaviors during the pandemic