This news piece by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health features a Q&A with our faculty member Rita Hamad on why child poverty is such a pressing public health issue and how certain government policies, such as the expansion of the Child Tax Credit to include poorer families during the pandemic, helped to make significant progress on this issue.
Study explores link between epigenetic aging and racial, economic injustice
Nancy Krieger is an author on an original investigation published in JAMA Network Open that is the subject of a featured news story on the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health website. A key finding from the study is that there was significantly accelerated epigenetic aging (biological age that does not necessarily align with chronological age) among Black study participants who were born in a state under Jim Crow…
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Racial inequalities in exposure to household member deaths: A “hidden” social determinant of health?
Losing a family member is stressful, especially if that person is a household member. Since Black people are both more likely to live in a home that includes extended family members and also face lower life expectancy than White people, former Bell Fellow and current visiting scientist Angela Dixon set out to explore the impacts of this increased likelihood of exposure to the death of a household member among Black…
Psychosocial status of older adults in Europe during pandemic is linked with educational level of their adult children
Harvard Bell Fellow Erika Meza, PhD, is an author on a novel paper that reports finding an association between higher levels of adult children’s educational attainment (a core marker of socio-economic status) with their older parents experiencing a lower prevalence of nervous, sad or depressed feelings, or sleep problems in areas in Europe hardest hit by the pandemic.
Automation of scheduling and reminders associated with improved transition to postpartum healthcare
With the aim of helping to improve maternal health outcomes, Harvard Pop Center faculty member Jessica Cohen, PhD, and her colleagues designed a behavioral economic intervention utilizing default scheduling of appointments with primary care providers and text message appointment reminders to support new mothers in getting important follow-up care. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, is featured in this Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health news post, in…
Could experiencing gratitude boost one’s longevity?
A study published in JAMA Psychiatry is one of the first to provide empirical evidence indicating an association between a grateful affect and longevity. Harvard Pop Center faculty member Laura Kubzansky is one of the authors on this population-based cohort study of nearly 50,000 older female registered nurses that used self-reported questionnaires and medical records. According to this news post by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: “The…
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Nicotine use and cardiometabolic health: A novel look at the complementary relationship between genetic and socioeconomic/lifestyle factors
Former Harvard postdoctoral fellows Adam Lippert, Dan Corsi, and Rockli Kim, along with faculty member S (Subu) V Subramanian, and their colleagues have published a study in Nicotine and Tobacco Research that is one of few studies to assess cumulative genetic contributions to nicotine use and cardiometabolic health during early mid-life alongside socioeconomic and lifestyle factors.
Cross and Pedulla share ASA award for their work to advance the field of family sociology
HCPDS faculty members Christina Cross and David Pedulla were both recognized by the American Sociological Association (ASA) with the ASA Family Section’s 2023 Article of the Year Award for their independent journal articles published last year. Cross, a former postdoctoral fellow at HCPDS and current member of the Social Demography Seminar planning committee at the Center, was recognized for a paper that continues her previous scholarship on two-parent families by…
How does level of educational attainment relate to discrepancies in the reporting of contraception use by spouses in rural Nepal?
HCPDS Research Scientist Elyse Jennings, PhD, has co-authored a paper published in Studies in Family Planning that examines the data that from monthly reporting by both spouses of 822 couples in rural Nepal between 2008 and 2016. Findings reveal that there is an association between educational attainment and discrepancies in reporting. “These findings offer important new insights into spousal dynamics that may influence transparency regarding contraceptive use.”
Caregiving responsibilities at home may impact working mothers’ intentions to expand family
A study published in the European Sociological Review by former HCPDS Graduate Student Affiliate Sinn Won Han, current HCPDS Graduate Student Affiliate Ohjae Gowen, and HCPDS faculty member Mary Brinton expands recent research that shows an increase in both female labor force participation and fertility rates (a change signaling possible greater gender equality within the household) by looking at the impact of the persistent “gender-role ideology” that continues to prioritize…