Doctoral Dissertation Research: Family Structure and Infant Health Outcomes

艾伦·布斯詹妮弗·布赫·卡内尔宾夕法尼亚州立大学，大学公园提供关于如何改善婴儿健康结果的见解是健康差距研究的重要目标，因为早产和低出生体重等条件往往会导致以后身体和认知结果较差。先前的研究表明，较差的婴儿健康结果并不是随机分布在人群中的；因此，社会分层过程可能在解释不同发病率和风险因素方面发挥核心作用。本文研究了这种不平等是如何通过个人与家庭、邻里等社会结构之间的互动而产生和再现的。更具体地说，这项研究调查了(1)导致婴儿健康结果婚姻差异的社会过程，(2)社会资源(在个人和邻居层面)在降低婴儿健康结果不良风险方面的作用，以及(3)解释母女在婴儿健康结果方面相似的代际过程。为了达到这些目标，这项研究将使用先进的定量分析技术，使用多个二级数据来源，包括最新发布的全国家庭增长调查(NSFG周期7)、来自NSFG的(限制访问)空间定位数据(将在马里兰州海茨维尔的国家卫生统计中心现场执行)、1979年全国青年纵向调查(NLSY)队列和NLSY79儿童：该项目使用理论动机的实证研究，提供了一个独特的机会来扩大健康差异和家庭社会学文献，通过提供对美国持续的婴儿健康差异是如何产生和复制的见解。研究成果将发表在同行评议的期刊上，并通过会议报告与政策制定者和从业人员分享(特别是在跨学科场所)。

SES-1020468Alan BoothJennifer Buher KanePennsylvania State University, University ParkProviding insights into how to improve infant health outcomes is an important goal of health disparities research given that conditions such as preterm birth and low birth weight often contribute to poorer physical and cognitive outcomes later. Prior research has shown that poor infant health outcomes are not randomly distributed in the population; thus, social stratification processes likely play a central role in explaining differential incidence and risk factors. This dissertation studies how such inequalities are produced and reproduced through interactions between individuals and social structures such as families and neighborhoods. More specifically, this study investigates (1) the social processes that underlie the marital disparity in infant health outcomes, (2) the role of social resources (at the individual- and neighborhood-level) in attenuating the risk of poor infant health outcomes, and (3) the intergenerational processes that explain mother-daughter similarities in infant health outcomes. To address these goals, this study will employ advanced quantitative analytic techniques using multiple secondary data sources including the newly released National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG Cycle 7), (restricted-access) spatially located data from the NSFG (which will be performed onsite at the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland), the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) 1979 cohort, and the Children of the NLSY79.Broader Impacts: This project, using theoretically-motivated empirical research, presents a unique opportunity to expand the health disparities and family sociology literatures by providing insights into how persistent infant health disparities in the U.S. are produced and reproduced. Research findings will be made available through publishing in peer-reviewed journals, and sharing with policymakers and practitioners via conference presentations (particularly within interdisciplinary venues).