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Recent Publications | Working Papers
Sennott, Christie. "Harlem," in Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society. Richard T. Schaefer, ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2008.
Boardman, Jason D., Casey L. Blalock, and Tanya M. M. Button. "Sex Differences in the Heritability of Resilience." Twin Research and Human Genetics 11, no. 1 (2008):12–27.
Abstract: We examine the heritability of psychological resilience among US adults aged 25 to 74 years. Using monozygotic and same sex dizygotic twin pairs from the National Survey of Mid-Life Development in the United States (MIDUS) we show that positive affect is equally heritable among men (h2 = .60) and women (h2 = .59). We then estimate the heritability of positive affect after controlling for an exhaustive list of social and inter-personal stressors, and we operationalize the residual for positive affect as resilience. According to this specification, the heritability of resilience is higher among men (h2 = .52) compared to women (h2 = .38). We show that self-acceptance is one of the most important aspects of psychological functioning that accounts for the heritability of resilience among both men and women. However, compared to women, men appear to derive additional benefits from environmental mastery that may enable otherwise sex-neutral resilient tendencies to manifest.
Catenacci V, Gilmour K, Turbin M, Johnson S, Wing R, Hill J, Bessesen D. "A Questionnaire to Measure Enjoyment of Active Leisure Time Pursuits." Obesity 15, no.9 (2007):A189.
Abstract: A person's enjoyment of active leisure time pursuits probably plays an important role in his or her decision to be physically active. This relationship has been the target of several studies that evaluate the generation of psychological responses to acute exercise bouts. However, it is not well understood how general affective states correlate with physical activity in an individual's usual environment. We designed the Feelings About Leisure-Time Activities (FALTAC) questionnaire to assess attitudes toward active leisure time pursuits. In addition, we assessed the relationship between a positive affect state towards physical activity as assessed by the FALTAQ and subjective and objective measures of engagement in physical activity during leisure time. Results showed that measures of positive affect toward physical activity and of the importance of physical activity had acceptable internal consistency and reliability, and showed expected relations with measures of actual physical activity. Also, mean scores on the attitude measures, as expected, were higher for obese participants who had lost weight and maintained the weight loss than for those who had not. These results support the validity and utility of this new measure of attitudes toward physical activity. Interventions designed to increase physical activity or to maintain weight loss may benefit from a focus on promoting positive affective states with exercise.
Mollborn, Stefanie. "Making the Best of a Bad Situation: Material Resources and Teenage Parenthood." Journal of Marriage and Family 69, no.1 (2007):92-104.
Abstract: Past research has largely ignored the influence of material resources on teenage parents' life outcomes. A lack of resources such as housing, child care, and financial support is hypothesized to explain the negative effect of teenage parenthood on educational attainment. Regression analyses use nationally representative data from the 1988 – 2000 National Education Longitudinal Study (N = 8,432, n = 356 teenage parents). Results support the hypothesis completely for the teenage fathers in the sample and partially for mothers: Resources substantially diminish the educational penalty teenage parents paid by age 26. Gender influences which types of resources are protective, providing policy implications. Help with child care is critical for teenage mothers, whereas housing and financial resources may be important for men.
Stepanikova, Irena, Stefanie Mollborn, Karen S. Cook, David H. Thom, and Roderick M. Kramer. "Patients’ Race, Ethnicity, Language, and Trust in a Physician." Journal of Health and Social Behavior 47, no.4 (2006): 390-405.
Abstract: We examine whether racial/ethnic/language-based variation in measured levels of patients' trust in a physician depends on the survey items used to measure that trust. Survey items include: (1) a direct measure of patients' trust that the doctor will put the patient's medical needs above all other considerations, and (2) three indirect measures of trust asking about expectations for specific physician behaviors, including referring to a specialist, being influenced by insurance rules, and performing unnecessary tests. Using a national survey, we find lower scores on indirect measures of trust in a physician among minority users of health care services than among non-Hispanic white users. In contrast, the direct measure of trust does not differ among non-Hispanic whites and nonwhites once we control for potential confounding factors. The results indicate that racial/ethnic/language-based differences exist primarily in those aspects of patients' trust in a physician that reflect specific physician behaviors.
Jessor, Richard, Frances M. Costa, Patrick M. Kreuger and Mark S. Turbin. "A developmental study of high-volume drinking among college students: The role of psychosocial and behavioral protective and risk factors." Journal of Studies on Alcohol 67, no. 1 (2006): 86-94.
Abstract: Objective: A theory-based protection/risk model was applied to explain variation in college students’ heavy episodic drinking. Key aims were (1) to establish that psychosocial and behavioral protective factors and risk factors can account for cross-sectional and developmental variation in heavy episodic drinking, and (2) to examine whether protection moderates the impact of risk on heavy episodic drinking. Method: Random- and fixed-effects maximum likelihood regression analyses were used to examine data from a three-wave longitudinal study. Data were collected in fall of 2002, spring of 2003, and spring of 2004 from college students (N = 975; 548 men) who were first-semester freshmen at Wave 1. Results: Psychosocial and behavioral protective and risk factors accounted for substantial variation in college-student heavy episodic drinking, and protection moderated the impact of risk. Findings held for both genders and were consistent across the three separate waves of data. Key predictors of heavy episodic drinking were social and individual controls protection (e.g., parental sanctions for transgression and attitudinal intolerance of deviance, respectively); models risk (peer models for substance use); behavioral protection (attendance at religious services); and behavioral risk (cigarette smoking and marijuana use). Changes in controls protection, models risk, and opportunity risk were associated with change in heavy episodic drinking. Conclusions: An explanatory model based on both psychosocial and behavioral protective and risk factors was effective in accounting for variation in college-student heavy episodic drinking. A useful heuristic was demonstrated through the articulation of models, controls, support, opportunity, and vulnerability to characterize the social context, and of controls, vulnerability, and other behaviors to characterize individuals.
Jessor, Richard. "Foreword." In Good kids from bad neighborhoods:Successful Development in Social Context, by D.S. Elliott, S. Menard, A.C. Elliott, B. Rankin, W.J. Wilson, and D. Huizinga, Pp. x-xvi. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Turbin, Mark, Richard Jessor, Frances M. Costa, Qi Dong, Hongchuan Zhang, and Changhai Wang. "Protective and Risk Factors in Health-Enhancing Behavior Among Adolescents in China and the United States: Does Social Context Matter?" Health Psychology 25, no.4 (2006): 445-454.
Abstract: An explanatory model of adolescent health-enhancing behavior based on protective and risk factors at the individual level and in four social contexts was employed in a study of school-based samples from the People’s Republic of China (n = 1739) and the United States (n = 1596). A substantial account of variation in health-enhancing behavior—and of its developmental change over time—was provided by the model for boys and girls, and for the 3 grade cohorts, in both samples. In both samples, social context protective and risk factors accounted for more unique variance than did individual-level protective and risk factors, and context protection moderated both contextual and individual-level risk. Models protection and controls protection were of particular importance in the explanatory account.
Boardman, Jason D.. "Self-Rated Health Among U.S. Adolescents." Journal of Adolescent Health 38, no. 4 (2006): 401-408.
Abstract: Purpose: This article investigates the meaning of subjective health assessments for younger respondents by examining the temporal stability of self-rated health (SRH) among adolescents. Two competing understandings of SRH are tested: SRH as a spontaneous health assessment or as an enduring self-concept. Methods: Using data from two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 13,511), an intra-class correlation coefficient and a weighted Kappa estimate are calculated to assess the test-retest reliability for SRH. Self-rated health (T2) is then modeled as a function of SRH (T1), physical health (T1), and mental health (T1), and changes in physical and mental health (T2–T1). Results: SRH is found to be moderately stable over repeated observations (K = .40; ? = .55) among adolescents. Findings from multivariate analyses suggest that SRH (T2) is largely determined by SRH (T1) and less so by changes in physical or psychological health status (T2-T1). Conclusions: SRH among adolescents is in part a spontaneous health assessment but it is best understood as an enduring self-concept.
Elliott, Delbert S., University of Colorado; Scott Menard, Sam Houston State University; Bruce Rankin, Koc University (Turkey); Amanda Elliott, University of Colorado; William Julius Wilson, Harvard University; and David Huizinga, University of Colorado. Good Kids from Bad Neighborhoods: Successful Development in Social Context. Cambridge University Press, October 2006.
Abstract: Good Kids from Bad Neighborhoods: Successful Development in Social Context is a study of successful youth development in poor, disadvantaged neighborhoods in Denver and Chicago - a study of how children living in the worst neighborhoods develop or fail to develop the values, competencies, and commitments that lead to a productive, healthy, and responsible adult life. While there is a strong focus on neighborhood effects, the study employs a multicontextual model to take into account the effects of other social contexts embedded in the neighborhood that also influence development. The unique and combined influence of the neighborhood, family, school, peer group, and individual attributes on developmental success is estimated. The view that growing up in a poor, disadvantaged neighborhood condemns one to a life of repeated failure and personal pathology is revealed as a myth, as most youth in these neighborhoods are completing the developmental tasks of adolescence successfully.
Jessor, Richard. "Remarks on the Changing Nature of Inquiry." Journal of Adolescent Health 37, no. 1 (2005): 9-10.
Abstract: Richard Jessor's address upon receiving the Outstanding Achievement in Adolescent Medicine Award from the Society for Adolescent Medicine in Los Angeles, California, on April 1, 2005.
Jessor, Richard. "Chapters 1, 2." In Growing up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries, edited by Cynthia B. Lloyd, xix + 700. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2005.
Abstract: The volume was edited by Cynthia Lloyd of the Population Council who served as Chair of the Panel on Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. The panel members were an interdisciplinary group of 15 economists, demographers, adolescent physicians, and behavioral scientists who met frequently-in Washington, Mexico City, and Boulder-and who worked together over a three-year period to produce the final report. The volume provides an assessment of the impact of the changing global context-technological, political, economic, cultural, etc.-- on the way young people are moving to adulthood in the developing world. It presents a conceptual framework for understanding how changes at the global level can affect the daily lives of youth, and it provides in-depth reviews of changes that have been underway in recent decades in the domains of schooling, health, work, citizenship, marriage, and parenthood in the world's developing countries.
Chapter 1: C. Lloyd and R. Jessor
Chapter 2: B. Cohen, R. Jessor, H. Reed, C. Lloyd, J. Behrman and D. Lam
"Richard Jessor served as the panel's theoretician and conscience. He challenged us to develop a conceptual framework that would outlive the temporal nature of our material, provided all of us with lots of good humor along the way, and provided me most importantly with a helpful sounding board throughout the project."
- Cynthia Lloyd
Costa, Frances M., Richard Jessor, Mark S. Turbin, Qi Dong, Hongchuan Zhang, and Changhai Wang. "The Role of Social Contexts in Adolescence: Context Protection and Context Risk in the United States and China." Applied Developmental Science 9, no. 2 (2005): 67-85.
Abstract: A theoretical framework about protective factors (models protection, controls protection, support protection) and risk factors (models risk, opportunity risk, vulnerability risk) was employed to articulate the content of 4 key contexts of adolescent life —family, peers, school, and neighborhood— in a cross-national study of problem behavior among 7th-, 8th-, and 9th-grade adolescents in the United States (n = 1,596) and the People’s Republic of China (n = 1,739). Results were very similar in both samples and across genders. Measures of protection and risk in each of the 4 contexts uniquely contributed to the account of problem behavior involvement even when individual-level measures of protection and risk were controlled. Context protection was also shown to moderate individual-level risk and protection in 1 context moderated risk within that context and in other contexts. Controls protection —protection provided by rules, regulations, and expected sanctions for transgression from adults and peers— was the most important measure of context protection in all but 1 context. The family and peer contexts were the most influential in the U.S. sample, and the peer and school contexts were the most influential in the Chinese sample; the neighborhood context was least influential in both samples.
Boardman, Jason D., Jarron M. Saint Onge, Richard G. Rogers, and Justin T. Denney. "Race Differentials in Obesity: The Impact of Place." Journal of Health and Social Behavior 46, no. 3 (2005):229-243.
Abstract: This article reveals race differentials in obesity as both an individual- and neighborhood-level phenomena. Using neighborhood-level data from the 1990–1994 National Health Interview Survey, we find that neighborhoods characterized by high proportions of black residents have a greater prevalence of obesity than areas in which the majority of the residents are white. Using individual-level data, we also find that residents of neighborhoods in which at least one-quarter of the residents are black face a 13 percent increase in the odds of being obese compared to residents of other communities. The association between neighborhood racial composition and obesity is completely attenuated after including statistical controls for the poverty rate and obesity prevalence of respondents' neighborhoods. These findings support the underlying assumptions of both institutional and social models of neighborhood effects.
Rogers, Richard G. and Jarron M. Saint Onge. "Race/Ethnic and Sex Differentials in Pulse Pressure among U.S. Adults." Ethnicity & Disease 15, no. 4 (2005): 601-606.
Abstract: The prevalence of high blood pressure in the U.S. is a pressing public health concern. The purpose of this study is to use the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988-1994) and linear regression to document variations in pulse pressure by race/ethnicity and sex in the United States. We find higher pulse pressures among racial and ethnic minorities than among non-Hispanic whites and among males than females. The results indicate that the effect of race on pulse pressure decreases with the inclusion of various controls; nevertheless, African Americans maintain higher pulse pressures than non-Hispanic white Americans, even net of controls. Compared to females, males exhibit higher pulse pressures. Moreover, this sex gap progressively increases with controls for socioeconomic status and physical activity. Given the known health consequences associated with high pulse pressure, these results highlight the importance of better understanding and addressing the risk of high pulse pressure among demographic subpopulations in the United States.
Rogers, Richard G., Robert A. Hummer, and Patrick M. Krueger. "Adult Mortality." In Handbook of Population, edited by Dudley Poston and Mike Micklin. NY: Springer Publishers, 2005.
Abstract: This handbook provides a comprehensive inventory of the current state of demography, and updates and expands The Study of Population, edited by Philip M. Hauser and Otis Dudley Duncan and published in 1959.
The chapter "Adult Mortality" underscores the significance of demographic research on adult mortality for understanding the health consequences of social inequality, human behavior, biological factors, and various other forces in human populations. The chapter outlines the general substantive concerns that guide demographers who conduct research on adult mortality, discusses the data and methods that are commonly used to conduct research in this area, summarizes findings of specific influences on adult mortality, and reveals variations in mortality across a number of demographic, social, and behavioral factors, and provides some ideas for ongoing research in this area.
The chapter authors are among the leading contributors to demographic scholarship over the past four decades. They represent a variety of disciplines and theoretical perspectives as well as interests in both basic and applied research.
The Handbook was showcased at the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) meetings in France, July 2005. Reaction to the Handbook was so positive that some individuals are calling the book "The Harry Potter of Demography."
Rogers, Richard G., Robert A. Hummer, Patrick M. Krueger, and Fred C. Pampel. "Mortality Attributable to Cigarette Smoking in the United States." Population and Development Review 31, no. 2 (2005): 259-92.
Abstract: Cigarette smoking is an especially pernicious behavior because of its high prevalence and mortality risk. We use the powerful methodology of life tables with covariates and employ the National Health Interview Survey-Multiple Cause of Death file to illuminate the interrelationships of smoking with other risk factors and the combined influences of smoking prevalence and population size on mortality attributable to smoking. We find that the relationship between smoking and mortality is only modestly affected by controlling for other risk factors. Excess deaths attributable to smoking among adults in the United States in the year 2000 were as high as 340,000. Better knowledge of the prevalence and mortality risk associated with different cigarette smoking statuses can enhance the future health and longevity prospects of the population.
Boardman, J. D. "Health Pessimism among Black and White Adults: The Role of Interpersonal and Institutional Maltreatment." Social Science & Medicine 59, no. 12 (2004): 2523-33.
Abstract: Using data from the 1995 Detroit Area Study (N = 1106) this paper finds that black adults report significantly worse self-rated health when compared to whites with similar levels of self-reported morbidity. This relationship, called health pessimism, persists despite statistical controls for age, gender, socioeconomic status, health care access, and health related behaviors. Interpersonal maltreatment is found to be positively associated with health pessimism and more importantly, when comparing adults who perceive similar levels of maltreatment, white and black adults do not differ with respect to health pessimism. This suggests that the increased risk of health pessimism among black adults is due in part to race differences in the perception of interpersonal maltreatment.
Boardman, J. D. "Stress and Physical Health: The Role of Neighborhoods as Mediating and Moderating Mechanisms." Social Science & Medicine 58, no. 12 (2004): 2473-83.
Abstract: Using data from the 1995 Detroit Area Study (N = 1106) in conjunction with tract-level data from the 1990 census, this paper evaluates the relationship between residential stability and physical health among black and white adults. Results suggest that neighborhood-level variation in health is primarily mediated by key sociodemographic characteristics of individuals (e.g., age, race, and socioeconomic status). However, a significant portion of health differentials across neighborhoods is due to disparate stress levels across neighborhoods. Further, high levels of neighborhood stability provide an important buffer to the otherwise deleterious effects of increased stress levels on adults' overall health.
Elliott, D. S. and S. Mihalic. "Issues in Disseminating and Replicating Effective Prevention Programs." Prevention Science 5, no. 1 (2004): 47-53.
Abstract: The new frontier for prevention research involves building a scientific knowledge base on how to disseminate and implement effective prevention programs with fidelity. Toward this end, a brief overview of findings from the Blueprints for Violence Prevention-Replication Initiative is presented, identifying factors that enhance or impede a successful implementation of these programs. Findings are organized around five implementation tasks: site selection, training, technical assistance, fidelity, and sustainability. Overall, careful attention to each of these tasks, together with an independent monitoring of fidelity, produced a successful implementation with high fidelity and sustainability. A discussion of how these findings inform the present local adaptation-fidelity debate follows.
Krueger, P. M., R. G. Rogers, R. A. Hummer, and J. D. Boardman. "Body Mass, Smoking, and Overall and Cause-Specific Mortality among Older US Adults." Research on Aging 26, no. 1 (2004): 82-107.
Abstract: The authors examine the relationships between body mass, smoking, and overall and cause-specific mortality among U.S. adults aged 60 and older, using data from the National Health Interview Survey linked to the Multiple Cause of Death file and Cox proportional hazard models. The authors find that, compared to those who are normal weight, obese individuals have higher risks of overall, circulatory disease, and diabetes mortality. Furthermore, smoking status suppresses the relationships between obesity and overall, circulatory disease, and cancer mortality, and interacts with low body weight to increase mortality risks. Finally, underweight individuals initially face increased risks of death over the follow-up period, although over time their mortality risks diminish to those of normal-weight individuals, likely due to the presence of unobserved illness. Researchers and health practitioners must account for smoking status, body mass, and specific causes of death to understand and improve the health of our increasingly obese elderly population.
Denney, Justin T., Patrick M. Krueger, Richard G. Rogers, and Jason D. Boardman. "Race/Ethnic and Sex Differentials in Body Mass among US Adults." Ethnicity & Disease 14, no. 3 (2004): 389-98.
Abstract: Current research incompletely documents race/ethnic and sex disparities in body mass, especially at the national level. Data from the 2000 National Health Interview Survey, Sample Adult File, are used to examine overall and sex-specific disparities in body mass for non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexican Americans, and Cuban Americans. Two complementary multivariate regression techniques, ordinary least squares and multinomial logistic, are employed to control for important confounding factors. We found significantly higher body masses for non-Hispanic Blacks, Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Mexican Americans, compared to non-Hispanic Whites. Among very obese individuals, these relationships were more pronounced for females. Given the known health consequences associated with overweight and obesity, and recent trends toward increasing body mass in the United States, these findings underscore the need for public health policies that target specific subpopulations, in order to close the wide disparities in body mass in the United States.
Krueger, Patrick M., Richard G. Rogers, Cristobal Ridao-Cano, and R. A. Hummer. "To Help or to Harm? Food Stamp Receipt and Mortality Risk Prior to the 1996 Welfare Reform Act." Social Forces 82, no. 4 (2004): 1573-99.
Abstract: The authors use data from the National Health Interview Survey-Family Resources Supplement to examine the relationship between Food Stamp receipt and prospective adult mortality, among eligible households. They specify a switching probit model to adjust for observed and unobserved factors that correlate with selection into the Food Stamp Program and mortality, and to estimate mortality under counterfactual conditions that we do not observe. The average individual, based on observed characteristics, has higher mortality when participating than when not participating. But due to unobserved differences between participants and nonparticipants, those who self-select into participation experience lower mortality than if they did not participate. Our findings suggest that Food Stamps provide an important safety net that protects the health of those who are most likely to participate.
