A new study from @unm.edu links exposure to wildfire smoke pollution to worse physical and mental health. Physical impacts persisted up to 30 days while mental health effects were mostly short-term. Wildfire smoke appeared more harmful than general air pollution. #ClimateHealth

New research from @ccpratucla.bsky.social finds racial and ethnic gaps in U.S obesity-management medication use. Eligible Asian, Black and Hispanic adults are less likely than White adults to receive obesity medications even after adjusting for health and socioeconomic factors. #HealthEquity

New study from @upenn.edu finds COVID-19 vaccination varies by faith community. Counties with more Evangelical Protestants had lower rates while more Catholics and Mainline Protestants was linked to higher rates. Republican voting preference was the top predictor. #Vaccination

New research from @uwmadison.bsky.social and the University of Chicago finds gender differences in marital strain with cognitive impairment. Wives report higher strain but friend support may help. Husbands report lower strain yet more socializing is linked to higher strain. #Aging #Caregiving

PAA and APC will host an in-person congressional briefing on Oct. 8, 3:30 pm. An expert panel of social scientists will discuss birth rate trends and impact of policy incentives like tax credits and paid family leave on family planning decisions.

The latest PENN POPULATION STUDIES NEWSLETTER includes news & events that feature our students & researchers, including @vincebed.bsky.social, Norma B. Coe and Jere R. Behrman. READ THE ISSUE:

👀 An op-ed by @um-psc.bsky.social alum @ebeam.bsky.social and Holly Painter with a population perspective on youth sports! @usatoday.com

The BERKELEY POPULATION SCIENCES BROWNBAG SERIES returns! Our first three talks feature: Ian Lundberg - UCLA @nathanlo.bsky.social - Stanford University @mpbitler.bsky.social‬ - UC Davis Join us Wednesdays, 12 - 1PM at 310 Social Sciences Building, or via Zoom ID: 985 2901 0198 Passcode: DEMOG_BB

"...Americans may be accustomed to a certain kind of person who tells a certain kind of account of sexual harassment, while people whose experiences of sexual harassment deviate from this model may be less legible to the public as plausible targets." -Chloe Grace Hart

CPC Director Karen Guzzo and co-authors argue that population projections aren't a 'crystal ball' and become less accurate as researchers project farther from the present. sites.utexas.edu/contemporary...

Are we starting to see multiple remote jobs as the norm? PSC researcher Jerry Jacobs comments in @fortune.com on the shifting trends in work habits.

Our first Brown Bag Seminar of the academic year is Wednesday, September 3rd at 12pm PST. Ian Lundberg (UCLA) will present on "Non-Existent Outcomes in Research on Inequality: A Causal Approach." It's happening in Room 310 in the Social Sciences Building and is also available via Zoom. Join us!

"We don't want their voices silenced." CPC Fellow Jaime Slaughter-Acey seeking donations to complete data collection for study canceled by Trump administration. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/h...

Draft report on children's health shows the White House isn't serious about reducing ultraprocessed food in kids' diets, says CPC Fellow Lindsey Smith-Taillie. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/h...

CPC Fellow Arianna Planey: Says collecting data on participants' gender has been and remains scientifically justified and doing so improves health research. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

📃 Emily E. Burke (@emilyeburke.bsky.social) published “A Faithful Force: Catholics as Pillars of the Conservative Movement” in Journal of Religion and Society. moses.creighton.edu/JRS/toc/SS26...

Research about housing and health by Erin Gaede @eringaede.bsky.social, Tessa Conroy @irpwisc.bsky.social, and Steven Deller @cdhauw.bsky.social made an appearance in The Badger Herald. badgerherald.com/news/wiscons...

"Confederate memorialization is not limited to the United States. After the Civil War, thousands of former Confederates emigrated to Brazil where slavery continued.” -Katherine Jensen in @ersjournal.com doi.org/10.1080/0141...

NEW Population Studies Working Paper! Andrea Verhulst, Julio E Romero Prieto & Michel Guillot. Modeling Age Patterns of Under-5 Mortality: A Comprehensive Model Life Table Approach for Low- and Middle-Income Countries READ THE PAPER: repository.upenn.edu/handle/20.50...

What can sociologists contribute to our understanding of bereavement? Read our new ARS article (free). @smithgreenaway.bsky.social @pop.psu.edu @annualreviews.bsky.social @popassocamerica.bsky.social @asamedsoc.bsky.social @asasmh.bsky.social @buciss.bsky.social www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

"I'd say it's logistically unfeasible." Carolina Demography Director Nathan Dollar joins Capital Tonight to talk about President Trump's proposed 'new census.' spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte...

New research brief by CCPR’s Randall Kuhn & Jessie Chien: Over 1/3 of unhoused Angelenos were affected by June 2025 ICE raids, protests & curfews—facing displacement, danger & injury. Outdoor sleepers were 2x more likely to experience negative effects. hpri.usc.edu/homeless_res...

"Created to protect patients from coercive sterilization, the federally mandated 30-day waiting period for patients with Medicaid desiring permanent contraception is a known barrier to permanent contraception" 70% of doctors shared negative feelings about the policy

Analysis of cardiovascular risk factors (pre-pregnancy diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and smoking) for mothers ages 30-45 in TX finds that for all 4 factors, the more rural the county of residence was, the higher the odds of having the risk factor.

More than 50 million people (15.3% of the population) live in places that lack air quality monitoring ("monitoring deserts"). Rural counties and counties with higher proportions of historically minoritized groups have higher odds of being a monitoring desert.

Research examines concordance in racial/ethnic ID between two sources (electronic health records & American Community Survey microdata). Concordance is high for those who identify as non-Hispanic Black, non-Hisp White, & Hispanic but considerably lower for others.

Study finds that mobility-based neighborhood disadvantage (MND) generally predicts child health better than residential neighborhood disadvantage (RND), but associations vary by race and by family income and are contingent on the broader metropolitan context. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39729690/

Couldn't make #PAA2025 this year? See a recap of the some of the research featured at the conference, including CPC Director Karen Benjamin Guzzo's work examining links between physical and mental health and fertility goals. www.prb.org/articles/dat...

AI is used for predicting sepsis risk. The inclusion of sociodemographic data and stratified assessment of performance—essential steps in developing equitable risk prediction tools—are possible but have yet to be consistently adopted, PSC alum @hauschildt.bsky.social finds:

How do we convince people to try something new? PSC researcher Damon Centola chats with the Templeton Ideas Podcast about how change doesn't necessarily begin in the center of a community; but rather in the fringes, when neighbor talks to neighbor. LISTEN: bit.ly/4o5eVbm

Study co-authored by CPC Fellow Miyuki Hino found 43% of North Carolina buildings that took on water over the past two decades sit outside FEMA’s hazard zones. www.wral.com/news/local/u...

Unless policymakers regulate the food industry, the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement is just a public relations campaign, says CPC Fellow Lindsey Smith-Taillie. www.seattletimes.com/opinion/maha...

The 2-child American family has been an ideal since the 60s, but millennials, with challenges like job insecurity and student loans, are less likely to have children. PSC's Pamela Smock discusses with @businessinsider.com: myumi.ch/G298M

Want to know why demographers aren't panicking over low birth rates? @lesja.bsky.social, @shelleydclark.bsky.social, & I have a new piece in @theconversation.com explaining the faulty logic that underlies the low birth rate-induced population panic than fuels the pronatalism movement. 1/n

Study of neighborhood demographics and child behavior problems finds that "White students exhibit greater behavioral problems in settings with very high proportions of same-race peers, particularly in neighborhoods and schools that are simultaneously becoming increasingly racially isolated."

In the 30 yrs. since the passage of PRWORA, states have taken different approaches to noncitizen health insurance coverage. Research illuminating consequences & tradeoffs will help navigating shifting federal policies. PSC alum Aresha Martinez-Cardoso coauthors: read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

People are "more cautious and ambivalent about whether they will actually have children" because of uncertainty about their current and future circumstances, says CPC Director Karen Benjamin Guzzo. www.newsweek.com/americas-boo...

CPC Director Karen Bejamin Guzzo says a robust childcare system and paid leave for parents would likely boost U.S. birth rates more than a one-time payment. www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025...

Falling birth rates coupled with people still wanting kids is evidence our society isn't built to allow people to fulfill their basic desires to have a family, says CPC Director Karen Benjamin Guzzo. www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/...

Study co-authored by CPC Fellow Sachiko Ozawa reveals one in six cancer drugs in four sub-Saharan African nations is defective. medafricatimes.com/41028-faulty...

New book by former CPC Fellow James Thomas examines how efforts to do good in the world are shaped by harmful colonial narratives. ethicspress.com/products/but...

NEW PSC/PARC Population Studies Working Paper! @leticiamarteleto.bsky.social & Sneha Kumar Dynamic Family Size Preferences during the COVID-19 Mortality Crisis bit.ly/3YythWE

New paper in @readdemography.bsky.social by @pgonalon.bsky.social & @z-ansari-thomas.bsky.social The Social Division of Care Work Time Over Half a Century READ IT HERE bit.ly/3F16LiB

UM sociologist Pamela Smock, an expert on the economic consequences of divorce, shows that divorce puts women, and especially Black women, at high risk of poverty. @umisr.bsky.social @umichstonecid.bsky.social @umsociology.bsky.social #EconSky myumi.ch/79XGx

Parents are "really concerned about the costs of what it would take to give their would-be children a good life," says CPC Director Karen Guzzo. www.businessinsider.com/why-you-shou...

Well-crafted food warning labels can provide consumers with information without causing harm, according to study co-authored by CPC fellows Marissa Hall and Shu Wen Ng. sph.unc.edu/sph-news/war...

How well can individuals’ parental background and previous life experiences predict their mid-life SES attainment? @zhenghaowen and PSC alum Siwei Cheng describe a predictive approach running machine learning models on panel data:

"Does intergenerational occupational mobility impact health and well-being net of occupational origins and destinations?" Hyeyun Jeong, Jiahui Xu, John Robert Warren, Liying Luo, Eric Grodsky, and Chandra Muller www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

📄 Ang Yu @ang-yu.bsky.social and Jiwei Zhao @jiweizhao.bsky.social‬ published "Counterfactual Slopes and Their Applications in Social Stratification" in Sociological Methodology. doi.org/10.1177/0081...

"...the consequences of immigrant policies harm health through both cumulative exposure to and intersections of exclusions across policy sectors. Labor/employment and immigration enforcement policies, specifically, likely drive health inequities within immigrant populations."