Demography
of Vulnerable Populations
Our
second cross-cutting theme-the Demography of Vulnerable Populations-involves
research dealing with population subgroups who, because of age or physical
limitations, are dependent on others or who, because of their racial
or ethnic characteristics, often suffer from discrimination and/or socioeconomic
disadvantage. Obviously, this theme intersects soundly with our theme
on Spatial Inequalities, which perforce focuses on minority and immigrant
groups whose economic position in the host society is so often tenuous.
For example, Janet Perloff's most recent study is an ecological
analysis of racial differences in low birthweight. David Strogatz
studies urbanization, social networks, stress, and coronary heart
disease among African Americans. Studies of Vulnerable Populations encompasses
a variety of research projects exploring the demographic behavior and
well-being of groups at both ends of the age distribution. A focus on
children and adolescents is common to many of our projects, and some
of this has a strong spatial component. Included here are Alba's and
Chung's research on the acculturation and adaptation of immigrant youth
and Liang's recent studies of how rural-to-urban migration within China
affects children's educational attainment. Donald Hernandez and Nancy
Denton have recently begun with funding from Hewlett Foundation and
NICHD a collaborative project to examine the changing spatial distributions
of first, second, and later generation immigrant children in the US
over the past three decades. This project will also explore the consequences
of these disparate spatial distributions for children's exposure to
neighborhood-level peer-modeled behavior and other dimensions of neighborhood
quality. With recent grant support from NSF, South is using the National
Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to examine
the impact of adolescent residential (and school) mobility on sexual
activity, educational attainment and academic achievement, delinquency
and criminal involvement, suicidality, and other key adolescent risk
behaviors. A unique focus of this study is an attempt to identify the
mechanisms through which residential mobility and school transitions
influence these domains of adolescent development, with special emphasis
given to the potential role of social networks. Kathryn Schiller
is also heavily involved in the Add Health project, part of a
team adding information on the school context and individuals' school
records to the core dataset. She and Logan are also studying the effects
of school segregation on educational outcomes; Logan is pursuing another
project on the relation between school desegregation lawsuits and trends
in segregation since 1960. Economist Stacey Chen studies decisions
on enrollment in higher education. Two other economists, Hamp Lankford
and Jim Wycoff, analyze the interaction between school choice,
residential location decisions, and school segregation.
Several
other projects, while not necessarily having a strong spatial component,
also cohere around issues related to youth demographic behavior, health,
and well-being. Timothy Gage, an anthropologist, is (with NICHD
support) developing mathematical models to study the determinants of
infant mortality, both in the U.S. and other countries. Lawrence
Schell investigates environmental and behavioral factors detrimental
to the health of newborns and infants, giving special attention to the
effects of maternal exposure to lead on young children's cognitive and
physical development. His most recent NIH-supported project focuses
on Mohawk children. Jim Jaccard, a psychologist and one of the
co-principal investigators on Add Health, is well-known for his
wide-ranging research on adolescent health behaviors, including binge
drinking, drunk driving, parent-teen communication, and HIV risk behavior.
Jaccard is also using Add Health to examine the social-psychological
determinants of sexual risk behaviors, such as the timing of first intercourse,
number of sex partners, and contraceptive use, with a focus on variables
that can serve as the basis for policy interventions. Kathryn Schiller
also works extensively with Add Health, focusing primarily on
the determinants of children's academic performance and educational
attainment. In addition to his work on the changing spatial distributions
of immigrant children, Hernandez has long been concerned more generally
with the demography of childhood and how family changes and public policies
influence children's well-being. Katherine Trent's research focuses
on the early stages of family formation by exploring the living arrangements
of teenage mothers, and both Trent and South have studied the effects
of childhood family structure and other determinants of adolescent childbearing
and family-related attitudes.
A particularly
important component to research on children and adolescents is the Rochester
Youth Development Study (RYDS), spearheaded by Terence Thornberry
(Criminal Justice), Marvin Krohn (Sociology), and Carolyn
Smith (Social Welfare).RYDS is a panel study launched with a primary
interest in delinquency and substance abuse within an urban cohort,
but has also included extensive investigation of the implication of
family "context" and family "processes" in the generation
of various behavioral outcomes for members of the cohort. For example,
the RYDS project has considered the role of family structure and intergenerational
relationships in teen pregnancy among females, and in teen fatherhood.
More recently, RYDS has extended its investigation of family dynamics
by exploiting the longitudinal database to examine the intergenerational
transmission of parenting behaviors and the linkages between various
forms of antisocial behavior and family-related transitions (e.g., initiation
of sexual activity and transitions to marriage and parenthood). Also
taking advantage of the study's longitudinal design, family structure
across all eleven waves of interviews has been related to the onset
of delinquent or antisocial behavior, and the timing of precocious life
transitions. Thoroddur Bjarnason brings an international perspective
to the study of youth delinquency and health-related behaviors, with
a focus on the intertwining of deviant (e.g., drug and alcohol use)
and demographic behaviors (e.g., sexual intercourse) during adolescence.
Another group of Albany population
researchers studies a vulnerable population at the other end of the
age distribution. Glenna Spitze and Logan have been concerned
with the family and household dynamics among older adults, especially
intergenerational support for the elderly. Logan has extended this line
of investigation by examining the impact of socioeconomic modernization
on intergenerational relations in China. He is also investigating coresidence
of parents with adult children in New York and Chicago in the 1900-1920
period. Stacey Chen has begun a related project on intergenerational
ties among Chinese in the U.S. Two economists focus on how policy decisions
impact life course decisions among older adults: Kajal Lahiri does research
on the use of social security disability programs; John Jones
studies retirement choices. Mary Gallant is examining health
behaviors among older adults, focusing specifically on illness prevention,
management, and caregiving. With NIA support, she and Spitze are studying
how family and friends influence chronic illness self-management. Drawing
on the life stress paradigm, Walter Ensel has long been involved
in a research program exploring the impact of social, psychological,
and physical environments on mental health over the life course. Benjamin
Shaw, a recent hire in the School of Public Health, also studies
the social determinants of health and aging. His research aims to determine
how the physical and mental health of older adults is influenced by
experiences and conditions of adversity in their social environments,
and how certain resources, like social support, can be brought to bear
in order to cope with such hardships.