Events
Upcoming Events
Sociology Speaker SeriesProfessor of Sociology and Demography
Director, Institute for Health Disparities Research
University of Texas at San Antonio
Research suggests that ‘weathering’ or accelerated senescence occurs as individuals experience disadvantage throughout the life course. In the case of immigrants, some disadvantages are experienced in sending areas (earlier in life) and others in destinations even if some disadvantages are presumably averted via migration. In this paper, we examine the association between life course disadvantage and disability trajectories in mobility/self-care and independent-living among older Mexican immigrants in the United States using the 1998-2020 Health and Retirement Study. In addition to assessing whether disadvantages experienced during childhood “compound” (e.g., by having increased impact over time and/or exacerbating later life disadvantages), we pay particular attention to the role of likely undocumented status. Preliminary results suggest that individuals with a higher level of childhood disadvantages experience an accelerated rate of mobility/self-care and independent-living disabilities (i.e., difficulties with activities of daily living [ADLs] and instrumental activities of daily living [IADLs], respectively), net of disadvantages in adulthood. We find similar findings for adult disadvantage, net of childhood. Even after controlling for disadvantages experienced in both childhood and adulthood, there is some evidence that individuals who are likely to be undocumented experience more rapid ‘weathering’ in ADLs/IADLs trajectories, e.g., relative to immigrants who are likely documented. We discuss the implications of these findings, which suggest that lack of legal status is an additional disadvantage above and beyond our life course disadvantage measures.
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Past Events
Quan Mai, PhD, Rutgers University, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, discussed “Precarious Transitions: How Precarious Employment Shapes Parental Coresidence among Young Adults” on October 25, 2024.
Rachel Donnelly, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University, discussed “Structuralizing the Stress Process: States as Contextual Determinants of Stress and Mental Health” on October 7, 2024.
Samantha Simon, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the School of Sociology and School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona, presented “Before the Badge: How Academy Training Shapes Police Violence” on September 23, 2024
Dr. Kris Marsh, Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Maryland, presented “The Love Jones Cohort: Examining the Lifestyles of those Single and Living Alone in the Black Middle Class” on April 12, 2024.
Joel K. Bourne, Journalist with National Geographic, W.W. Norton, presented “Feeding the Planet: On the Road to Sustainability…or Agrigeddon” on April 4, 2024.
Dr. Deana Rohlinger, Professor of Sociology at Florida State University, presented “From the Computer Chair to the Streets: The Left, Digital Technologies, and Civil Society in the 21st Century” on April 3, 2024.
Dr. Caleb Scoville, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Tufts University, presented “Stupid Little Fish: Extraction, Conservation, and the Politics of Environmental Decline” on March 22, 2024.
Dr. Jake Watson, Postdoctoral Fellow at Vanderbilt University, presented “Resettlement Infrastructures: A Multiscalar Perspective on the US Refugee System” on September 29, 2023.
Dr. Patrick Greiner, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University, presented “The racial differentiation of space, and the spatial differentiation of emissions: Understanding the relationship between redlining, and primary drivers of CO2 emissions in the U.S. cities” on April 20, 2023.
Dr. Bianca Manago, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University, presented “A Call for Standardization: A Systematic Review of Mental Illness Labeling and Stigma Research” on April 6th, 2023.
Dr. Heba Gowayed, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Boston University, presented “Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential” on March 30, 2023.
Dr. Kristen Harknett, Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences and a faculty affiliate of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco, presented “Filling in the Paid-Leave Patchwork: The Role of National Firms in the Diffusion of Local Policy Mandates” on March 23, 2023.