Hispanics live longer than most Americans, but will the US obesity epidemic change things?
Oct 16, 2020
In this article for "The Conversation", SSRI cofunds and PRI affiliates Michelle Frisco and Jenny Van Hook discuss their latest study suggesting that Hispanic immigrants will continue to enjoy longer lives than U.S.-born whites in the near future; but the life expectancy of U.S.-born Hispanics may…
Researchers study trends in Pennsylvania school reopening plans
Oct 13, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented numerous challenges to school districts across the nation as they have debated options for educating students safely. According to researchers in Penn State’s College of Education, the decision by Pennsylvania school districts to re-open schools in-person,…Family Symposium to focus on parent-child separations
Oct 1, 2020
What do incarceration, migration or deportation, and military deployment have in common? All are likely to separate a child from their parent, which has implications on a child’s well-being.Penn State’s 28th annual Symposium on Family Issues will focus on these specific circumstances of parent-…
Penn State researchers to study political content sharing on Facebook
Sep 8, 2020
As the 2020 election draws closer, political content on social media is becoming more and more prevalent. A group of Penn State researchers is examining spontaneous sharing of political content on Facebook.According to principal investigator S. Shyam Sundar, James P. Jimirro Professor of Media…
Mining Twitter data may help National Parks staff gather feedback faster
Aug 21, 2020
The National Park system has been referred to as one of America’s national treasures. A team of Penn State researchers in the department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management and the Social Science Research Institute, report that mining tweets about the park may open up a rich vein of…
Parent-child separations focus of virtual symposium
Aug 20, 2020
The circumstances of parent-child separation due to parental incarceration, migration and deportation, and military deployment will be the focus of Penn State’s 28th annual Symposium on Family Issues, being held virtually Oct. 26 to 27.“Causes and Consequences of Parent-Child Separations: Pathways…
Mexico-U.S border to be discussed Sept. 17 during De Jong Lecture
Aug 19, 2020
"The New Reality at the Mexico-U.S. Border" will be presented by Doug Massey at Penn State's virtual 15th annual De Jong Lecture in Social Demography at 9 a.m. Sept. 17.Massey is director of the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. Discussants include Amy Hsin, associate…
Climate change-influenced refugee crisis may lead to long-term settlement issues
Jul 30, 2020
While many models suggest that climate change will prompt a substantial number of people to leave their homes, not all research so clearly finds this is the case. Investigating cases where computer models seemed to indicate only limited impacts of climate change on people leaving rural areas, a…
About nine family members to suffer grief from every COVID-19 fatality
Jul 16, 2020
Deaths from COVID-19 will have a ripple effect causing impacts on the mental health and health of surviving family members. But the extent of that impact has been hard to assess until now. Every death from COVID-19 will impact approximately nine surviving family members, according to a study.In a…
Project to study pandemic impacts on Alaskan salmon season
Jun 29, 2020
Bristol Bay, Alaska is home to the world's largest commercial sockeye salmon fishery, attracting thousands of fishermen, crews, and seasonal workers and tripling the region’s population. Running from early June to late July, the short salmon season is facing a new challenge this year, the…
New grant seeks to train population health researchers
Jun 25, 2020
Training the next generation of population health researchers is the goal of a training grant that will support four predoctoral and one postdoc scholar at Penn State.Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the graduate training program will provide a framework for training students in the…
Marching for change: 2017 Women’s March met with mostly positive support online
Jun 24, 2020
Large protest events can be divisive, spurring an outpouring of both support and opposition. But new Penn State research found that the 2017 Women’s March, which championed goals in support of women and human rights, was met with mostly positive support on social media, with relatively few negative…
Post Doctoral Scholar Position
Jun 8, 2020
JOB DESCRIPTION AND POSITION REQUIREMENTS:The Population Research Institute (PRI) at The Pennsylvania State University (University Park) anticipates an 1-2 openings for a postdoctoral fellow in the NICHD-supported Social Environments and Population Health training program, starting on or about…
Penn State researchers evaluate 2020 Census data privacy changes
Jun 2, 2020
After the U.S. Census Bureau announced that it was changing how it protects the identities of individuals for the 2020 Census, a Penn State-led research team began to evaluate how these changes may affect census data integrity.The Census Bureau is proposing to use differential privacy, a new…
Take Note: Penn State Prof. Jenny Van Hook On Coronavirus And The Census
May 27, 2020
SSRI cofund and PRI affiliate Jenny Van Hook is interviewed for WPSU's Take Note on the consequences of a Census undercount. Van Hook is the Roy C. Buck Professor of Sociology and Demography at Penn State and a former member of the Census Advisory Board. She was an expert witness in the legal fight…
Research information outlines Pennsylvania specifics related to COVID-19
Apr 22, 2020
Many Pennsylvania residents are facing an increased risk for severe symptoms of the novel coronavirus, while having limited access to medical services, and policy briefs from Penn State’s Pennsylvania Population Network (PPN) demonstrate why.Raeven Chandler, assistant research professor and…
Penn State researchers evaluating Twitter data during pandemic
Apr 16, 2020
By collecting global Twitter data from the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, Penn State researchers have developed a dashboard that tracks geotagged tweets to allow researchers and policymakers assess public reactions to the pandemic.“Geotagged Twitter data provides significant opportunities to…
Grief from COVID-19 impact may trigger secondary health and mental health crisis
Apr 15, 2020
The loss of life caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic may just be the first tragic wave to hit the country, according to researchers. Grief from the deaths of close relatives and a sudden loss of support could create serious health, mental health and economic issues for grieving family members…
Population researchers contribute to special newsletter on COVID-19 topics
Apr 9, 2020
The work of applied demographers and population research scientists addressing the COVID1-19 pandemic is the focus a special issue of “Applied Demography,” the official publication of the Population Association of America (PAA).According to editor Alexis Santos, assistant professor of human…
Podcast episode explores how the Census impacts public health
Apr 9, 2020
Decisions about where to build hospitals and how to allocate emergency medical equipment are critical during a pandemic, and driven by a source you might not expect. This week’s episode of the Democracy Works podcast, produced by the McCourtney Institute for Democracy and WPSU, examines the role…
PPN Brief on COVID19 and the aging population in PA
Mar 31, 2020
New from the Pennsylvania Population Network (PPN) is the PPN Brief "COVID19 & The Commonwealth: Vulnerable Populations in Pennsylvania: Aging". Key findings include:Median Age of PA is 40.7 with 23.7% of the state being 60 Plus
11 counties report having zero ICU beds, seven of which are…
Applied Demography Special Issue on COVID1-19
Mar 31, 2020
The work of applied demographers and population research scientists addressing the COVID1-19 pandemic is the focus a special issue of Applied Demography, the official publication of the Population Association of America. The editorial was written by SSRI cofunded faculty member Alexis Santos, while…
Achievement gaps may explain racial overrepresentation in special education
Mar 19, 2020
U.S. school districts may be flagged as over-identifying students of color as having disabilities when other factors, such as achievement gaps, may explain these disparities, according to new Penn State research published in Exceptional Children.Federal legislation and regulations require U.S.…
Family Symposium book series releases latest edition
Mar 17, 2020
The most recent volume in the National Symposium on Family Issues book series, “Rural Families and Communities in the United States” is now available from Springer Publishing. This volume specifically focuses on the implications of rural residency for American families, especially minority families…
Underlying factors affect children's early reading and math achievement
Mar 16, 2020
Underlying individual and environmental factors may better explain inter-relations between children’s early reading and mathematics achievement, according to new research that fails to support prior work suggesting that increasing children’s math skills might help increase their reading skills.…