Demography of Health and Aging Student Seminar features Samuel Fishman, Postdoctoral Associate, Duke Sociology and Sara Petry, Predoctoral Student, Sanford School of Public Policy

Demography of Health and Aging Student Seminar features Samuel Fishman, Postdoctoral Associate, Duke Sociology and Sara Petry, Predoctoral Student, Sanford School of Public Policy

Demography of Health and Aging Student Seminar features Samuel Fishman, Postdoctoral Associate, Duke Sociology and Sara Petry, Predoctoral Student, Sanford School of Public Policy

Samuel Fishman, Postdoctoral Associate, Duke Sociology, presents, "Cumulative Disadvantage and Birthweight: Racial and Ethnic Infant Health Disparities across Age and Nativity"

Drawing on data from over 15 million births in US natality files, the current study examines patterns of cumulative disadvantage on birthweight across race and ethnicity. The research has two parts, exploring the relationship between maternal age and birthweight across race, ethnicity, and nativity (e.g., the weathering hypothesis) and how birthweight varies across Mexican American women by race. First, patterns are consistent with the weathering hypothesis for US-born Black women and other racial/ethnic minority women, such as American Indian/Alaskan Native and US-born Mexican American women. Second, immigrant status is associated with better birthweight outcomes and weaker associations between age and birthweight for racial/ethnic minority women. Third, racial disparities in birthweight are not present among immigrant Mexican American women but emerge in later generations. The results suggest that exposure to the US racial stratification context has negative consequences for racial/ethnic minority women’s birthweight outcomes, especially for Black women across ethnicity. At the same time, immigrant racial/ethnic minority women’s birthweight outcomes may benefit from a combination of healthy immigrant selection and reduced exposure to US racial stratification.  

Sarah Petry, Predoctoral Student, Sanford School of Public Policy, presents “Long-Term Health Outcomes of Medicaid Access in Childhood”

In the first chapter of my dissertation, “Policy and the Life Course”, I will answer: how does access to Medicaid in early childhood impact health in mid- and late adulthood? Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) from 1968-2017, I will exploit the variations in program access to determine whether exposure to different Medicaid programs in childhood impacts adult health. Health outcomes will be drawn from prior literature and will include prevalence of high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and mortality. Most other studies consider economic outcomes, such as increased tax revenue from those who were exposed to a given policy, to persuade policy makers of the importance of access to Medicaid or other services in early life. Instead, I will deploy life table methods to answer: how long can boomers expect to live with or without disability based on variations in early life access to Medicaid? This work is at an early stage and I am seeking feedback on the proposed data and methods.

 

Zoom Seminar. Please contact laura.satterfield@duke.edu to obtain Seminar Link

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Zoom Seminar. Please contact laura.satterfield@duke.edu to obtain Seminar Link. 
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