My research, broadly in the fields of medical sociology, social psychology, and social networks, includes three areas of focus: Chronic Illness and Chronic Pain, Hispanic Immigrant Health, and Gender and Sexuality.
Chronic Illness and Chronic Pain
My primary line of research examines the social and personal consequences of illness. In particular, I study how the experience of chronic pain and chronic illness is shaped by and shapes social networks, identity, and wellbeing. My dissertation uses interviews, participant observation, and a survey to examine the role of social connectedness in the process by which chronic illness impacts the self. Specifically, I use the case of migraine to explore how social networks and patient community integration buffer and/or exacerbate the negative relationship between migraine, identity, and psychological wellbeing.
In addition to my research on the experience of chronic pain, I also study public perceptions of pain using survey experiments. In collaboration with Emily Ekl, we examines how race, gender, and their intersection influence public attitudes about 1) the legitimacy of missing work due to pain and 2) help-seeking recommendations. Our findings have been published in Social Psychology Quarterly.
In addition to this sociological work, I also pursue interdisciplinary research on migraine and other headache disorders from both epidemiological and advocacy perspectives. This research has produced three briefs written in collaboration with CHAMP as well as several presentations and the American Headache Society and other manuscripts in-progress.
Hispanic Immigrant Health
While not necessarily distinct from my research on chronic illness and chronic pain, a subset of my research focuses on the health and well-being of Hispanic immigrants. Since 2019, I have been a research assistant for the VidaSana Study, a longitudinal study of social networks and the physical, mental, and oral health of Mexican and Central American immigrants living in the Midwest. As a research assistant, I have not only led data cleaning and management, but also led and collaborated on several projects in-review and in progress.
In my most recent work, forthcoming in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, I investigate two competing perspectives on the impact of Hispanic immigrants’ social networks on health; the Hispanic Health Paradox, which views networks as sources of resilience, and the Tenuous Ties Perspective, which views networks as sources of risk. Using egocentric network analysis, I examine how different social network pathways are associated with physical health, mental health, and healthcare utilization. I find network characteristics have different effects across the type of health outcome examined. While greater amounts of social capital within networks promotes physical health and healthcare access, social bonding only benefits mental health and healthcare access, and network stress contributes to worse mental health yet better healthcare access.
Other recent work includes collaborations examining how family structure (marital status, parenthood status, and gender) shapes pandemic precarity, co-led by Melissa Garcia and myself, published in the Journal of Marriage and Family; one on social network activation during COVID_19, led by Dr. Nicholas C. Smith published in the Sociology of Race and Ethnicity; as well as a paper I led detailing how the relationship between social support and oral health outcomes is contingent on country of origin, published in Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology.
Gender and Sexuality
An smaller line of research examines gender, sexuality, and the body. In this vein, some of my previous work published in the International Journal of Transgender Health with Krystina Millar investigated how race/ethnicity and gender identity are associated with gender minority stress and psychological distress among transgender individuals.
While these lines of research may seem disparate, gender and sexuality are key axes of inequality with profound potential consequences for mental and physical health. Furthermore, illness, gender, and sexuality are all experiences that are embodied, interpreted, and made meaningful through social interaction.
For more information about my research and education, see my CV