Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

States’ Covid-19 Restrictions Were Associated With Increases In Drug Overdose Deaths In 2020, Douglas A. Wolf, Shannon M. Monnat, Jennifer Karas Montez, Emily E. Wiemers, Elyse Grossman

Center for Policy Research

Drug overdoses surged in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health experts raised concerns in the pandemic’s early months about how the pandemic and the policies enacted to stem it might increase overdose risk. This brief summarizes the findings of a paper that used national data to identify how states’ COVID-19 policies affected drug overdose rates among U.S. adults ages 25-64 during the first year of the pandemic. Results show that counties located in states that adopted more aggressive in-person activity restrictions experienced larger increases in 2020 than counties located in states with fewer limitations. State economic support policies …

States’ Covid-19 Restrictions Were Associated With Increases In Drug Overdose Deaths In 2020, Douglas A. Wolf, Shannon M. Monnat, Jennifer Karas Montez, Emily E. Wiemers, Elyse Grossman

Population Health Research Brief Series

Drug overdoses surged in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health experts raised concerns in the pandemic’s early months about how the pandemic and the policies enacted to stem it might increase overdose risk. This brief summarizes the findings of a paper that used national data to identify how states’ COVID-19 policies affected drug overdose rates among U.S. adults ages 25-64 during the first year of the pandemic. Results show that counties located in states that adopted more aggressive in-person activity restrictions experienced larger increases in 2020 than counties located in states with fewer limitations. State economic support policies …

Waiving Snap Interviews During The Covid-19 Pandemic Increased Snap Caseloads, Colleen Heflin, William Fannin, Leonard M. Lopoo, Siobhan O'Keefe

Population Health Research Brief Series

Food insecurity in the United States reached historically high rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus substantially increasing demand for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). To facilitate access to SNAP during the pandemic, the federal government granted state SNAP offices the option to waive the interview requirement – an administrative burden associated with the SNAP certification process. This brief summarizes findings from a recent study that used data from SNAP offices across 10 states to examine the impact of SNAP interview waivers on SNAP caseloads from January 5th to April 30th of 2021. Findings reveal that counties that implemented the …

Waiving Snap Interviews During The Covid-19 Pandemic Increased Snap Caseloads, Colleen Heflin, William Clay Fannin, Leonard M. Lopoo, Siobhan O'Keefe

Center for Policy Research

Food insecurity in the United States reached historically high rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus substantially increasing demand for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). To facilitate access to SNAP during the pandemic, the federal government granted state SNAP offices the option to waive the interview requirement – an administrative burden associated with the SNAP certification process. This brief summarizes findings from a recent study that used data from SNAP offices across 10 states to examine the impact of SNAP interview waivers on SNAP caseloads from January 5th to April 30th of 2021. Findings reveal that counties that implemented the …

The Impact Of Loneliness Post-Pandemic And Immersed In The Upcoming Political Election, Regina M. Luttrell Ph.D., Gwen Pratt, Abigail Kludt, Amy Barone, Kwadwo Osei-Poku, Lihan Wang

Real Chemistry Emerging Insights Lab

The Real Chemistry Emerging Insights Lab emerged with a partnership between Real Chemistry and the Public Relations department at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication and serves as a multidisciplinary research center focusing on analytics, artificial intelligence, digital and emerging media for a number of organizations regarding communications.

Healthcare professionals and organizations are interested in identifying how mental health impacts different U.S. generational groups after the COVID-19 pandemic and the intersectionality of U.S. Politics. Our team focused on two generational cohorts – Generation X (1965-1980) and Generation Z (1997-2012) – as an entry point into navigating the impact of …

Examining Connectivity And Mental Health Amongst Generation Z And Millennials, Regina M. Luttrell Ph.D., Alexandra Hosilyk, Nyah Jones, Grace Kos-Dondlinger, Runchu Lang, Katerina Miller

Real Chemistry Emerging Insights Lab

The Real Chemistry Emerging Insights Lab tasked our research team to develop findings based on two generational cohorts and mental health. Our team decided to research Millennials and Generation Z in relation to their mental health and connectivity habits. In addition to these general topics, we analyzed how remote work, the COVID-19 pandemic and U.S. political turmoil have played a role in the mental health status of these two generational cohorts.

The Millennial generational cohort is defined as individuals born from 1981 to 1996. The Generation Z generational cohort is defined as individuals born from 1997 to 2012. In order …

The Study Of Baby Boomers And Generation Z’S Attitudes Towards Generational Mental Health Dynamics, Regina M. Luttrell Ph.D., Hunter Harpin, Emma Grace Reville, Yunxiang Yu, Abagail Sweeney

Real Chemistry Emerging Insights Lab

The purpose of this research is to compare and contrast how different historical events have impacted Generation Z members’ and the Baby Boomers’ attitudes towards mental health and how those attitudes have guided members of these generations to feel about medical experts and the technology that they use to deliver their services in the post-COVID era. Studying these topics allows our group to make recommendations as to how medical experts should go about interacting with members of the Generation Z and Baby Boomer generations respectively, based on how historical events have influenced their attitudes towards mental health topics, their perceived …

Covid-19 Mortality Rates Were Higher In States That Limited Governments From Enacting Public Health Emergency Orders, Xue Zhang, Mildred E. Warner, Gen Meredith

Population Health Research Brief Series

State and local governments enacted various public health emergency policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in lower infection and death rates than would have occurred without these policies. However, some states limited the emergency public health authority of state executives, state governors, and other state and local officials during the pandemic. This brief summarizes the results of a study that used data from the Center for Public Health Law Research and Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker to explore which states passed laws that limited emergency public health authority during the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of those limits on COVID-19 …

Emotional Distress During Covid-19 By Mental Health Conditions And Economic Vulnerability: Retrospective Analysis Of Survey-Linked Twitter Data With A Semisupervised Machine Learning Algorithm, Michiko Ueda-Ballmer, Kohei Watanabe, Hajime Sueki, Davor Mondom

Center for Policy Design and Governance

The brief provides a summary of "Emotional Distress During COVID-19 by Mental Health Conditions and Economic Vulnerability: Retrospective Analysis of Survey-Linked Twitter Data With a Semisupervised Machine Learning Algorithm," co-authored by Michiko Ueda-Ballmer, Kohei Watanabe, and Hajime Sueki and published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Covid-19 Mortality Rates Were Higher In States That Limited Governments From Enacting Public Health Emergency Orders, Xue Zhang, Mildred Warner, Gen Meredith

Center for Policy Research

State and local governments enacted various public health emergency policies during the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in lower infection and death rates than would have occurred without these policies. However, some states limited emergency public health authority of state executives, state governors, and state and local officials during the pandemic. This brief summarizes the results of a study that used data from the Center for Public Health Law Research and Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker to explore which states passed laws that limited emergency public health authority during the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of those limitations on COVID-19 death …

State Covid-19 Policies That Restricted In-Person Interaction And Provided Economic Support Saved Lives During The First Year Of The Pandemic, Yue Sun, Erin Bisesti

Population Health Research Brief Series

States varied dramatically in their implementation of policies to mitigate coronavirus spread and provide financial safety nets to residents who may have been struggling with the pandemic’s economic fallout. These differences may have contributed to variations in COVID-19 mortality rates between states. This brief summarizes the results of a recent study examining how U.S. states’ COVID-19 policies were related to COVID-19 mortality rates from April to December 2020. The findings show that states that enacted policies restricting in-person interaction and providing economic support to residents had lower COVID-19 death rates than states without these policies. Over 29,000 lives could have …

Mothers Of Disabled Children Faced Numerous Challenges During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Amy Lutz, Sujung (Crystal) Lee, Baurzhan Bokayev

Population Health Research Brief Series

The COVID-19 pandemic changed life dramatically for most families, but particularly for families with a disabled child. Mothers of disabled children faced increased difficulties during the early months of COVID-19 compared to other families. Reduction in services, school closures, and managing paid work drastically impacted caregivers’ mental health. This brief summarizes results from a recent study on the challenges mothers of disabled children faced during the COVID-19 pandemic during the Spring of 2020 in Central New York.

The Unequal Burden Of Long Covid, Marc A. Garcia, Catherine Garcia, Erin Bisesti

Population Health Research Brief Series

Racial/ethnic disparities in U.S. COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths have been well documented. However, less research has focused on racial/ethnic disparities in long COVID. This data slice summarizes data from the U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey and reports that although there are no significant racial/ethnic differences in overall activity limitations from long COVID, a higher percentage of Black and Hispanic/Latino adults report experiencing “significant” activity limitations compared to Whites.

Cities In A Pandemic: Evidence From China, Badi H. Baltagi, Ying Deng, Jing Li, Zhenlin Yang

Center for Policy Research

This paper studies the impact of urban density, city government efficiency, and medical resources on COVID-19 infection and death outcomes in China. We adopt a simultaneous spatial dynamic panel data model to account for (i) the simultaneity of infection and death outcomes, (ii) the spatial pattern of the transmission, (iii) the inter-temporal dynamics of the disease, and (iv) the unobserved city- and time-specific effects. We find that, while population density increases the level of infections, government efficiency significantly mitigates the negative impact of urban density. We also find that the availability of medical resources improves public health outcomes conditional on …

Digitalizing Religion In The Age Of Covid-19: A Uses And Gratifications Perspective, Abdulaziz Altawil

Dissertations - ALL

The current COVID-19 pandemic has impacted people’s religious behavior around the world. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, most in-person religious services have shifted to virtual platforms. The online religious transition amidst the outbreak has alleviated many issues for worshippers as it provided them with a sanctuary space to connect with their faith and community. According to a 2020 Pew Research analysis, the pandemic has made many Americans change their religious habits by watching religious content online instead of physically engaging with their local religious institution. This dissertation provides a preliminary examination of this phenomenon by exploring the role of digital …

Social Support Protected Mental Health During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jennifer Kowalkowski, Danielle C. Rhubart

Population Health Research Brief Series

Social support can protect mental health from the stressors of life during times of widespread crisis, like the COVID-19 pandemic. Using nationally representative data on U.S. working-age adults (18-64), this brief shows that those who reported having emotional support from family and friends were less likely to report negative mental health effects from the COVID-19 pandemic (32.9%) compared to those without emotional support (50.2%). Adults with higher levels of instrumental support – being able to count on someone for a $200 loan or for a place to live - were also less likely than those without those types of support …

Data Brief: Women Veteran Entrepreneurs - 2022, Rosalinda V. Maury, Mirza Tihic, Adam Pritchard

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief provides highlights from the 2021 National Survey of Military-Affiliated Entrepreneurs (NSMAE) focusing on female veteran entrepreneurs. NSMAE monitors trends in the activity, needs, and economic, social, and policy barriers of military-affiliated entrepreneurs in the United States. This annual survey and forthcoming public dataset will be an enduring source of current insights for public and private sector leaders, policymakers, and community-based organization on systemic barriers to and drivers of entrepreneurial success among veterans and their family members

Covid-19 Negatively Impacted Health And Social Relationships Among Working-Age Adults With Disabilities, Claire Pendergrast, Shannon M. Monnat

Population Health Research Brief Series

Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) are related to personal care and mobility. COVID-19 disrupted access to care for many working-age adults with ADL difficulties, potentially creating negative health and social impacts. This research brief shows that working-age adults (18-64) with ADL difficulty faced worse health and social impacts than their peers without ADL difficulty during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The needs of people with disabilities must be prioritized in policy decisions to increase equity and reduce health disparities during the ongoing COVID-19 response and in future public health emergencies.

Nine Ways Grandparenting Is Changing With The Covid-19 Pandemic, Madonna Harrington Meyer

Population Health Research Brief Series

Grandparents play a vital role in providing care for their grandchildren in the United States. However, long-term sociodemographic changes, including lower fertility rates and changes in employment and technology, along with massive upheavals prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic are changing grandparenting in important ways. This research brief describes these long-term sociodemographic changes and uses in-depth interviews conducted before the pandemic to illustrate nine specific ways grandparenting is shifting in the U.S. It concludes by calling for more supportive social welfare programs to support working families and reduce the reliance on grandparents for meeting childcare and financial needs.

Infectious Intimacy: Men Who Have Sex With Men (Msm)'S Narratives Of Risk Analysis During Covid-19, Seth Knievel

Theses - ALL

This thesis contemplates how men who have sex with men (MSM) have navigated risks associated with having casual sex during COVID-19 by using skills learned from the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I rely on a series of qualitative interviews I conducted with self-reported MSM, as well as qualitative, archival materials from throughout the HIV/AIDS crisis, to better understand how some MSM have performed risk evaluation and management throughout a(nother) pandemic. In my first chapter, I pull from Diana Taylor's theories on the archive, the repertoire, and scenario to argue that some MSM have revived and revised skills used to protect themselves from …

Covid-19 Has Reduced The Latino Mortality Advantage Among Older Adults, Marc A. Garcia, Rogelio Sáenz

Population Health Research Brief Series

The COVID-19 pandemic is quickly reshaping U.S. mortality patterns, especially among those aged 65 and older. While U.S Latinos have historically had lower mortality rates than Whites, the pandemic and other structural inequities have reduced this advantage. This research brief examines Latino-White differences in COVID-19 mortality rates among older adults and describes how those disparities have reduced the Latino mortality advantage in this age group.

White Covid-19 Deaths Increased More In Red States Than In Blue States In 2021, Rogelio Sáenz, Marc A. Garcia

Population Health Research Brief Series

COVID-19 mortality rates increased 70% between 2020 and 2021. While the early months of the pandemic were marked by higher mortality rates among Whites in blue (Democratic governor) states, red states (Republican governor) experienced larger increases in 2021.

Medical Visits Related To Firearm Injuries Increased During Covid-19, Rachel Chernet, Margaret K. Formica

Population Health Research Brief Series

When COVID-19 began its initial wave in the United States in March 2020, gun sales surged across the country. The increase in first time gun owners, stress, anxiety, and lack of safety training courses has corresponded with a significant increase in firearm injuries, with especially large increases in the Spring and Summer of 2020 among males, non-Hispanic Blacks, ages 20 to 29, and residents of the Midwest and South. Given the especially large rise in unintentional firearm injuries, policymakers should consider interventions that increase education, training, and regulation over safe firearm access and storage.

Covid-19 Deaths Soared Among U.S. Whites In 2021, Rogelio Saenz, Marc A. Garcia, Claire Pendergrast

Population Health Research Brief Series

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated health disparities in the United States. While people of color have borne the brunt of lives lost throughout the pandemic, the growth in White deaths from COVID-19 outpaced deaths among other racial/ethnic groups in 2021. This research brief shows that approximately 514,000 Americans died of COVID-19 in 2021, a 70 percent increase from 2020. Deaths rose 90 percent among non-Latino Whites between 2020 and 2021, two to three times faster than the rise among racial/ethnic minority groups.

Latinos Report Higher Rates Of Cognitive Impairment Than U.S.-Born Whites, But Rates Vary Between Latino Subgroups, Claire Pendergrast, Marc A. Garcia, Catherine Garcia

Population Health Research Brief Series

Cognitive impairment is a major public health issue that affects older adults’ quality of life and independence. Among older adults, U.S. Latinos have higher rates of cognitive impairment than U.S.-born Whites. This brief describes differences in the prevalence and age patterns of self-reported cognitive impairment between Latinos aged 60 and older living in the U.S. and U.S.-born non-Latino Whites, and within Latino subgroups (U.S.-born Mexicans, foreign-born Mexicans, island-born Puerto Ricans, and foreign-born Cubans). Findings show higher rates of cognitive impairment among U.S. Latinos than among non-Latino Whites, with especially high rates among island-born Puerto Ricans and both U.S.- and foreign-born …

What Do Epidemic History And Sexual Minority Men’S Experiences Of Hiv And Covid-19 Teach Us About Pandemic Preparedness?, Amy Braksmajer, Andrew London

Population Health Research Brief Series

For many, COVID-19 feels like the first, massive, life-threatening epidemic of infectious disease they have faced. However, for sexual minority individuals who have experienced trauma and loss stemming from the HIV epidemic, there are many similarities. This brief summarizes findings from interviews with men who have lived through both pandemics as a way to gain insights into the commonalities and differences of their experiences. Findings show that men who lived through both epidemics believe the government did not do enough to respond to either crisis. To better prepare for future epidemics, public health efforts must be less fragmented, including a …

Reported Reasons For Avoiding The Covid-19 Vaccine Vary By Age, Kelsey Wilber

Population Health Research Brief Series

Despite various efforts by governments, businesses, and health care providers, a large share of the U.S. population remains resistant to getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Understanding why individuals refuse the vaccine is important for tailoring interventions to improve vaccination rates. This brief examines age differences in reasons reported for not getting the vaccine. Concerns about possible side effects are the most common among every age group, but other reported reasons, including lack of trust in the vaccine and the government vary by age group. Findings suggest that tackling COVID-19 misinformation is critical to increase vaccination rates in the United States.

Billions In Covid-19 Rental Assistance Fails To Reach Tenants, William Clay Fannin

Population Health Research Brief Series

COVID-19 exacerbated existing problems with housing affordability in the United States, particularly for Black and Hispanic renters. To curb these financial hardships, Congress created the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program, but ERA rollout has been slow and inconsistent. This brief describes geographic differences in ERA spending across the U.S. and encourages states and localities to adopt policies that increase program eligibility and streamline fund disbursement.

Covid-19 Has Had Devastating Economic Impacts On Older Black And Latinx Adults, Claire Pendergrast, Amy Thierry, Marc A. Garcia

Population Health Research Brief Series

Black and Latinx communities have been disproportionately affected by economic hardships during the pandemic, magnifying long-standing economic inequalities. This research brief shows that in the first year of the pandemic, older Black and Latinx adults experienced greater negative economic impacts than older White adults. Foreign-born and U.S.-born Latinx adults experienced especially significant economic hardships relative to other groups. To reduce the disproportionate economic impacts of crises like COVID-19 on older Black and Latinx adults, policymakers should prioritize economic relief measures and support broader social policy to reduce economic inequality.

Older Adults Are More Likely To Avoid Covid-19 Information, Julia Nolte, Corinna Löckenhoff

Population Health Research Brief Series

Older adults are at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 but less interested in information that might lower the risk of getting or spreading the disease. This brief shows that in the first months of the pandemic, older adults were less likely to consume COVID-19 information or media than younger adults. These behaviors are associated with age differences in emotional experiences and preferences, with older adults feeling calmer and more interested in protecting their feelings than younger adults. To keep older adults informed on COVID-19, government and health officials should directly target communication efforts to older adults.