Research Summary:Koray Tanfer is a Senior Research Scientist at Battelle's Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation (CPHRE), and affiliate faculty in the Sociology Department at the University of Washington. Currently, Tanfer, with Jutta Joesch and Ginger Gossman, is working on an NICHD funded project that examines the factors associated with the variation in cesarean section delivery rates in the United States.
Using data from the National Hospital Discharge Survey, and from Natality Statistics Tanfer, Joesch, and Gossman are examining temporal and spatial variation in cesarean delivery rates and the medical (e.g., pregnancy complications) and nonmedical (e.g., patient mix) factors that are responsible for the changes in these rates over time and across geographic locations. This project also includes pre- and post-delivery surveys of pregnant women in 18 counties in four states.
The survey will focus mainly on the role of patient and physician characteristics, and patient-physician relationship on the demand for elective (patient choice) cesarean deliveries. Another current project Tanfer is working on examines the sexual concurrence patterns among men and women in the United States (NICHD funded). The data for this project come from the 1991 National Survey of Women (NICHD funded) 1991 National Survey of Men (NICHD funded), and the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth (NCHS).
The overarching objective of the project is to examine different patterns of concurrent partnerships, and gender differences in these patterns as a function of individual, relationship, and community characteristics, and changes in these over time, from 1991 to 2002. In another NICHD funded project that will begin in April 2006, Tanfer, Joesch, and Gossman will examine maternal depression in pregnancy and the postpartum period, using survey data from the aforementioned cesarean section project, and data from a six-month postpartum survey of women who participated in the cesarean section study.
One of the main objectives is to examine whether or not there is a causal relationship between unintended pregnancy, cesarean delivery, and maternal depression. Tanfer's earlier research focused on behavioral modeling of STD acquisition and transmission, STD prevention, and determinants and consequences of HIV- testing behaviors. Tanfer and Billy collaborated in two projects (funded by NICHD and NIMH) that focused on who gets tested (and re-tested) for HIV, and how having been tested influences their subsequent sexual and contraceptive behavior.
In an NIAID funded project Tanfer and Billy modeled the antecedent, proximate, behavioral, and contextual factors that contribute to the likelihood of acquiring STDs. Tanfer and Cubbins have examined the factors influencing the formation of abortion attitudes and changes in these attitudes over time, and gender and race differences in the effects of these factors on abortion attitudes (NICHD funded). Using longitudinal data from NLSY and NLSY-YA surveys, Tanfer and Penny Huang investigated unintended fertility and subsequent well-being of men in a recently completed project funded by NICHD.
Recent Publications:- Joesch, J. M.; Gossman, G. L.; Tanfer, K., (2008), Primary Cesarean Deliveries Prior to Labor in the United States, 1979-2004, Maternal and Child Health Journal: 12, 323-331.
- Gossman, G. L.; Joesch, J. M.; Tanfer, K., (2007), Trends in Maternal Request Cesarean Delivery From 1991 to 2004, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 109: 3, 784-785.
- Gossman, G. L.; Joesch, J. M.; Tanfer, K., (2006), Trends in Maternal Request Cesarean Delivery from the National Hospital Discharge Survey 1991-2004, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 108, 1506-1516.
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