Lucy Jordan

Ph.D 2006, University of Washington. Social welfare policy; gender and poverty; racial and ethnic disparities in mental health and substance abuse.

Department: CPHRE
Position: Health Research Scientist
Email: click here
Phone: (206) 528-3030

Research Summary:

Jordan has worked primarily on research that examines cross-state variation in United States domestic policies that target low-income and indigent single mothers. She received funding from the Department of Health and Human Services, Child Care Bureau to investigate the relationship between child care subsidy policies and employment behavior of low-income single mothers following child birth, with a focus on the contribution of structural features of gender role stratification to employment-family balance. She has recently completed work on a paper (now under review) that examines racial-ethnic mental health disparities in alcohol-related outcomes. Among the key findings from this study is the significant contribution of socioeconomic status in explaining variation in depression for Hispanics regardless of current or past alcohol use. In another recent paper, she examined the impact of fiscal cutbacks in federal and state funding for substance abuse at the state and agency level in two U.S. states, and how these cutbacks influence the service delivery structure of substance abuse services as well as the demographics of the client population served. One of the key findings in this study is a growing trend of merging mental health and substance abuse service delivery systems at both the state and agency level.
Jordan plans to continue to investigate how structural features of social policies influence gender inequities and role conflicts between family and the marketplace, and is interested in cross-national comparisons between the U.S. and developing nations. She also will continue to investigate health disparities, focusing on substance abuse and psychiatric disorders, and is co-investigator on a recently submitted NIH grant, which focuses on direct effects of immigration on alcohol/drug abuse, psychiatric disorders and treatment gaps, and the indirect effects through mediating factors such as childhood characteristics, socio-economic characteristics, perceived stress and acculturation in the United States.

Meyers, M. K.; Jordan, L. P., (2006), Choice and Accommodation in Parental Child Care Decisions, Journal of the Community Development Society, 37: 2, 53.

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