In a recently published commentary for Studies in Family Planning, CSDE Trainee Claire Rothschild (Epidemiology, PhD), CSDE Regional Affiliate Win Brown (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), and CSDE Affiliate Alison Drake (Global Health) make the case for including observations from method discontinuation measures to update current approaches to measuring unmet need for contraception. While unmet need for contraception is commonly used to assess programmatic needs, it inadequately captures the complexity of fertility and contraceptive preferences, including women’s satisfaction with their contraceptive method. In their 2019 commentary, Sarah Rominski and Rob Stephenson propose reclassifying dissatisfied current users as having an unmet need for contraception. As revising the current definition based on their proposal would require significant investment to update survey and monitoring systems, understanding the potential impact on current estimates of unmet need is critical. The authors estimate the impact of this approach in a Kenyan cohort of modern contraceptive users. They find the prevalence of method dissatisfaction ranges from 6.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 5.6–7.8%) to 18.9% (95% CI 17.1–20.9%); if applied nationally, this results in a large (approximately 25–70%) increase in Kenya’s current estimate of unmet need for any contraception. The findings suggest a large impact on unmet need estimates for equivalent populations. Overall, the authors advocate for better measurements of method satisfaction and acceptability, with metrics developed that are robust to socioeconomic gradients and validated in low‐ and middle‐income settings to ensure women’s contraceptive needs are captured equitably. To read the article, click here.
*New* James S. McDonnell Foundation – Understanding Human Cognition Awards [Due 04-09-2021]
Applications are open for the James S. McDonnell Foundation’s 2021 grant program ($250k in seed funding over a flexible time period (2-4 years). Proposals are due Friday, April 9, 2021. This program aims to support projects leading to new conceptual and empirical studies of cognition and behavior that recognize the dynamic nature of cognition and behavior, are situated in real world contexts, cross levels of analysis, unite traditionally separate domains of inquiry (e.g. vision and speech), embrace complexity, and consider how behavior is influenced by interactions among individuals. Priority will be given to applicants requesting funds to support collaboration or to obtain training that allows new theories and new tools to alter the conduct of ongoing research, to provide a researcher with supported time while acquiring the new skills and knowledge to alter future research design, to pilot or test novel experimental approaches and to allow laboratories primarily using artificial laboratory constrained tasks to explore behavioral studies with more natural free flowing behaviors, to refine and extend the temporal dimension of data acquisition allowing for more dynamic assessments of how behavior unfolds over time and to diversify and expand study populations. Application instructions can be found at the Foundation’s website. If you’re considering applying please feel free to reach out to CAS Corporate & Foundation Relations for support. CSDE is always happy to help you in the preparation of your applications – whether that is with scientific consultations or pre-award proposal support, which includes budget preparation, all ancillary materials, management of submission, and experienced reviewers for providing feedback on your narrative. Contact Scott Kelly, Sara Curran, Steve Goodreau, or Belinda Sachs with any questions.
Join CSDE Workshops: “Introduction to Survey Data Sources” and “Agent Based Modeling in R”
CSDE is offering two workshops on “Introduction to Survey Data Sources” (02/24) and “Agent Based Modeling in R” (03/05). Students, faculty, and staff are all welcome to register for our workshops and we welcome registrants from outside the University of Washington as well. If you miss a workshop, recordings will be available on our website for 3 months after the workshop. To register, click here.
CSDE Training Director and Research Scientist Dr. Christine Leibbrand will lead the workshop on February 24th on accessing some major American demographic survey data sources. Participants will learn about a variety of longitudinal survey data sources that are (for the most part) publicly-available and easily accessible. These data sources will include: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and its Child Supplement (CNLSY); The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97); Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) and The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Topics covered include their sampling strategies, the characteristics of their survey populations, the years they surveyed populations, an overview of the data included in these surveys, and an introduction into how to access and download the publicly available data and access restricted data. By the end of this workshop, participants will have a better understanding of longitudinal survey data sources that you might consider using for your future research projects. Dr. Leibbrand is uniquely qualified to offer this workshop, as she has analyzed and published analyses using all of these data sources.
CSDE Research Scientist Dr. Deven Hamilton will lead the workshop on March 5th on agent-based modeling in R. The workshop will provide a basic introduction to Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) and will be divided into three sections. The first section will review and discuss the basic elements of ABMs and their application in a variety of fields including demography, sociology, anthropology, political science and public health. The second section of the course will work through examples of an ABM and reproduce the models in R. Finally, the workshop will discuss an example of a complex ABM using the statnet and EpiModel R packages. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to describe the unique features of ABM that make them distinct from other modeling approaches, write R functions to produce a simple ABM, and be familiar with additional R packages that provide functionality for ABM.
UW Geography Colloquium Series: Xiaxia Yang
Estimating Adult Mortality Using Sampled Social Network Data: Evidence from Brazil
At the CSDE seminar on February 26th, Dr. Dennis Feehan will present “Estimating Adult Mortality Using Sampled Social Network Data: Evidence from Brazil”. Dr. Feehan will discuss his research on two leading approaches to estimating adult death rates: the state of the art sibling survival method and the newer network survival method. Dr. Feehan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Demography at the UC, Berkeley. He is an expert in social networks, demography, and quantitative methodology and has used a number of unique data sources and methods for his research.
Register for Dr. Feehan’s Zoom seminar here. This quarter, CSDE is recording the seminar series and posting the links on its website. Visit our site here.
After the seminar, UW Anthropology PhD student Emily Pollock will facilitate a graduate student discussion with Dr. Feehan. RSVP by emailing her at emilypo@uw.edu.
Lecturer or Assistant Professor in Quantitative Sociology and Immigration
CSDE Welcomes Four More Faculty and Regional Affiliates!
CSDE’s Executive Committee is pleased to introduce four of our new UW Faculty Affiliates:
- Teresa Ward– Professor and Chair, Department of Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing, UW School of Nursing. Ward’s research focuses on sleep health, symptom science, and health outcomes in children with and without chronic health conditions and their caregivers. Currently, she is the Co-Director of the Center for Innovation in Sleep Self-Management funded by NIH, and is involved in several studies that integrate community based participatory approaches that integrate technology to improve sleep health in parent-child dyads living with a chronic health condition. Ward joins as a CSDE affiliate.
- Cameron Whitley– Assistant Professor, Sociology, Western Washington University. Whitley studies issues concerning the environment (climate change, new energy development, sustainability) and wellbeing, science and technology (geoengineering, hydraulic fracturing debates), human-animal relationships (impacts on mental health, etc.), and gender and sexuality (political engagement and environmentalism). He is currently working on a project with National Geographic Society affiliated photographers evaluating how their images influence emotional responses and how different individuals (based on demographic characteristics) respond to distinctive images. Whitley joins CSDE as a regional affiliate.
- Dafeng Xu – Assistant Professor, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance. Xu specializes in data science, and his areas of research include urban and regional policy, immigration policy, and the social and economic history of the United States. His ongoing research is focused on developing and employing data science tools to link individual records between census, administrative, and survey data. Xu joins CSDE as a faculty affiliate.
- Batool Zaidi– Assistant Professor of Sociology, Western Washington University. Zaidi’s research addresses gender inequality in the global South through the analysis of health outcomes, cultural norms, and development projects. She is currently developing a South-South comparative study on violence against women in South Asia and Latin America, through the categories of honor killings and femicidios, respectively. Zaidi joins as a CSDE regional affiliate.
These affiliates bring a wealth of knowledge and unique approaches that enhances our community of demographers and collectively advances population science. We look forward to supporting each of them as they pursue their research. You can learn more about their individual research interests by visiting their affiliate pages, linked above.
If you are interested in becoming an affiliate or you know of someone who should become one, you can invite them to do so by directing them to this page. Affiliate applications are reviewed quarterly, by CSDE’s Executive Committee.
New Article Published by CSDE Affiliate Almquist and Regional Affiliate Ha
CSDE Affiliate Zack Almquist and Regional Affiliate Jasmin Ha with colleagues Guy Abel and Jack Dewaard have just published ‘The Form and Evolution of International Migrant Networks, 1995-2015’ in Population, Space, and Place. They draw upon research techniques on community detection methods to introduce and apply the Information Theoretic Community Detection Algorithm for identifying and studying the geographic boundaries of migration networks. Using a new set of estimates of country-to-country migration flows every 5 years from 1990 to 1995 to 2010-2015, the authors trace the form and evolution of international migration networks over the past 25 years. Consistent with the concept of dynamic stability, they show that the number, size and internal country compositions of international migration networks have been remarkably stable over time; however, they also document many short- term fluctuations. They conclude by reflecting on the spirit of their work in this paper, which is to promote consensus around tools and best practices for identifying and studying international migration networks. To read the article, click here.
CSDE Affiliate Lee and CSDE Alumna Larimore Co-author Study on Black Health Outcomes
CSDE Affiliate Hedwig Lee and CSDE Alumna Savannah Larimore, along with co-authors, recently published an article in Population Research and Policy Review. Employing logistic regression analyses, they examine differences in low birth weight, preterm birth, gestational hypertension, and gestational diabetes by nativity (i.e., US- or foreign-born), region of origin (e.g., Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean), and current US division of residence (e.g., Middle Atlantic, South Atlantic) within the Black population. Using national birth records data from 2013 to 2016 data, their study finds that foreign-born Blacks are at a lower risk for low birth weight, preterm birth, and gestational hypertension, but at an elevated risk for gestational diabetes compared to US-born Blacks. Moreover, the authors find substantial variation in this general pattern across region of origin and division of residence in the US. These findings demonstrate the potential role of migration, context, and selectivity in the health of foreign-born Blacks and demonstrate that national averages mask geographic variation, limiting our understanding of the contributions of these and other social processes to the health of racialized groups in the US. To read the article click here.
Partition Theorem in Populations and its Role in Determining the Stationary Status of a Population
At the CSDE seminar on February 19th, Dr. Arni Rao will present “Partition Theorem in Populations and its Role in Determining the Stationary Status of a Population”. CSDE Regional Affiliate David Swanson will moderate the discussion. Dr. Rao will discuss the importance of the Net Reproductive Rate (NRR) for understanding population change in a timely manner that can inform policy and planning decisions, as well as the importance of understanding variation in groups that are and are not experiencing population growth over time. Dr. Rao is a Professor and Director of the Laboratory for Theory and Mathematical Modeling in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Medical College of Georgia.
Register for Dr. Rao’s Zoom seminar here. This quarter, CSDE is recording the seminar series and posting the links on its website. Visit our site here.
After the seminar, UW Sociology PhD student Neal Marquez will facilitate a graduate student discussion with Dr. Rao. RSVP by emailing him at nmarquez@uw.edu.