When everyone's doing it: The relative effects of geographical context and social determinants of health on teen birth rates.

Geographic disparities in teen birth rates in the U.S. persist, despite overall reductions over the last two decades.

GeoExplainer: A Visual Analytics Framework for Spatial Modeling Contextualization and Report Generation.

Geographic regression models of various descriptions are often applied to identify patterns and anomalies in the determinants of spatially distributed observations. These types of analyses focus on answering why questions about underlying spatial phenomena, e.g.

Spatial distributions in disaster risk vulnerability for people with disabilities in the U.S.

Background: The spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States has centered the role of natural hazards such as pandemics into the public health sphere. The impacts of these hazards disproportionately affect people with disabilities, who are frequently in situations of social, political, or economic disadvantage. Because of these disadvantages, people with disabilities may have less access to necessary resources and services, putting them at risk due to unmet health needs.

A Replication of DiMaggio et al. (2020) in Phoenix, AZ.

This research replicates in Phoenix, Arizona a study originally conducted by DiMaggio et al. (2020) that investigated the associations between positive COVID-19 tests and demographic, socioeconomic, and racial characteristics in New York City at the ZIP Code Tabulation Area level. We extend that work through a conceptual replication that introduces covariates appropriate to Phoenix, AZ.

Reaching a Vulnerable Population: Why Adolescents Participate in the National School Lunch Program.

Purpose: Fourteen percent of households with children under 18 years were food insecure in 2018. However, participation in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is lower among adolescents compared to younger children. This analysis examined, in a national sample of middle and high school students, the reasons why adolescents participate in the NSLP.

Analyzing the Association between Student Weight Status and School Meal Participation: Evidence from the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study.

Childhood obesity remains a pressing public health concern. Children consume a substantial amount of their caloric intake while in school, making the passage of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) in 2010 and the subsequent improvements to the school meal standards a key policy change. Using data from the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study, this paper seeks to re-examine the association between students' ( = 1963) weight status and participation in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) since the implementation of these policy changes to determine whether, and how, this relationship has changed.

Estimating the incidence of unintended births and pregnancies at the sub-state level to inform program design.

Objectives: Unintended (mistimed or unwanted) pregnancies occur frequently in the United States and have negative effects. When designing prevention programs and intervention strategies for the provision of comprehensive birth control methods, it is necessary to identify (1) populations at high risk of unintended pregnancy, and (2) geographic areas with a concentration of need.

Methods: To estimate the proportion and incidence of unintended births and pregnancies for regions in Missouri, two machine-learning prediction models were developed using data from the National Survey of Family Growth and the Missouri Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System.

Disparities in the Healthfulness of School Food Environments and the Nutritional Quality of School Lunches.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA), a public law in the United States passed in 2010, sought to improve the healthfulness of the school food environment by requiring updated nutrition standards for school meals and competitive foods. Studies conducted since the passage of the HHFKA indicate improvements in the food environment overall, but few studies have examined whether these improvements varied by the socioeconomic and racial/ethnic composition of students in schools. To better understand the extent of disparities in the school food environment after HHFKA, this paper examined differences in the healthfulness of school food environments and the nutritional quality of school lunches by the school poverty level and racial/ethnic composition of students using data from the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study.