Courtney Boen
@courtneyboen.bsky.social
3.8K followers 1.3K following 130 posts
Sociologist-demographer at Brown University. Structural & sociopolitical drivers of population health.
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Reposted by Courtney Boen
wrigleyfield.bsky.social
New podcast episode where I talk about what's going on with mortality in the US

A wide-ranging discussion of what happened before the pandemic & what's happened since then; racial disparities and how to get our heads around their scope; why things might be going so badly for Millennials & Gen Zers
Prof. Elizabeth Wrigley-Field Discusses Excess Deaths
Because the US death rate has exceeded that of 21 other high income countries for over four decades, an estimated 14.7 million US lives have been lost since1980.
www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com
Reposted by Courtney Boen
csnrec.bsky.social
job

TENURE-TRACK ASSISTANT PROFESSOR POSITION IN HEALTH AND THE LIFE COURSE OR WORK AND THE ECONOMY

Department of Sociology, Western University

csn-rec.ca/job-postings...

@westernu.ca #cdnsoci
courtneyboen.bsky.social
The high of putting finishing touches on your #PAA abstract for a newer, exciting project that you are 100% committed to and engaged in, while your older, longstanding, unfinished projects languish in despair.
A meme showing a man (labeled ME) looking provocatively at a woman (labeled NEW SIDE PROJECT) while several other women (labeled ALL MY OTHER UNFINISHED PROJECTS) stare at the man with a disgusted face.
Reposted by Courtney Boen
karenguzzo.bsky.social
Very excited to announce that @srhayford.bsky.social, @lesja.bsky.social, and I will be guest-editing a special volume of @prpr-journal.bsky.social on "Contemporary Pronatalism in Demographic Context"! Submissions due March 1, 2026. link.springer.com/collections/...
Contemporary Pronatalism in Demographic Context
Participating journal: Population Research and Policy Review

Call for Papers

Low and declining birth rates across the world have consequences for countries’ population size and structure. Concerns over the potential economic effects of population aging have spurred many countries to engage in efforts to raise birth rates. At the same time, there is growing concern about the social and cultural causes and consequences of low birth rates. Pronatalism – an ideology based on the belief that birth rates are too low, and societies should work to raise them in the interest of economic productivity and cultural preservation – has re-emerged as an increasingly visible and powerful force across different settings. The dynamics of low fertility – such as fertility decline, postponement, and changing patterns of family formation – have been common topics in population science over the last 25 years, but pronatalism has received considerably less attention from the field.

This Special Issue will provide an opportunity for population scientists to contribute to the conversations about pronatalism throughout the world. We welcome critical, theoretical, descriptive, and empirical submissions that explicitly focus on some aspect of pronatalism. Further research is needed on the evidentiary base upon which pronatalism rests; the social, political, and cultural inspirations and implications of pronatalism; and the support for, and effects of, pronatalist policies. Evaluation of alternative approaches (besides raising birth rates) for addressing changes in population size and composition is also warranted. Submissions that discuss the causes and consequences of low fertility but do not directly engage with pronatalism fall outside of the scope of this issue.
courtneyboen.bsky.social
Looking forward to joining the BU Sociology Seminar Series tomorrow, where I’ll be sharing recent work on the links between state violence & population health, focusing on the case of three strikes laws and their impacts on racialized patterns of birth outcomes in the US.
Poster for the BU Sociology Seminar Series, where Courtney Boen will talk about “State Violence and Population Health.”
Reposted by Courtney Boen
jpkhl.bsky.social
Quite possibly one of the best presentations on how to conduct research. It is by Peter WG Tennant from the University of Leeds, UK and focusses on modern causal inference methods.

More on it here: youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Reposted by Courtney Boen
theatlantic.com
“How can we build, in the United States, a system where aging is not a privilege of the wealthy or the powerful, right, but something that all of us deserve?” the researcher Courtney Boen asks at #TAF25.

Watch her conversation with @rossandersen.bsky.social: bit.ly/46nmbaF
Reposted by Courtney Boen
theatlantic.com
Persistent stressors that are difficult to manage, such as concerns about affording rent or relying on Medicaid when it’s under threat, leave people in a heightened state, the researcher Courtney Boen tells @rossandersen.bsky.social—“and that erodes the body’s systems.” bit.ly/46nmbaF #TAF25
Reposted by Courtney Boen
drheatherfarmer.bsky.social
I wanna signal boost this - I am looking to recruit a prospective PhD student to join my Stress and Health Equity lab at the University of Delaware in HDFS. My research concerns biopsychosocial mechanisms of health across the life course with an emphasis on stress and coping.
courtneyboen.bsky.social
One week from today! 😅
courtneyboen.bsky.social
Thrilled to be speaking at the Atlantic Festival in NYC this September, where I’ll be talking about The Future of Aging. See the agenda and get passes (in-person and virtual attendance) at theatlanticfestival.com. #TAF25 @theatlantic.com
courtneyboen.bsky.social
Thank you! (And yeesh!)
courtneyboen.bsky.social
Totally wild. A sociology journal. Whew.
courtneyboen.bsky.social
A paper of mine that has been under review (at the same journal) since November 2023 (22 months!) was just accepted and 🥳🥂🥹

But also 😵‍💫😓😒
Reposted by Courtney Boen
atheendar.bsky.social
1/ #Policies shape our #health.

But why?

We usually think it has to do with how policies change material resources (e.g., access to food, health care, etc) and opportunities.

In @nejm.org, we argue that policies can also affect health by shaping social #narratives.

www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Public Policies, Social Narratives, and Population Health | NEJM
Public policies, by way of the social narratives they reinforce, can affect health by mechanisms that are independent of any effects on resources and opportunities.
www.nejm.org
Reposted by Courtney Boen
courtneyboen.bsky.social
🚨 Job! 🚨

Brown Sociology & the Watson School of International & Public Affairs are hiring a TT assistant professor whose research focuses on social policy (broadly conceived).

Apply by 9/15: apply.interfolio.com/172655

Happy to chat about life at Brown, etc!
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
courtneyboen.bsky.social
🚨 Job! 🚨

Brown Sociology & the Watson School of International & Public Affairs are hiring a TT assistant professor whose research focuses on social policy (broadly conceived).

Apply by 9/15: apply.interfolio.com/172655

Happy to chat about life at Brown, etc!
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
Reposted by Courtney Boen
profhajaryazdiha.bsky.social
✍️ In grad school, @courtneyboen.bsky.social and I talked often about the emotions that seemed to undergird racism. Trayvon, Tamir, Mike Brown and too many more changed us. Ten years later, our findings in @sfjournal.bsky.social: academic.oup.com/sf/advance-a...
Reposted by Courtney Boen
courtneyboen.bsky.social
🚨 New paper 🚨

In the latter half of the 20th c, states in the US passed massive suites of “tough-on-crime” sentencing policies.

In this paper, we investigated how (& why) these policies shaped pop health, esp racialized patterns of birth outcomes in the US.

track.smtpsendmail.com/9032119/c?p=...
Heterogeneous and racialized impacts of state incarceration policies on birth outcomes in the United States
Abstract. While state incarceration policies have received much attention in research on the causes of mass incarceration in the United States, their roles
track.smtpsendmail.com
courtneyboen.bsky.social
Amazing - thank you for sharing these!!
courtneyboen.bsky.social
I love these descriptive plots (rich description always has me 🥰). Would be super interesting to see this by birth cohort (as you suggest here).