» The Study of Population Health

To what extent do individual, family, and neighborhood characteristics influence disparate health outcomes? What are the sources of disparate health outcomes among racial/ethnic minorities and those of lower socioeconomic status? These are some of the questions that drive The Earl Babbie Research Center’s Division for the Study of Population Health at Chapman University.

Our researchers are concerned with the role of familial, social, economic, and environmental contexts that lead to disparate health outcomes. Specifically, we investigate: 1) whether multifaceted determinants of risk persist after considering the sociodemographic characteristics of individuals and the neighborhoods in which they live; 2) whether the risks posed by social and environmental conditions are modified by population characteristics; and 3) the causes and consequences of neighborhood population characteristics on health risks and disparities. Our work appears in high-impact journals, is broadcast on several media outlets, and informs public health policy.

(Above Photo: © Zed Nelson)

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Kranjac, AW, Dinko Kranjac, Zeev Kain, Louis Ehwerhemuepha, Candice Donaldson, and Brooke Jenkins. 2023. “Neighborhood disadvantage and pediatric inpatient opioid prescription patterns.” Journal of Pediatric Nursing [DOI: 10.1016/j.pedn.2023.06.021]

Kranjac, AW, D Kranjac. 2023. “Explaining adult obesity, extreme obesity, and BMI: Five decades of change.” Heliyon 9(5): e16210 [DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16210]

Kranjac, AW, Dinko Kranjac, Zeev Kain, Louis Ehwerhemuepha, Candice Donaldson, and Brooke Jenkins. 2023. “Obesity Heterogeneity by Neighborhood Context in a Largely Latinx Sample.” Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities [DOI: 10.1007/s40615-023-01578-6]

Kranjac AW, Robert L. Wagmiller. 2022. “Attitudinal Change, Cohort Replacement, and the Liberalization of Attitudes about Same-Sex Relationships, 1973-2018.” Sociological Perspectives 65(2): 262–277. [DOI: 10.1177/0731121421994858]

Kranjac AW, Dinko Kranjac, and Olivia Lounsbury. 2022. “Decomposing sex differences in C-reactive protein over time.” American Journal of Human Biology 34(5): E23705. [DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23705]

Kranjac AW, Dinko Kranjac. 2021. “County-level factors that influenced the trajectory of Covid-19 incidence in the New York City Area.” Health Security 19(S1): 1–7 [DOI: 10.1089/hs.2020.0236]

Kranjac AW, Catherine Boyd, Rachel T. Kimbro, Brady S. Moffett, and Keila N. Lopez. 2021. “Neighborhoods matter; but for whom? Heterogeneity of neighborhood disadvantage on child obesity by sex.” Health and Place 68:102534. [DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102534]

Kranjac AW, Dinko Kranjac, Michelle A. Fortier, Pat Patton, Brad Giafaglione, and Zeev Kain. 2021. “Surgical patients’ hospital experience scores: neighborhood context conceptual framework.” Annals of Surgery Open 2(1): e037–040 [DOI: 10.1097/AS9.0000000000000037]

Kranjac AW & Dinko Kranjac. 2021. “Childhood obesity moderates the effect of poverty on academic Achievement.” Psychology in the Schools 58(7): 1266–1283 [DOI: 10.1002/PITS.22497]

Kranjac AW & Dinko Kranjac. 2020. “Decomposing differences in Covid-19-related case-fatality rates across seventeen nations.” Pathogens and Global Health 115(2): 100–107. [DOI: 10.1080/20477724.2020.1868824]

Kranjac AW, Justin T. Denney, Rachel T. Kimbro, et al. 2019. “Child obesity and the interaction of family and neighborhood socioeconomic context.” Population Research & Policy Review 38(3): 347–369. [DOI: 10.1007/s11113-018-9504-2]

Kranjac AW, Robert L. Wagmiller. 2019. “Decomposing trends in child obesity.” Population Research & Policy Review 39: 375–388. [DOI: 10.1007/s11113-019-09544-z]

Kranjac AW. 2018. “School-level normative body mass index environment shapes children’s weight trajectories.” Journal of School Health 88: 91–927. [DOI: 10.1111/josh.12701]

Kranjac AW, Justin T. Denney, Rachel T. Kimbro, et al. 2018. “Neighborhood and social environmental influences on child chronic disease prevalence.” Population & Environment 40(2): 93–114. [DOI: 10.1007/s11111-018-0303-9]

Kranjac AW, Rachel T. Kimbro, Justin T. Denney, et al. 2017. “Comprehensive neighborhood portraits of child asthma disparities.” Maternal and Child Health 21(7): 1552–1562. [DOI: 10.1007/s10995-017-2286-z]

Kranjac AW, Jing Nie, Maurizio Trevisan, and Jo L. Freudenheim. 2017. “Depression and body mass index, differences by education: Evidence from a population-based study of adult women in the U.S. Buffalo-Niagara region.” Obesity Research & Clinical Practice 11: 63–71. [DOI: 10.1016/j.orcp.2016.03.002]

Kranjac AW, Robert L. Wagmiller. 2016. “Decomposing trends in adult body mass index, obesity, and morbid obesity, 1971–2012.” Social Science & Medicine 167: 37–44 [DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.08.026]

Kranjac AW, Robert L. Wagmiller. 2016. “The association between age and obesity over time.” Pediatrics 137(5): 1–12. [DOI: 10.1542/peds.2015-2096]

Kranjac AW. 2015. “The moderating effect of self-efficacy on normal-weight, overweight, and obese children’s math achievement: A longitudinal analysis.” Social Science & Medicine 128: 168–177. [DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.01.007]

The Earl Babbie Research Center at Chapman University and the Institute for Mental Health and Psychological Well-Being at the University of La Verne formed the Health in Populations and Places (HiPP) Research Collaborative that examines the social and contextual determinants of physical and psychological health. The HiPP collaborates with academics, physicians, data scientists, and non-profits at the University of California at Irvine School of Medicine, the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC), the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis at SUNY Albany, the Neurobiology of Aging Research Collaborative at TCU, and Habitat for Humanity Greater Los Angeles.

Opportunity Starts at Home Legislation

Deborah Shim (‘21)
Olivia Lounsbury (‘21)

» The Study of Population Health

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