Associate Professor of Sociology
William Julius Wilson Distinguished Professor
Ph.D., University of Colorado, 2010
Areas
Health and Mortality Disparities, Family, Contextual Effects
Research Interests
I am principally interested in understanding how families and the places that individuals spend time in shape health and mortality disparities. My current projects are focused on better understanding how the social and physical characteristics of the places children and adults live, work, and play impact outcomes such as household food insecurity, child health, and adult mortality; how family formations and socioeconomic resources matter independently and in combination with place-based characteristics for overall health; and how intimate relationships, socioeconomic status, gender, and race / ethnicity, contribute to sexual minority health disparities. My work often involves multi-disciplinary collaborations and has been supported by the Health Disparities Scholar Program at the National Institutes of Health, the University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research, the Foundation for Child Development, and the Houston Endowment.
Selected Recent Publications
Denney, Justin T., Mackenzie Brewer, and Rachel Tolbert Kimbro. “Food Insecurity for Households with Young Children: A Test of Contextual Congruence.” Forthcoming in Social Science & Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113275
Denney, Justin T. and Jason D. Boardman. “Hearing Impairment, Household Composition, Marital Status, and Mortality Among U.S. Adults.” Forthcoming in Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbz157
2020 IPUMS Research Award, Minnesota Population Center
Roth, Adam R., Justin T. Denney, Solmaz Amiri, and Ofer Amram. 2020. “Characteristics of Place and the Rural Disadvantage in Deaths from Highly Preventable Causes.” Social Science & Medicine 245:112689. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112689
Monsivais, Pablo, Solmaz Amiri, Justin T. Denney, and Ofer Amram. 2020. “Area deprivation amplified racial inequities in premature mortality: Analysis of 242,667 deaths in Washington State, USA 2011-2015.” Health & Place 61:102261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2019.102261
Solazzo, Alexa, Bridget K. Gorman, and Justin T. Denney. 2020. “Does Sexual Orientation Complicate the Relationship Between Marital Status and Gender with Self-Rated Health and Cardiovascular Disease?” Demography 57:599-626. https://doi:10.1007/s13524-020-00857-9
Kranjac, Ashley W., Justin T. Denney, Rachel Tolbert Kimbro, Brady S. Moffett, and Keila N. Lopez. 2019. “Child Obesity and the Interaction of Family and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Context.” Population Research & Policy Review 38:347-369. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-018-9504-2
Denney, Justin T., Rachel Tolbert Kimbro and Gregory Sharp. 2018. “Neighborhoods and Food Insecurity in Households with Young Children: A Disadvantage Paradox?” Social Problems 65:342-359. https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spw054
Denney, Justin T., Jarron M. Saint Onge, and Jeffrey A. Dennis. 2018. “Neighborhood Disadvantage and Mortality: Insights for Racial and Ethnic Differences.” Population Research & Policy Review 37:301-321. doi: 10.1007/s11113-018-9461-9
2018 IPUMS Research Award, Minnesota Population Center
Cenegy, Laura Freeman, Justin T. Denney, and Rachel Tolbert Kimbro. 2018. “Family Diversity and Child Health: Where Do Same-Sex Couple Families Fit?” Journal of Marriage and Family 80:198-218. doi:10.1111/jomf.12437
Denney, Justin T., Rachel Tolbert Kimbro, Katherine Heck, and Catherine Cubbin. 2017. “Social Cohesion and Food Insecurity: Insights from the GROW Study.” Maternal and Child Health Journal 21(2): 343-350. doi: 10.1007/s10995-016-2119-5