Subjective wellbeing & mental health
The Happiness Paradox of Birth Order. Sociological Science. [Forthcoming]
This study shows that first-born children have higher income than later-borns, but are not happier. This is an empirical paradox, given the robust positive association between income and happiness documented in the literature.
Genetic Risk of Depression Predicts Negative Evaluations in Social Interactions. Social Science & Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119818
This paper examines reasons for evocative selection in rGE in depression. We examined a real-life interactional setting where raters were blinded to subjects' genetic risk of depression. We show that the genetic risk of depression predicted being evaluated as less cognitively, physically, and socially competent by other people.
Genetic Influences on Depression and Selection into Adverse Life Experiences. Social Science & Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116633
This paper shows that rGE (gene-environment correlation) in depression is a source of selection into negative life experiences that are considered dependent on a person's own behaviors.
Differential Sensitivity to Adversity by Income: Evidence from a Study of Bereavement. Social Science Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2023.102920
This paper shows that higher-income individuals experience a greater change in depressive symptoms following the death of a loved one compared to low-income individuals; explores mechanisms of higher-reactivity among high-income individuals.
Mental Health Effects of Income over the Adult Life Course. Socius. https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231231186072
This paper uses genetic instrumental variables to study the effect of income at three different stages in adulthood.
Getting a Job, Again: New Evidence Against Subjective Well-being Scarring. Social Forces. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaa086
This paper shows that psychological well-being rebounds to baseline levels after transitions from employment-unemployment-reemployment.
The Inequalities of Wellbeing & Income. PhD Dissertation, Stanford University. https://purl.stanford.edu/zx439tk2560
Social determinants of health
Effects of Political Context on Birth Outcomes Across Racial & Ethnic Subgroups in the United States. Socius. [Forthcoming]
The Political Context and Infant Health in the United States. American Sociological Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224211000710
Transition to Fatherhood and the Health of Men. Journal of Marriage and Family. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12732
Attitudes & preferences
The affective bases of socialized preferences. Working paper. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/pkjvy_v1
Happiness Scholarship and Redistributive Preferences. Social Psychology Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/01902725231189258
This paper shows that exposure to information about a causal income-happiness link increases support for redistributive policies when framed negatively (i.e., "money decreases unhappiness") vs. positively ("money buys happiness").
How College Makes Liberals (Or Conservatives). Socius. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023120982435
This paper shows that changes in political identities during the course of college are influenced by the political composition of peer networks.
Open science & metascience
Mass Reproducibility in Psychological Science. https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/344024/1/I4R-DP326.pdf
An Audit of Social Science Survey Experiments. Public Opinion Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfaf052
Advances in Transparency and Reproducibility in the Social Sciences. Social Science Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2022.102770
Measuring the Predictability of Life Outcomes with a Scientific Mass Collaboration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1915006117