About Us
Louise Hawkley (above) is the Associate Director of the Social Neuroscience Laboratory and a Senior Research Scientist with the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience and the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago. Hawkley's recent research examines the physiological effects of social isolation and loneliness.
Jung-Hwa Ha (above), is an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. Ha studies the associations between social support, widowhood, and well-being among older adults.
Mario Small (above), Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago, published work on culture studies in poverty research.
Melissa Gilliam (above) is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics/Gynecology and Pediatrics and the Chief of Family Planning at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Gilliam's recent publications concern contraceptive use among adolescents.
Marshall Chin (above), Professor in the Department of Medicine, recently published works concerning health disparities across race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.
Kerwin Charles (above with Director Kathleen Cagney), Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor, Harris School and Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research, recently published work on the effects of male incarceration on women and the marriage market.
Gabriella Conti (above), Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Chicago Department of Economics, is a new Research Affiliate with the PRC. Conti examines the evolution of health inequalities over the life course.
The History of the Chicago PRC
The Population Research Center at NORC and the University of Chicago, now in its 28th year, is an interdisciplinary research center designed to facilitate high-quality population research conducted by its researchers. From the early 1940s through the early 1970s, Chicago had an outstanding population group in sociology under the leadership of Philip Hauser, Donald Bogue, and Evelyn Kitagawa. This center of activity was revived in 1983 with a new P-30 Population Center. Since then, the staff of population researchers has grown from twelve to more than 40.
Growth within the Population Research Center has come from researchers in economics, psychology, business, public policy, medicine, and social services administration. This diversification in part reflects a broadening in all population centers and reflects a consistent trend at Chicago. The PRC has always worked at the margins of what was considered to be traditional demography, and as a result our center has helped expand the domain of the field. For example, we have placed less emphasis on the demographic methods featured in other population centers than on statistical methods adopted from the field of labor economics, including event-history analysis, and we have stressed the importance of understanding selection bias and censoring. We have also researched determinants of fertility decisions and their dynamics, timing, and spacing rather than more traditional fertility analyses. Though the research occasionally may have appeared to be on the periphery of demography, over time it has helped to redefine the domain more broadly.
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PRC Newletters
Recent Publications
Cacioppo, John T., Hawkley, L.C.; Thisted, R.A. (2010). Perceived Social Isolation Makes Me Sad: Five-Year Cross-Lagged Analyses of Loneliness and Depressive Symptomology in the Chicago Health, Aging and Social Relations Study. Psychology and Aging, 25(2): 453-463. PMID: 20545429
Charles, Kerwin Kofi; Luoh, Ming Ching. (2010). Male Incarceration, The Marriage Market and Female Outcomes. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 92(3): 614-627. doi: 10.1162/REST_a_00022
Peek, M.E.; Odoms-Young, A.; Quinn, M.T.; Gorawara-Bhat, R.; Wilson, S.C.; Chin, Marshall H. (2010). Race and Shared Decision-Making: Perspectives of African-Americans with Diabetes. Social Science and Medicine, 71(1): 1-9. PMID: 20409625
Anglewicz, Philip A.; Bignami-Van Assche, Simona; Clark, Shelley; Mkandawire, James. (2010). HIV Risk Among Currently Married Couples in Rural Malawi: What Do Spouses Know About Each Other? AIDS and Behavior, 14(1): 103-112.
Fogel, Robert W. (2010). $123,000,000,000,000 – This is What Economic Hegemony Looks Like. A Nobel Winning Economist Shows How China Will Make it Happen. Foreign Policy, 177: 70-76.
Cunha, Flavio; Heckman, James J.; Schennach, Susanne M. (2010). Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation. Econometrica, 78(3): 883-931. doi: 10.3982/ECTA6551
Kim, Jibum; Kang, Jeong-han; Kim, Seokho; Smith, Tom; Son, Jaesok; Berktold, Jennifer. (2010). Comparison between Self-administered Questionnaire and Computer-assisted Self-interview for Supplemental Survey Nonresponse. Field Methods, 22(1): 57-69. doi: 10.1177/1525822X09349925
Small, Mario; Harding, David; Lamont, Michèle. (2010). Reconsidering Culture and Poverty. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 629(1): 6-27.
Ludwig, Jens. (2010). The Costs of Crime. Criminology and Public Policy, 9(2): 307-311. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-9133.2010.00628.
Duncan, G.; Ziol-Guest, K.; Kalil, Ariel. (2010). Early Childhood Poverty and Adult Attainment, Behavior, and Health. Child Development, 81: 292-311. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01396.
Contact Us
For general information about PRC and the Demography Workshop contact Adelle Hinojosa, the office manager for NORC's Academic Research Centers, at hinojosa-adelle@norc.org or 773.256.6315.
Director Kate Cagney can be reached at kcagney@health.bsd.uchicago.edu or 773.256.6341.
Assistant Director Kathleen Parks can be reached at parks-kathleen@norc.org or 773.256.6302.
Program Coordinator and Webmaster Katherine Morris can be reached at morris-katherine@norc.org or 773.256.6346.