About

Cynthia Colen is a Chair and Professor of Sociology at The Ohio State University, affiliated with the Institute for Population Research. Her research focuses on health and mortality, with specific interests in childhood lead exposure, adolescent risk-taking behaviors, and racial disparities in mental health outcomes. She has contributed to understanding the potential explanations for recent declines in teen childbearing and has explored racial disparities among African American adolescents. Dr. Colen's work involves analyzing individual-level data to assess these health and social issues, and she has been involved in grant projects such as seed grants related to her research areas.

Research topics

• Demography
• Medicine
• Environmental health
• Gerontology
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Internal medicine
• Pathology
• Geography

Selected publications

• Multigenerational Coresidence and Psychological Distress during Adolescence and Young Adulthood: An Exploration among White, Black, And Hispanic Individuals

  Journal of Health and Social Behavior · 2025-09-16 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Childhood family structures are crucial for long-term health and well-being. However, the effects of an increasingly common family structure-multigenerational households comprising a child, parent(s), and grandparent(s)-remained underexplored. Using panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and its young adult sample (N = 8,230), we examine trajectories of psychological distress among White, Black, and Hispanic adolescents and young adults across three dimensions of early life multigenerational coresidence: presence, duration, and onset. We find that Hispanic children who lived in multigenerational households, especially those beginning coresidence before age 1, reported steeper declines in distress and improved mental health over time. By contrast, multigenerational coresidence was consistently associated with higher distress levels among White adolescents and young adults. We do not find evidence of an association between multigenerational coresidence and Black children's mental health trajectories. These findings highlight potential racial patterns and add to our understanding of racial disparities in health.

  PublisherDOI

• Correction to: Racial Disparities in the Relationship Between Parental Incarceration and Childhood Obesity

  Population Research and Policy Review · 2024-11-04

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Racial Disparities in the Relationship Between Parental Incarceration and Childhood Obesity

  Population Research and Policy Review · 2024-08-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Racial and Economic Segregation Over the Life Course and Incident Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy Among Black Women in California

  American Journal of Epidemiology · 2023-09-28 · 20 citations

  articleOpen access

  Black women in the United States have the highest incidence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) and are disproportionately burdened by its adverse sequalae, compared with women of all racial and ethnic groups. Segregation, a key driver of structural racism for Black families, can provide information critical to understanding these disparities. We examined the association between racial and economic segregation at 2 points and incident HDP using intergenerationally linked birth records of 45,204 Black California-born primiparous mothers (born 1982-1997) and their infants (born 1997-2011), with HDP ascertained from hospital discharge records. Women's early childhood and adulthood neighborhoods were categorized as deprived, mixed, or privileged based on the Index of Concentration at the Extremes (a measure of concentrated racial and economic segregation), yielding 9 life-course trajectories. Women living in deprived neighborhoods at both time points experienced the highest odds of HDP (from mixed effect logistic regression, unadjusted odds ratio = 1.26, 95% confidence interval: 1.13, 1.40) compared with women living in privileged neighborhoods at both time points. All trajectories involving residence in a deprived neighborhood in early childhood or adulthood were associated with increased odds of HDP, whereas mixed-privileged and privileged-mixed trajectories were not. Future studies should assess the causal nature of these associations.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Matter of Time: Racialized Time and the Production of Health Disparities

  Journal of Health and Social Behavior · 2023-06-28 · 18 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  An expansive and methodologically varied literature designed to investigate racial disparities in health now exists. Empirical evidence points to an overlapping, complex web of social conditions that accelerate the pace of aging and erodes long-term health outcomes among people of color, especially Black Americans. However, a social exposure-or lack thereof-that is rarely mentioned is time use. The current paper was specifically designed to address this shortcoming. First, we draw on extant research to illustrate how and why time is a critical source of racial disparities in health. Second, we employ fundamental causes theory to explain the specific mechanisms through which the differential distribution of time across race is likely to give rise to unequal health outcomes. Finally, we introduce a novel conceptual framework that identifies and distinguishes between four distinct forms of time use likely to play an outsized role in contributing to racial disparities in health.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Shades of health: Skin color, ethnicity, and mental health among Black Americans

  Social Science & Medicine · 2022-09-24 · 12 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Big Data to Knowledge Analytics Reveals the Zika Virus Epidemic as Only One of Multiple Factors Contributing to a Year-Over-Year 28-Fold Increase in Microcephaly Incidence

  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2022-07-25 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  During the 2015-2016 Zika Virus (ZIKV) epidemic in Brazil, the geographical distributions of ZIKV infection and microcephaly outbreaks did not align. This raised doubts about the virus as the single cause of the microcephaly outbreak and led to research hypotheses of alternative explanatory factors, such as environmental variables and factors, agrochemical use, or immunizations. We investigated context and the intermediate and structural determinants of health inequalities, as well as social environment factors, to determine their interaction with ZIKV-positive- and ZIKV-negative-related microcephaly. The results revealed the identification of 382 associations among 382 nonredundant variables of Zika surveillance, including multiple determinants of environmental public health factors and variables obtained from 5565 municipalities in Brazil. This study compared those factors and variables directly associated with microcephaly incidence positive to ZIKV and those associated with microcephaly incidence negative to ZIKV, respectively, and mapped them in case and control subnetworks. The subnetworks of factors and variables associated with low birth weight and birthweight where birth incidence served as an additional control were also mapped. Non-significant differences in factors and variables were observed, as were weights of associations between microcephaly incidence, both positive and negative to ZIKV, which revealed diagnostic inaccuracies that translated to the underestimation of the scope of the ZIKV outbreak. A detailed analysis of the patterns of association does not support a finding that vaccinations contributed to microcephaly, but it does raise concerns about the use of agrochemicals as a potential factor in the observed neurotoxicity arising from the presence of heavy metals in the environment and microcephaly not associated with ZIKV. Summary: A comparative network inferential analysis of the patterns of variables and factors associated with Zika virus infections in Brazil during 2015-2016 coinciding with a microcephaly epidemic identified multiple contributing determinants. This study advances our understanding of the cumulative interactive effects of exposures to chemical and non-chemical stressors in the built, natural, physical, and social environments on adverse pregnancy and health outcomes in vulnerable populations.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Framework for Interfacing and Partnering with Environmental Justice Communities as a Prelude to Human Health and Hazard Identification in the Vulnerable Census Tracts of Columbus, Ohio

  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2022-10-25 · 2 citations

  reviewOpen access

  Columbus, Ohio is one of the more prosperous, well-educated, and progressive cities in the United States. However, it ranks as the second worst life expectancy at birth, has a census tract wealth gap (27-year disparity), and one of the higher infant mortality rates in the country. These data suggest that there are likely several high-risk, vulnerable neighborhoods in Columbus with residents experiencing disparate and adverse outcomes. Illustrative of this fact are studies that have examined the social processes and mechanisms through which neighborhood contexts are at the forefront, including exposures to chemical stressors such as particulate matter (PM2.5) as well as non-chemical stressors including violence, social determinants of health, zoning, and land use policies. It is documented that disparate and adverse outcomes are magnified in the vulnerable neighborhoods on the Near East Side as compared to Columbus city proper, Franklin County and/or the state of Ohio. As such, we developed a nuanced community engagement framework to identify potential environmental hazards associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes in those census tracts. The refined framework uses a blended version of traditional community-based participatory research (CBPR) models and is referred to as E6, Enhancing Environmental Endeavors via e-Equity, Education, and Empowerment.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Correction to: Intergenerational Coresidence and Mothers’ Body Weight at Midlife

  Population Research and Policy Review · 2021-03-19

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Structural and Social Determinants of Health Factors Associated with County-Level Variation in Non-Adherence to Antihypertensive Medication Treatment

  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2020 · 23 citations

  • Medicine
  • Environmental health
  • Gerontology

  BACKGROUND: Non-adherence to antihypertensive medication treatment (AHM) is a complex health behavior with determinants that extend beyond the individual patient. The structural and social determinants of health (SDH) that predispose populations to ill health and unhealthy behaviors could be potential barriers to long-term adherence to AHM. However, the role of SDH in AHM non-adherence has been understudied. Therefore, we aimed to define and identify the SDH factors associated with non-adherence to AHM and to quantify the variation in county-level non-adherence to AHM explained by these factors. METHODS: Two cross-sectional datasets, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Atlas of Heart Disease and Stroke (2014-2016 cycle) and the 2016 County Health Rankings (CHR), were linked to create an analytic dataset. Contextual SDH variables were extracted from the CDC-CHR linked dataset. County-level prevalence of AHM non-adherence, based on Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries' claims data, was extracted from the CDC Atlas dataset. The CDC measured AHM non-adherence as the proportion of days covered (PDC) with AHM during a 365 day period for Medicare Part D beneficiaries and aggregated these measures at the county level. We applied confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to identify the constructs of social determinants of AHM non-adherence. AHM non-adherence variation and its social determinants were measured with structural equation models. RESULTS: = 30.0%) of the variation in county-level AHM non-adherence. CONCLUSION: AHM non-adherence varies by geographical location, one-third of which is explained by contextual SDH factors including poverty/food insecurity, weak social supports and healthy built environments.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Arline T. Geronimus

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  14 shared

• Bruce G. Link

  University of California, Riverside

  14 shared

• Marcie S. Rubin

  Columbia University

  12 shared

• John Bound

  11 shared

• Sean Clouston

  General Department of Preventive Medicine

  9 shared

• Darryl B. Hood

  The Ohio State University

  6 shared

• Wansoo Im

  Meharry Medical College

  6 shared

• Kierra S. Barnett

  Nationwide Children's Hospital

  5 shared

Education

• PhD, MPH

  University of Michigan

Awards & honors

• Dr. Colen's Seed Grants: (2016) Childhood Lead Exposure and…
• Seed Grants: (2011) Racial disparities in mental health outc…