About

Michelle Frisco is a Professor of Sociology and Demography and the Department Head of the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Pennsylvania State University. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from The University of Texas at Austin, an M.A. in Sociology from Baylor University, and a B.A. in Administration of Justice from The Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests focus on the health and well-being of young people, including issues related to obesity among youth and adolescents, health disparities, and mental health. She also studies how schools influence young people's lives, examining family and relationships, health, and life course perspectives. As a co-funded faculty member of the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI), her work contributes to understanding the social determinants of health and the factors shaping youth development and health outcomes.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Demography
• Medicine
• Gerontology
• Developmental psychology

Selected publications

• Gender Differences in Dietary Quality and Dietary Acculturation among Mexican Children of Immigrants

  Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health · 2026-04-03

  articleOpen access

  Childhood obesity-a risk factor for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, other non-communicable diseases and adverse psychosocial experiences-is especially high among children of Mexican immigrants, and among these children, boys have an obesity risk nearly twice as high as girls. Yet little research has examined whether there are also gender differences in the proximate determinants of obesity for this population. This study uses structural equation modeling and the 2003/4-2017/18 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to investigate gender differences in a key proximate determinant of obesity-diet-among adolescents with Mexican immigrant parents. We examine (1) whether there are gender differences in dietary quality and dietary acculturation, (2) whether gender differences in the settings in which adolescents eat explain gender differences in these outcomes, and (3) whether these patterns vary by parental acculturation (household language). We find that among adolescents in Spanish-speaking households, boys have significantly lower dietary quality and significantly higher dietary acculturation than girls and that gender differences in some meal settings outside the home contribute to these differences. We do not find statistically significant gender differences in the dietary outcomes or meal settings for adolescents in English-speaking households. Results highlight the importance of considering how gender and social contexts shape the health behaviors of children of Mexican immigrants.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Would the elimination of obesity and smoking reduce U.S. racial/ethnic/nativity disparities in total and healthy life expectancy?

  UNC Libraries · 2025-08-09

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Why Do Black Women Have a Higher Obesity Prevalence Than White Women in the United States?

  Demography · 2025-12-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Although there are large Black‒White obesity inequities among women in the United States, the factors that explain this racialized health inequity are not well understood, most likely because previous research has generally focused on a limited number of adult obesity determinants. We posit that more fully explaining Black‒White female obesity inequities requires greater attention to multiple life course stages and obesity determinants, including upstream and proximate determinants. Results from this study support this notion. Our analysis of data from a national sample of Black and White women finds that socioeconomic and social disadvantages, such as living in disadvantaged neighborhoods and single-parent households as adolescents and having lower adult household income, explain the majority of group differences in obesity prevalence. Population health initiatives aimed at tackling racialized inequities in obesity will be most effective if they focus on systemic and structural determinants rather than individual-level behavioral factors alone. Moreover, interventions that target individuals earlier in the life course would help to alleviate Black‒White obesity inequities among women in the United States.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Do high school experiences shape midlife body weight?

  Social Science & Medicine · 2025-01-16 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Corrigendum to “Do high school experiences shape midlife body weight?” [Soc. Sci. Med. Volume 367, February 2025, 117693]

  Social Science & Medicine · 2025-03-19

  erratumOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Relationship Between Body Weight and Primary Healthcare Visits

  Population Research and Policy Review · 2023-06-02 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Mental “Weight” of Discrimination: The Relationship between Perceived Interpersonal Weight Discrimination and Suicidality in the United States

  Journal of Health and Social Behavior · 2023-09-30 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Extant research has investigated the relationship between body weight and suicidality because obesity is highly stigmatized, leading to social marginalization and discrimination, yet has produced mixed results. Scholars have speculated that factors associated with body weight, such as weight discrimination, may better predict suicidality than body weight itself. We consider this possibility among a sample of 12,057 adult participants ages 33 to 43 in Wave V of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health through investigation of the relationships between weight discrimination and two dimensions of suicidality-suicide ideation and attempts. We also examine gender as a moderator of these relationships. We find that weight discrimination is positively associated with both suicide ideation and attempts, and this relationship is similar among men and women. Our findings underscore the need to address issues of weight discrimination in our society to better promote mental well-being.

  PublisherDOI

• Issue Information

  Journal of Marriage and the Family · 2022-01-01

  paratextOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Racial and Ethnic Disparities in U.S. Obesity Prevalence: What Have We Learned from Demographic and Population Health Science?

  International handbooks of population · 2022-01-01 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The relationship between obesity and suicide ideation among young adults in the United States

  SSM - Population Health · 2022-04-27 · 17 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The prevalence of both obesity and suicide ideation has risen in the last several decades among young adults in the United States (U.S.). Obesity is highly stigmatized in the U.S. and leads to discrimination and societal rejection, which suggests that obesity may increase the risk of suicide ideation. However, no U.S. population-representative studies to date have investigated the relationship between body weight and suicide ideation among young adults. We make this contribution by analyzing data from Wave III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). Our results indicate obesity is not related to suicide ideation among young men or young women and overweight young men have lower odds of suicide ideation than normal weight young men. We speculate that these findings may be attributable to the very high U.S. overweight and obesity prevalence, which has made obesity more common despite stigmatization.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R24HD041025

  NIH · $11.9M · 2016

Frequent coauthors

• Jennifer Van Hook

  Pennsylvania State University

  12 shared

• Molly A. Martin

  7 shared

• Chandra Muller

  7 shared

• Susana Quirós

  University of Missouri Health System

  4 shared

• Jason N. Houle

  Dartmouth College

  4 shared

• Carlyn Graham

  3 shared

• Ronald J. Angel

  The University of Texas at Austin

  3 shared

• Lindsey Wilkinson

  Portland State University

  3 shared