Justin T. Denney, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Associate Director, Urban Health Program, Kinder Institute for Urban Research

Department of Sociology, MS-28
Rice University
6100 S. Main Street
Houston, TX 77005-1892

Office: SH 376
Telephone: 713-348-5749
Fax: 713-348-5296

Email: jtdenney@rice.edu

Curriculum Vitae:     Denney _ April 2013      

Courses
Spring 2013

SOCI 101 Introduction to Sociology
SOCI 492 Directed Honors Research

Areas of Interest

• Health Disparities and Health Lifestyles
• Mortality
• Contextual Effects

Biography

Justin Denney (Ph.D., 2010, University of Colorado) is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Rice University. As a health researcher with sociological and demographic training, Justin is principally interested in identifying individual and structural conditions that jointly contribute to health and mortality inequalities. Justin’s work and collaborations within and across disciplines have led to published articles in leading scholarly journals, including the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Journal of Marriage and Family, Annual Review of Sociology, Social Science Research, Social Science & Medicine, and Demography. These publications have focused on both domestic and international settings and have addressed topics such as the effects of family formation and socioeconomic status on individual health and mortality risks, neighborhood contributors to child and adult health, and the effects of nation-level social and economic development on gaps in unhealthy behaviors by socioeconomic status.

Justin is currently involved in multiple projects aimed broadly at clarifying the effects of context on individual health and mortality prospects and hopes his work can inform public policy and ultimately lead to healthier populations.

Recent Publications

Denney, Justin T., Bridget K. Gorman, and Cristina B. Barrera. 2013. “Families, Resources, and Adult Health: Where Do Sexual Minorities Fit?” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 54:46-63. doi: 10.1177/0022146512469629  

Kimbro, Rachel Tolbert and Justin T. Denney. “Neighborhood Context and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Young Children’s Obesity: Structural Barriers to Interventions.” Social Science & Medicine forthcoming. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.09.032   

Denney, Justin T., Robert McNown, Richard G. Rogers, and Steven Doubilet. “Stagnating Life Expectancies and Future Prospects in an Age of Uncertainty.” Social Science Quarterly forthcoming.DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2012.00930.x  

2012 Pampel, Fred C., Justin T. Denney, and Patrick M. Krueger. “Obesity, SES, and Economic Development: A Test of the Reversal Hypothesis.” Social Science & Medicine 74(7):1073-1081. 

2012 Kimbro, Rachel Tolbert, Justin T. Denney, and Sarita Panchang. “Individual, Family, and Neighborhood Characteristics and Children’s Food Insecurity.” Journal of Applied Research on Children 3(1):Article 8.

2011 Pampel, Fred C. and Justin T. Denney. “Cross-National Sources of Health Inequality: Education and Tobacco Use in the World Health Survey.” Demography 48(2):653-674.

2010     Denney, Justin T. “Family and Household Formations and Suicide in the United States.” Journal of Marriage and Family 72(1):202-213.

2010     Denney, Justin T., Richard G. Rogers, Robert A. Hummer, and Fred C. Pampel. “Education Inequality in Mortality: The Age and Gender Specific Mediating Effects of Cigarette Smoking.” Social Science Research 39(4):662-673.

2010     Pampel, Fred C., Patrick M. Krueger, and Justin T. Denney. “Socioeconomic Disparities in Health Behaviors.” Annual Review of Sociology 36:349-370.

2009     Denney, Justin T., Richard G. Rogers, Patrick M. Krueger, and Tim Wadsworth. “Adult Suicide Mortality in the United States: Marital Status, Family Size, Socioeconomic Status, and Differences by Sex.” Special Issue on Health Policy and Healthy Populations, Social Science Quarterly 90(5):1167-1185.