News

A new study—authored by DUPRI scholar, S. Malcolm Gillis Distinguished Research Professor of Public Policy, and Director of the Center for Child and Family Policy Jennifer Lansford and a team of co-authors—finds that parental warmth during childhood and adolescence predicts young adults’ beliefs that the world is good, safe, and enticing. Other childhood experiences—such as harsh parenting, low socioeconomic status, and neighborhood danger—demonstrated weak association to these "primal world beliefs." The article was published in the journal Child Development.

The inaugural PAA W. E. B. Du Bois Award in Population Science recognizes a scholar who has a record of sustained and innovative research contributions to the study of race/ethnicity in demography, with a particular focus on demographers engaging in high-impact public-facing work that informs policy and practice.

The annual Social Networks and Health workshop was held May 13-16th in Gross Hall 330 on Duke’s West campus. Partnering with DUPRI, the Professor of Sociology and DUPRI Scholar James Moody invited scholars and researchers from across the country to receive advanced training in social networks methodology, focused on implementation in the health field. Talks focused on both theoretical and implementation/application-focused training, and as this was the ‘Advanced’ year, built upon the training received in the ‘Beginner/Intermediate’ workshop the year prior. The invited speakers were from a multitude of different disciplines, including sociology, population health sciences, criminology, mathematics, ecology & evolutionary biology, OBGYN & reproductive sciences, public health, electrical engineering, and computer science.

DUPRI Director Giovanna Merli and Associate Director Scott Lynch and joined PAA Advocacy Day. Population scientists from 28 states and the District of Columbia met with their congressional delegations to inform them about important population research advances and issues facing the field of demography and demographic data. DUPRI joined Carolina Population Center colleagues to form the North Carolina delegation who met with staff from the offices of Sen. Ted Budd, Sen. Thom Tillis, Rep. Valerie Foushee, and Rep. Gregory Murphy.

The 2nd Annual Population Ecology, Aging, and Health Network (PEcAHN) Meeting was held at Duke on May 1 & 2, 2025. The meeting had 24 attendees from 13 long-term projects join together for the workshop. Attendees gave updates on the work they are doing in population health and aging in rural communities in the US and abroad. The group discussed a large comparative cross-site paper examining the predictors of inflammation and cardiometabolic health within and across populations. Participants then worked together to develop common, shared protocols for measuring physical activity and urbanicity - two critically important determinants of health that are notoriously difficult to measure and compare across populations. The protocols developed will be useful for moving the field of population health forward, particularly for rural populations.

NextGenPop is an undergraduate pipeline program in population research that aims to increase the diversity of the population field and nurture the next generation of population scientists. It is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (R25 HD105602). In June 2024, DUPRI hosted the the 3rd NextGenPop cohort of 21 fellows from 19 universities across the nation for a 2-week, in-person, on-campus summer experience. The fellows also received funding to attend the Population Association of America (PAA) Annual Meeting in Washington, DC from April 10-13. This unique opportunity allowed the fellows to meet population scientists, attend panels, and learn about career paths available to them. Half the fellows had their own original work accepted and presented posters throughout the weekend. Below we summarize their work.

America has a complex history on migration and the role immigrants play in economic development. In the Sanford School’s Policy 360 podcast, Hannah Postel discusses the cycles of migrations, deportations and legal restrictions that mark that history.

From interviewing developers to following people desperate for housing, Ph.D. student Warren Lowell is immersed in housing policy. In a Sanford School podcast, Lowell shares what he’s learned about the obstacles and solutions to addressing housing challenges.

Every year, scholars and students from DUPRI present research papers, prepare professional posters, and serve as panel discussants at Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America. This year's PAA Annual Meeting will take place in Washington, DC from April 10-13. Below is a list of all DUPRI scholars and students participating in PAA sessions. You can also download the list of sessions here.