News and Social Media Coverage | ISSUES | The Ohio State University

New Publication: Profiles of Stressful Life Experiences in Pregnancy

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We are excited to announce a new publication from the ISSUES Lab!

Profiles of stressful life experiences in pregnancy: a latent class approach linking early childhood adversity, intimate partner coercive control, and material hardship to adverse birth outcomes

Gia Elise Barboza-Salerno & Taylor Harrington

Published August 31, 2026 in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (Open Access)

Abstract

Acute antenatal stressful life events (SLEs) during pregnancy are well-established risk factors for adverse birth outcomes. However, little is known about how distinct constellations of antenatal SLEs, shaped by early adversity, material hardship, and intimate partner coercive control, combine to influence perinatal health.

Data were drawn from 5,280 participants in the Kansas Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. Using latent class analysis, five distinct stress profiles were identified:

Family Member Illness and Death (16.3%)
Multiple Overlapping Stressors (5.2%)
Financial Insecurity (11.2%)
Residential Instability and Family Conflict (8.7%)
Low Stress (58.6%)

Compared with the Low Stress class, individuals in all high-risk classes had significantly higher odds of reporting ACEs, IPV, material hardship, and cigarette use before pregnancy. The Multiple Overlapping Stressors class showed the greatest risk of low birth weight, small for gestational age, and preterm birth.

Key Takeaway

Tailoring perinatal interventions to specific SLE profiles, particularly for individuals with histories of ACEs and IPV, may reduce poor birth outcomes.

Download PDF | View Publication

Gia's Journey through Oceania and the 2026 ISPCAN Conference in Melbourne, Australia

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Dr. Gia Barboza-Salerno recently traveled through Oceania and presented at the 2026 ISPCAN World Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect in Melbourne, Australia (August 24–26, 2026).

Explore their full journey, including stops along the way, conference highlights, and reflections on the trip in the interactive feature below.

View Gia’s Journey through Oceania

Congratulations to Keith Warren and Gia Barboza-Salerno for Completing the Agent-Based Modeling Certificate

Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We are proud to announce that Keith Warren and Gia Barboza-Salerno have successfully completed the Santa Fe Institute’s Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling certificate course through abm.complexityexplorer.org! 🎓

Agent-Based Modeling is a powerful computational method for simulating the actions and interactions of autonomous agents including individuals, households, and organizations in order to understand how macro-level patterns emerge from micro-level behaviors. ABM is particularly well-suited for studying complex social systems such as neighborhood dynamics, health behavior spread, child welfare intervention cascades, and community-level resilience.

The addition of ABM to the ISSUES Lab’s methodological toolkit opens exciting new avenues for our research on structural inequality, environmental justice, and social determinants of health.

Congratulations to Keith and Gia on this outstanding achievement! We look forward to seeing how these new computational skills enrich the lab’s work.

Congratulations to Malcolm McCarthy for Presenting at the American Psychological Association 2026 Annual Convention

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We are thrilled to congratulate Malcolm McCarthy, an undergraduate psychology student in the ISSUES Lab, for presenting his first-authored research poster at the American Psychological Association (APA) 2026 Annual Convention, held August 6-8, 2026 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC!

Malcolm’s poster, titled:

“How Multiple Environmental Factors Influence Mental Health Outcomes”

explores how neighborhood-level environmental conditions including greenspace exposure and suicide death concentrations shape mental health and suicide risk across census tracts in Cook County, Illinois. The study integrates spatial data and statistical modeling to disentangle the complex relationships between depression burden, environmental predictors, and suicide mortality.

Key Findings

Neighborhoods with higher depression burden were not the same neighborhoods with higher suicide mortality, highlighting that these are distinct spatial phenomena.
Higher greenspace predicted greater depression while also being associated with reduced suicide incidence.
Walkability and greenspace together influenced the co-location of depression and suicidality.
Suicide locations were closer to greenspace boundaries than random control points, and suicide risk increased within 1 km of nearby greenspace.

Policy Implications

The research points to actionable environmental design strategies such as accessible greenspace, improved walkability, and targeted community support services as levers for reducing mental health disparities in urban areas.

Co-authored with Dr. Gia Barboza-Salerno and Dr. Karla Shockley-McCarthy, Malcolm’s presentation was part of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) poster session (Division 9).

📄 Download the Poster

This is an outstanding achievement for an undergraduate researcher. Malcolm’s presentation reflects the caliber of work being done in the ISSUES Lab and his dedication to evidence-based science in service of community wellbeing. We are incredibly proud of you, Malcolm!

Winner of the Urban Science Best Paper Award: Uncovering Spatial Patterns of Residential Settlements, Segregation, and Vulnerability of Urban Seniors

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We are pleased to announce that our paper, “Uncovering Spatial Patterns of Residential Settlements, Segregation, and Vulnerability of Urban Seniors Using Geospatial Analytics and Modeling Techniques”, published in Urban Science (July 2024), has been selected as the winner of the Urban Science Best Paper Award.

The award was determined by the committee based on an overall evaluation of the originality and significance of the papers, considering citations and downloads. Congratulations to the author team!

New Publication: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Non-Fatal Self-Inflicted Firearm Injuries

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract

Nonfatal self-inflicted firearm injuries represent an important and understudied public health concern in the United States. We analyzed nationally representative data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System–Firearm Injury Surveillance Study (NEISS-FISS), 2000–2021, to characterize nonfatal self-inflicted firearm injuries among U.S. adults aged 18–64 years. Emergency department (ED) narratives were combined using text mining and an elastic net (LASSO) classification model to augment structured surveillance data. Among 7,362 unweighted cases (representing approximately 260,602 ED visits, 58% were classified as probable unintentional discharges, whereas approximately 10% were probable suicide attempts. Among cases with complete race and ethnicity data, Non-Hispanic White (NHW; 69.2%), Non-Hispanic Black (NHB; 23.2%), and Hispanic (7.6%) individuals comprised the primary analytic groups. Narrative analysis substantially increased detection of contextual factors, particularly alcohol involvement among Hispanic patients (12.0% to 20.1%). NHB patients had the highest proportion of lower-extremity injuries (51%), while Hispanic patients had the highest prevalence of craniofacial injuries (26%). The LASSO model effectively distinguished terms associated with probable suicide attempts from unintentional firearm discharges based on narrative language. Findings highlight limitations of structured intent coding within NEISS-FISS and demonstrate the value of narrative for improving characterization of firearm injury circumstances, revealing distinct racial and ethnic group patterns, to inform more tailored prevention strategies.

Plain-Language Summary

This study analyzes nonfatal, self-inflicted firearm injuries in the United States over a 22-year period (2000-2021) using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS-FISS). Because structured database codes often fail to capture the context or intent behind a self-inflicted discharge, the research team used text mining and a machine learning (LASSO) classification model to analyze the unstructured clinical narratives written by emergency department staff.

The results show that while 58% of visits were likely unintentional discharges (accidents), 10% were probable suicide attempts. The narrative text mining revealed distinct, racially disparate patterns of injury: Non-Hispanic Black patients suffered the highest proportion of lower-extremity injuries (51%), while Hispanic patients had the highest rates of craniofacial injuries (26%) and a significant association with alcohol involvement (increasing from 12% in coded data to 20% in narrative data). This highlights the value of using natural language processing to analyze emergency department notes for better injury prevention and public health surveillance.

Congratulations to Dr. Amy Watson-Grace for receiving the prestigious Presidential Fellowship

Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Congratulations to Dr. Amy Watson-Grace for receiving the prestigious Presidential Fellowship! This fellowship recognizes her outstanding academic achievement and promising research directions.

Congratulations to Olivia McLucas for being awarded a scholarship to study statistics from the Colleges of Arts and Sciences

Sun, 10 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Congratulations to Olivia McLucas for being awarded a scholarship to study statistics from the Colleges of Arts and Sciences! This award supports her continued studies and contributions to spatial statistics.

Congratulations to Hexin Yang and Taylor Harrington who have recently become PhD candidates

Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Congratulations to Hexin Yang and Taylor Harrington who have recently become PhD candidates! We look forward to their continued research contributions.

Welcome to our new Graduate Research Assistants joining the ISSUES Lab!

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The ISSUES Lab is excited to welcome our new Graduate Research Assistants joining us for the upcoming academic term. We look forward to working together on advanced spatial modeling projects!

Dr. Barboza-Salerno Addresses Grand Challenge to Prevent Gun Violence

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Dr. Gia Barboza-Salerno addresses the Grand Challenge to Prevent Gun Violence in a feature by the College of Social Work. Read more about the initiatives to address gun violence on the College of Social Work blog.