Research

Dr. Jones studies the linkages between residence and health. He also explores racial variation in both residence and health as a unique contribution to science. Although he focuses on health and well-being across various stages of the life course, he relies on sociological theories to understand how place and race affect health and illness. As a methodologist and statistician, Dr. Jones utilizes population data collected at various levels to demonstrate variation in how space is related to health.

To learn more about his research, refer to Dr. Jones's Google Scholar page:

Socio-behavioral mechanisms of health inequities

Mechanisms such as the frequency/duration of moves and socioeconomic indicators (such as education) have been key to Dr. Jones’s research in order to understand why health inequities are unevenly distributed in the population, and how these health inequities are reproduced across generations. Publications illustrating this line of research follow:

Forth. The mental health consequences of parental incarceration: Evidence from a nationally representative longitudinal study of

adolescents through adulthood

2022. Relationship among interpersonal stressors, social support buffers, and obesity in adulthood 14 years later

2022. Social media and use of electronic nicotine delivery systems among school-going adolescents in a rural distressed

Appalachian community

2022. Housing stability and the residential context of the COVID-19 pandemic

2022. Exploring patterns of the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems among adolescents in high-risk Appalachian (U.S.A.)

communities

2018. Race, socioeconomic status, and health during childhood: A longitudinal examination of racial/ethnic differences in parental

socioeconomic timing and child obesity risk

2018. Parental socioeconomic instability and child obesity

2016. Intergenerational educational attainment, family characteristics, and child obesity

2015. Residential instability and obesity over time: The role of the social and built environment

2015. Residential mobility and trajectories of adiposity among adolescents in urban and non-urban neighborhoods

2014. Lifecourse socioeconomic status and cardiovascular illness in Latin America

2013. Segregation and cardiovascular illness: The role of individual and metropolitan socioeconomic status

Contextual, environmental, and geographic dimensions of health

As an urban sociologist, Dr. Jones explores contextual, environmental, and geographical dimensions of health. He studies how physical characteristics (e.g., parks, physical activity-promoting resources) and social characteristics (e.g., racial residential segregation and metropolitan levels of foreclosure) are associated with various health outcomes. Contextually, Dr. Jones has taken US literature on health and tested its applicability in international contexts. Below are publications illustrating this line of research:

2022. Pollution and the pandemic: Explaining differences in COVID-19 rates across 146 US communities

2022. Neighborhood and behavioral effects on weight gain across immigrant generations: Evidence from the National Longitudinal

Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health)

2022. The relationship between inclusionary zoning policies and population health

2021. Disparities in the distribution of COVID-19 testing sites in Black and Latino areas in New York City

2021. Ecological associations between inclusionary zoning policies and cardiovascular disease risk prevalence: An observational

study

2021. The co-existence of diabetes and subclinical atherosclerosis in rural central Appalachia: Do residential characteristics matter?

2020. Exploring associations between susceptibility to the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems and e-cigarette use among

school-going adolescents in rural Appalachia

2020. Mortgage possessions, spatial inequality, and obesity in large US metropolitan areas

2018. The associated risk factors for coronary artery calcium in asymptomatic patients with and without diabetes in rural central

Appalachia

2018. Diabetes, subclinical atherosclerosis and multiple cardiovascular risk factors in hard-to-reach asymptomatic patients

2018. Geographic and individual correlates of subclinical atherosclerosis in an asymptomatic rural Appalachian population

2016. Immigrant neighborhood concentration, acculturation, and obesity among young adults

2015. Foreclosure is not an equal opportunity stressor: How inequality fuels the adverse health implications of the nation's financial

crisis

2015. Residential segregation and diabetes risk among Latinos

2015. Neighborhood racial composition, institutional socialization, and intraracial feelings of closeness among black Americans

2015. Neighborhood disadvantage, physical activity barriers, and physical activity among African American breast cancer survivors

2015. Residential instability and obesity over time: The role of the social and built environment

2014. Lifecourse socioeconomic status and cardiovascular illness in Latin America

2013. Segregation and cardiovascular illness: The role of individual and metropolitan socioeconomic status

2013. Black-White residential segregation and diabetes status: Results from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

2010. Differences in tobacco use between Canada and the United States

2008. Rural, urban and suburban differences in coronary heart disease among Blacks and Whites in the US

Racial and social patterning of health outcomes

Broadly, Dr. Jones considers race and ethnicity as a social construct that has real social and health ramifications. In this realm, his research focuses specifically on Latinx, but these social and health disparities exist in the US and beyond. Dr. Jones’s overall goal is to provide evidence that can help eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in many social outcomes, including health. Publications illustrating this line of research follow:

2022. Association between e-cigarette use behaviors and perceived harmfulness of e-cigarettes and anxiety/depression symptoms

among black/African American adults

2022. Between and within sexual identity-group differences in asthma prevalence in the U.S.

2021. Neighborhood perceptions and residential mobility

2021. Examining the relationship between social support and interracial divorce in Louisiana

2018. Race, socioeconomic status, and health during childhood: A longitudinal examination of racial/ethnic differences in parental

socioeconomic timing and child obesity risk

2016. Immigrant neighborhood concentration, acculturation, and obesity among young adults

2015. Residential segregation and diabetes risk among Latinos

2015. Neighborhood racial composition, institutional socialization, and intraracial feelings of closeness among black Americans

2015. Neighborhood disadvantage, physical activity barriers, and physical activity among African American breast cancer survivors

2014. Depression, race, gender and covenant marriage: An analysis of newly married couples

2014. Lifecourse socioeconomic status and cardiovascular illness in Latin America

2013. Black-White residential segregation and diabetes status: Results from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

2012. Disability, health and generation status: How Hispanics in the US fare in late life

2011. Income, homeownership and residential assorting among Latinos in the US

2010. Stability of men's interracial first unions: A test of educational differentials and cohabitation history

2006. Race and the ‘I Have a Dream’ legacy: Exploring predictors of positive civil rights attitudes