Kammi K Schmeer
Biographic Data
| ID | 123476 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kammi K Schmeer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kammi K |
| FAMILY NAME | Schmeer |
| SIGNATURE | SCHMEER K K |
| AFFILIATIONS | The Ohio State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9015-9343 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 32 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 179 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Profiles of Family Stressors Among Low-Income Families with Young Children
Findings show applicability of the Family Stress Model to low-income families with young children, and indicate that these families are diverse in terms of the stressors they experience, characterized by three distinct profiles. In this regard, low-income families should not be viewed monolithically, but rather as experiencing variability in the stressors they face
Intergenerational adverse childhood experiences and adolescent migration aspirations in Nicaragua
Adolescents' aspirations are strong predictors of their future outcomes, including later migration experiences. Adversity also shapes aspirations for and decisions about the future. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are measures of early exposure to adversity and may be associated with migration aspirations, though this relationship is understudied. Given high rates of gender-based violence, single-headed households, and economic insecurity, N…
Assessing the well-being of partners of people found guilty of perpetrating genocide in Rwanda
This article draws upon 89 in-person surveys with Rwandan women (ages 26-75) whose partners were incarcerated for genocide and examines how these women explain participation in the violence. We first engage in exploratory factor analysis of reasons cited for perpetrating genocide, which reveals (1) a factor comprised of internal reasons for participation, including greed and hatred; (2) a factor of external reasons, such as peer pressure or coerc…
Exposure to Armed Conflict and HIV Risk Among Rwandan Women
This article focuses on the link between past exposure to violence and a critical public health issue in sub-Saharan Africa: HIV-positive status in women of reproductive age. Specifically, we use biosocial data from the Rwandan Demographic and Health Survey (2005‒2014) to assess how the timing and intensity of women's exposure to the war and genocide in Rwanda (1990‒1994) may be associated with their HIV status. We find significant differences in…
Family Disruption and Parenting During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Using unique data from an economically and racially diverse sample of 448 caregivers with young children (ages 4-9 years) in Ohio, we assess multiple sources of family social and economic disruptions and their associations with parenting activities during the COVID-19 stay-at-home order. Caregivers reported extensive social and economic challenges during this time, while also increasing (on average) their time spent in play/learning activities. T…
Understanding family life during the Covid ‐19 shutdown
Parent time investments in their children's learning during a policy-mandated shutdown: Parent, child, and household influences
Tranquility is a child with a full belly: Pathways linking food insecurity and maternal mental distress in Nicaragua
A growing body of literature identifies food insecurity (FI) as a critical social determinant of mental health. Across settings, quantitative studies report positive correlations between FI and mental distress, especially among women. Less understood are the pathways by which FI undermines women's mental well-being. To address this gap, we conducted six focus group discussions with 45 Nicaraguan mothers. Thematic analysis identified three themes …
Age at first sex and adult mental health in Nicaragua
Research suggests age at first sex, particularly early sexual debut, is associated with mental distress in adolescence. However, we know little about whether mental health deficits related to age at first sex last into adulthood, and whether this differs b
Conditions of Poverty, Parent–Child Interactions, and Toddlers’ Early Language Skills in Low-Income Families
Family contexts and sleep during adolescence
Sleep deprivation among adolescents has received much attention from health researchers and policymakers. Recent research indicates that variation in sleep duration from night to night is associated with multiple health outcomes. While there is evidence that sleep deprivation is socially patterned, we know little about how social contexts are associated with nightly sleep variation during adolescence (a life course stage when nightly sleep variat…
Racial-ethnic Disparities in Inflammation: Evidence of Weathering in Childhood
Building on the weathering hypothesis, we advance health disparities research by assessing racial-ethnic differences in low-grade inflammation, a marker of chronic stress exposure, in young children. Using nationally representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (N = 6,652) and logistic regression, we find an increased risk of low-grade inflammation among Hispanic and African American children compared to white chi…
Multipartner Fertility in Nicaragua: Complex Family Formation in a Low-Income Setting
CONTEXT: Multipartner fertility (having children with more than one partner) is an important topic in demographic research, but little is known about its incidence and correlates in low-income settings, where rates may be high because of poverty, union instability and early childbearing. METHODS: Data from the 2011-2012 Encuesta Nicaragüense de Demografía y Salud were used to calculate the prevalence of multipartner fertility among 8,320 mothers …
Household food insecurity and child health
Food insecurity, the lack of consistent access to sufficient quality and quantity of food, affects an estimated 800 million people around the world. Although household food insecurity is generally associated with poor child nutrition and health in the USA, we know less about household food insecurity and child health in developing countries. Particularly lacking is research assessing how associations between household food insecurity and children…
Food insecurity and maternal mental health in León, Nicaragua: Potential limitations on the moderating role of social support
Home sweet home? Home physical environment and inflammation in children
Maternal resources and household food security: Evidence from Nicaragua
Objective Women (especially mothers) are theorized as critical to reducing household food insecurity through their work and caregiver roles. The present study tests these assumptions, assessing how maternal economic and social resources are associated with food insecurity in households with young children. Design Data from a population-based sample of households was collected in León, Nicaragua ( n 443). Data include a newly validated measure of …
Educational Attainment and Timing to First Union Across Three Generations of Mexican Women
Intra‐population variation in anemia status and its relationship to economic status and self‐perceived health in the Mexican Family Life Survey: Implications for bioarchaeology
Recently scholars have advocated for the use of a critical biocultural approach in bioarchaeology, where osteological and dental markers of stress are used to understand the broader biosocial context of past populations. However, the ability to accomplish this task rests on the assumption that ultimate‐level environmental stressors and well‐being in the past can be reconstructed from the prevalence of pathologies in skeletal collections. Here we …
Chaos as a social determinant of child health: Reciprocal associations
Family structure and child anemia in Mexico
Dietary inequalities of mother-child pairs in the rural Amazon: Evidence of maternal-child buffering
Early childhood economic disadvantage and the health of Hispanic children
Union Transitions and Changes in BMI among Adults in Mexico
This study utilizes nationally representative, longitudinal data from the Mexico Family Life Survey to examine the associations between union transitions and changes in body mass index (BMI) among adults in Mexico. Results from change score regression models ( N = 11,339) indicate larger BMI gains for those entering a union than for those remaining single, net of baseline weight status and socioeconomic controls. Further, a significant moderating…
Family structure and obesity in early childhood
Dietary inequalities of mother-child pairs in the rural Amazon: Evidence of maternal-child buffering
Father absence due to migration and child illness in rural Mexico
Chaos as a social determinant of child health: Reciprocal associations
Early childhood economic disadvantage and the health of Hispanic children
Family structure and obesity in early childhood
The Child Health Disadvantage of Parental Cohabitation
This study uses Fragile Families data (N = 2,160) to assess health differences at age 5 for children born to cohabiting versus married parents. Regression analyses indicate worse health for children born to cohabiting parents, including those whose parents stably cohabited, dissolved their cohabitation, and married, than for children with stably married parents. The findings also suggest that stable cohabitation is no better for child health than…
Family structure and child anemia in Mexico
Food insecurity and maternal mental health in León, Nicaragua: Potential limitations on the moderating role of social support
Household Income during Childhood and Young Adult Weight Status: Evidence from a Nutrition Transition Setting
This article explores whether household income at different stages of childhood is associated with weight status in early adulthood in a nutrition transition setting (a developing country with both underweight and overweight populations). I use multinomial logistic regression to analyze prospective, longitudinal data from Cebu, Philippines. Results suggest that increasing prenatal income is associated with lower risk of being underweight at age 2…
Racial-ethnic Disparities in Inflammation: Evidence of Weathering in Childhood
Building on the weathering hypothesis, we advance health disparities research by assessing racial-ethnic differences in low-grade inflammation, a marker of chronic stress exposure, in young children. Using nationally representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (N = 6,652) and logistic regression, we find an increased risk of low-grade inflammation among Hispanic and African American children compared to white chi…
Home sweet home? Home physical environment and inflammation in children
Educational Attainment and Timing to First Union Across Three Generations of Mexican Women
Married women's resource position and household food expenditures in Cebu, Philippines
This study analyzes how married women use their access to and control over economic resources to increase household spending on food. Using data from Cebu, Philippines, where child malnutrition is high, this study finds that the more income women earn and control, the more households spend on food. Women's control over their income is particularly important for increasing food expenditures in the poorest households. In richer households, women wh…
Health insurance and child mortality in Costa Rica
Intra‐population variation in anemia status and its relationship to economic status and self‐perceived health in the Mexican Family Life Survey: Implications for bioarchaeology
Recently scholars have advocated for the use of a critical biocultural approach in bioarchaeology, where osteological and dental markers of stress are used to understand the broader biosocial context of past populations. However, the ability to accomplish this task rests on the assumption that ultimate‐level environmental stressors and well‐being in the past can be reconstructed from the prevalence of pathologies in skeletal collections. Here we …
Union Type and Depressive Symptoms Among Mexican Adults
Diversity in union type is increasing around the world as cohabitation and higher order unions become more prevalent in developing and developed countries. This necessitates a more nuanced understanding of how different union types relate to individual well-being across social settings. In this study, the authors analyze nationally-representative data from Mexico in cross-sectional and change models to evaluate differences in depressive symptoms …
Family Disruption and Parenting During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Using unique data from an economically and racially diverse sample of 448 caregivers with young children (ages 4-9 years) in Ohio, we assess multiple sources of family social and economic disruptions and their associations with parenting activities during the COVID-19 stay-at-home order. Caregivers reported extensive social and economic challenges during this time, while also increasing (on average) their time spent in play/learning activities. T…
Union Transitions and Changes in BMI among Adults in Mexico
This study utilizes nationally representative, longitudinal data from the Mexico Family Life Survey to examine the associations between union transitions and changes in body mass index (BMI) among adults in Mexico. Results from change score regression models ( N = 11,339) indicate larger BMI gains for those entering a union than for those remaining single, net of baseline weight status and socioeconomic controls. Further, a significant moderating…
Changing Sibship Size and Educational Progress During Childhood: Evidence From the Philippines
This paper investigates the association between changes in coresident sibship size and children's educational progress in the Philippines. When conceptualized at the household level, sibship size is a dynamic aspect of the family context with potentially important implications for resources needed to support a child's education. Individual-level change models suggested that adding younger siblings in early childhood (from birth to age 9) and losi…
Parent time investments in their children's learning during a policy-mandated shutdown: Parent, child, and household influences
Health insurance and child mortality in Costa Rica
Married women's resource position and household food expenditures in Cebu, Philippines
This study analyzes how married women use their access to and control over economic resources to increase household spending on food. Using data from Cebu, Philippines, where child malnutrition is high, this study finds that the more income women earn and control, the more households spend on food. Women's control over their income is particularly important for increasing food expenditures in the poorest households. In richer households, women wh…
Father absence due to migration and child illness in rural Mexico
Changing Sibship Size and Educational Progress During Childhood: Evidence From the Philippines
This paper investigates the association between changes in coresident sibship size and children's educational progress in the Philippines. When conceptualized at the household level, sibship size is a dynamic aspect of the family context with potentially important implications for resources needed to support a child's education. Individual-level change models suggested that adding younger siblings in early childhood (from birth to age 9) and losi…
Household Income during Childhood and Young Adult Weight Status: Evidence from a Nutrition Transition Setting
This article explores whether household income at different stages of childhood is associated with weight status in early adulthood in a nutrition transition setting (a developing country with both underweight and overweight populations). I use multinomial logistic regression to analyze prospective, longitudinal data from Cebu, Philippines. Results suggest that increasing prenatal income is associated with lower risk of being underweight at age 2…
Union Type and Depressive Symptoms Among Mexican Adults
Diversity in union type is increasing around the world as cohabitation and higher order unions become more prevalent in developing and developed countries. This necessitates a more nuanced understanding of how different union types relate to individual well-being across social settings. In this study, the authors analyze nationally-representative data from Mexico in cross-sectional and change models to evaluate differences in depressive symptoms …
The Child Health Disadvantage of Parental Cohabitation
This study uses Fragile Families data (N = 2,160) to assess health differences at age 5 for children born to cohabiting versus married parents. Regression analyses indicate worse health for children born to cohabiting parents, including those whose parents stably cohabited, dissolved their cohabitation, and married, than for children with stably married parents. The findings also suggest that stable cohabitation is no better for child health than…
Early childhood economic disadvantage and the health of Hispanic children
Union Transitions and Changes in BMI among Adults in Mexico
This study utilizes nationally representative, longitudinal data from the Mexico Family Life Survey to examine the associations between union transitions and changes in body mass index (BMI) among adults in Mexico. Results from change score regression models ( N = 11,339) indicate larger BMI gains for those entering a union than for those remaining single, net of baseline weight status and socioeconomic controls. Further, a significant moderating…
Family structure and obesity in early childhood
Chaos as a social determinant of child health: Reciprocal associations
Family structure and child anemia in Mexico
Dietary inequalities of mother-child pairs in the rural Amazon: Evidence of maternal-child buffering
Intra‐population variation in anemia status and its relationship to economic status and self‐perceived health in the Mexican Family Life Survey: Implications for bioarchaeology
Recently scholars have advocated for the use of a critical biocultural approach in bioarchaeology, where osteological and dental markers of stress are used to understand the broader biosocial context of past populations. However, the ability to accomplish this task rests on the assumption that ultimate‐level environmental stressors and well‐being in the past can be reconstructed from the prevalence of pathologies in skeletal collections. Here we …
Maternal resources and household food security: Evidence from Nicaragua
Objective Women (especially mothers) are theorized as critical to reducing household food insecurity through their work and caregiver roles. The present study tests these assumptions, assessing how maternal economic and social resources are associated with food insecurity in households with young children. Design Data from a population-based sample of households was collected in León, Nicaragua ( n 443). Data include a newly validated measure of …
Educational Attainment and Timing to First Union Across Three Generations of Mexican Women
Household food insecurity and child health
Food insecurity, the lack of consistent access to sufficient quality and quantity of food, affects an estimated 800 million people around the world. Although household food insecurity is generally associated with poor child nutrition and health in the USA, we know less about household food insecurity and child health in developing countries. Particularly lacking is research assessing how associations between household food insecurity and children…
Food insecurity and maternal mental health in León, Nicaragua: Potential limitations on the moderating role of social support
Home sweet home? Home physical environment and inflammation in children
Multipartner Fertility in Nicaragua: Complex Family Formation in a Low-Income Setting
CONTEXT: Multipartner fertility (having children with more than one partner) is an important topic in demographic research, but little is known about its incidence and correlates in low-income settings, where rates may be high because of poverty, union instability and early childbearing. METHODS: Data from the 2011-2012 Encuesta Nicaragüense de Demografía y Salud were used to calculate the prevalence of multipartner fertility among 8,320 mothers …
Family contexts and sleep during adolescence
Sleep deprivation among adolescents has received much attention from health researchers and policymakers. Recent research indicates that variation in sleep duration from night to night is associated with multiple health outcomes. While there is evidence that sleep deprivation is socially patterned, we know little about how social contexts are associated with nightly sleep variation during adolescence (a life course stage when nightly sleep variat…
Racial-ethnic Disparities in Inflammation: Evidence of Weathering in Childhood
Building on the weathering hypothesis, we advance health disparities research by assessing racial-ethnic differences in low-grade inflammation, a marker of chronic stress exposure, in young children. Using nationally representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (N = 6,652) and logistic regression, we find an increased risk of low-grade inflammation among Hispanic and African American children compared to white chi…
Conditions of Poverty, Parent–Child Interactions, and Toddlers’ Early Language Skills in Low-Income Families
Tranquility is a child with a full belly: Pathways linking food insecurity and maternal mental distress in Nicaragua
A growing body of literature identifies food insecurity (FI) as a critical social determinant of mental health. Across settings, quantitative studies report positive correlations between FI and mental distress, especially among women. Less understood are the pathways by which FI undermines women's mental well-being. To address this gap, we conducted six focus group discussions with 45 Nicaraguan mothers. Thematic analysis identified three themes …
Age at first sex and adult mental health in Nicaragua
Research suggests age at first sex, particularly early sexual debut, is associated with mental distress in adolescence. However, we know little about whether mental health deficits related to age at first sex last into adulthood, and whether this differs b
Medicine (26 works) · Psychology (25 works) · Demography (19 works) · Developmental psychology (18 works) · Geography (17 works) · Population (17 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Environmental health (15 works) · Economics (14 works) · Socioeconomic status (12 works)