T A Bruckner
Biographic Data
| ID | 18429 |
|---|---|
| NAME | T A Bruckner |
| GIVEN NAMES | T A |
| FAMILY NAME | Bruckner |
| SIGNATURE | BRUCKNER T A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California, Irvine |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6927-964X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 63 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 99 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 63 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Using a fire-horse cohort to estimate mortality associated with dual inheritance stress
Cash to carrots: Testing food environment mediation of cash transfer effects on children's diet in the Baby's First Years Study
In Utero Selection Echoes Across a Lifetime: Evidence From Historical Utah Populations
The sex ratio at birth in 19th and early 20th century cohorts gauges important demographic selection processes that appear detectable well into older age
Low-risk Cesareans Across the US: A Decomposition of Individual- and County-level Factors by Race/Ethnicity
Non-Hispanic (NH) Black birthing persons show the highest prevalence of low-risk cesareans (30.8%), compared to NH White birthing persons (25.3%). Individual, as well as place-based and ecological factors, may contribute to this racial disparity. We examine individual- and county-level characteristics that contribute to the racial disparity, as well as the extent to which the disparity can be attributed to differences in measured characteristics …
The Secondary Sex Ratio and Male Mortality at Pre‐Reproductive Ages: A Test of Selection In Utero
OBJECTIVES: The secondary sex ratio (i.e., the ratio of male to female live births; hereafter referred to as the SSR) falls in populations encountering ambient stressors. Much theory and some empirical work indicates that males born to low SSR cohorts may be "positively selected" in that excess culling in utero may correspond with greater than expected survival among live-born males in that cohort. We extend prior work by testing, in historical U…
Economic connectivity and clustering: The influence of social connections on maternal and infant health
Recent influential work in the US finds that bridging capital (i.e., friendships across socioeconomic strata) appears to increase upward economic mobility over the life course. Examinations of the role of these social connections on health, however, remain relatively unexplored. We exploit a recent effort which made publicly available ZIP-level measures of bridging capital and bonding capital (i.e., depth of friend networks within the same stratu…
Racial Identification Switching and Health among Mothers in California
Although prior studies indicate that approximately 6 percent of the population will engage in racial identification switching (RIS), no prior research has explored the potential relation between RIS and health outcomes. Using the California birth cohort file from 2005 to 2015, the authors examine RIS among mothers identifying as non-Hispanic (NH) white or NH Black and with at least two live births over the test period ( n = 449,008). Using a sibl…
Trends in Singleton Preterm Birth by Race and Ethnicity: Massachusetts 1975–2019
Hate crimes and psychiatric emergency department visits among Asian Americans
Black emergency department visits for schizophrenia/psychosis following the police killing of George Floyd: An empirical test of “protest psychosis”
In the United States, there exists a large disparity in the diagnosis of schizophrenia between Black and White individuals. Some of the symptoms associated with schizophrenia, such as agitation, delusions, and non-compliance, were previously linked to a now-discontinued condition known as “Protest Psychosis.” This proposed subtype of schizophrenia diagnosis emerged during the 1950s and 1960s in response to racial tensions during the Civil Rights …
Family cash transfers in childhood and birthing persons and birth outcomes later in life
Much literature in the US documents an intergenerational transmission of birthing person and perinatal morbidity in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. A separate line of work indicates that family cash transfers may improve life chances of low-income families well into adulthood. By exploiting a quasi-random natural experiment of a large family cash transfer among a southeastern American Indian (AI) tribe in rural North Carolina, we examine …
Involuntary Psychiatric Commitments Among Non-Western Immigrants During the Muhammad Cartoon Controversy in Denmark
Neighborhood mobility and racial disparities in preterm birth: A sibling study in California
Poverty reduction and childhood opportunity moves: A randomized trial of cash transfers to low-income U.S. families with infants
Dynamic changes in place-based measures of structural racism and preterm birth in the USA
BACKGROUND: Structurally racist systems, ideologies and processes generate and reinforce inequities among minoritised racial/ethnic groups. Prior cross-sectional literature finds that place-based structural racism, such as the Index of Concentration at the Extremes (ICE), correlates with higher infant morbidity and mortality. We move beyond cross-sectional approaches and examine whether a decline in place-based structural racism over time coincid…
Life Expectancy
Life expectancy, the key metric for assessing current population health, measures the mean age of death for a specified population. Scientists use this summary measure to test hypotheses regarding causes of population health and to compare the mortality experience across regions, defined subgroups, and time. Demographers operationalize life expectancy in two ways: by period and by cohort. This entry explores the difference between period life exp…
Male twinning after the 2008 Obama election: A test of symbolic empowerment
The Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children and Birth Outcomes Among Hispanic Mothers in California: A Sibling Control Design
Selection in utero against male twins in the U nited S tates early in the Covid ‐19 pandemic
OBJECTIVES: We aim to contribute to the literature reporting tests of selection in utero. The theory of reproductive suppression predicts that natural selection would conserve mechanisms, referred to collectively as selection in utero, that spontaneously abort fetuses unlikely to thrive as infants in the prevailing environment. Tests of this prediction include reports that women give birth to fewer than expected male twins, historically among the…
Casino-based cash transfers and fertility among the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina: A time-series analysis
Expectations of non-Covid-19 deaths during the pre-vaccine pandemic: A process-control approach
New-signal, prior-response estimates can contribute to evaluating the efficacy of public health programming in reducing non-COVID-19 deaths during the pre-vaccine pandemic
Stress/depression across the Covid-19 pandemic in Denmark
Denmark had low infection rates throughout most of the pandemic, low mortality rates across the entire pandemic, and offered financial aid packages to curb financial strains. Despite this circumstance, initial improvements to mental health during the first lockdown in Denmark were short-lived. Two years of pandemic societal restrictions correspond with deteriorating mental health, as well as a change from a parenthood gap in mental health before …
New York City’s Stop, Question, and Frisk Policy and Psychiatric Emergencies among Black Americans
Excess Injury Mortality in Washington State During the 2021 Heat Wave
Objectives. To determine whether the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave resulted in excess injury (both unintentional and intentional) deaths. Methods. With US death certificate data from December 29, 2013, to July 31, 2021, we generated weekly counts of injury deaths in Washington State and the rest of the country. We used time-series methods to identify excess injury deaths that may have occurred during and following the anomalously warm temperat…
Mental health symptoms following the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol
Economic antecedents of the Swedish sex ratio
Immigrant apprehensions and birth outcomes: Evidence from California birth records 2008-2015
Emergency Department visits for depression following police killings of unarmed African Americans
Symbolic disempowerment and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential election: Mental health responses among Latinx and white populations
The 2016 election of United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump was a political event that may have affected population-level mental health. A prominent theme in the Trump election was anti-immigrant policy that contributed to a racist and xenophobic sociopolitical climate. Applying a symbolic dis/empowerment framework, this study examines whether there was an effect of the Trump election on the mental health of the U.S. population that differed…
Characteristics associated with downward residential mobility among birthing persons in California
We find an elevated risk of strong downward mobility among NH Black and low-SES birthing persons. Future research may identify other factors (e.g., housing affordability) that generate downward residential mobility to identify interventions that promote neighborhood equity
Infant mortality and diminished entelechy in three European countries
Intrauterine stress and male cohort quality: The case of September 11, 2001
Ambient temperature during gestation and cold-related adult mortality in a Swedish cohort, 1915-2002
Green mobility and obesity risk: A longitudinal analysis in California
Frail Males on the American Frontier: The Role of Environmental Harshness on Sex Ratios at Birth across a Period of Rapid Industrialization
While sex ratios at birth (SRB) have been shown to vary within and across populations, after over a century of research, explanations have remained elusive. A variety of ecological, demographic, economic, and social variables have been evaluated, yet their association with SRB has been equivocal. Here, in an attempt to shed light on this unresolved topic within the literature, we approach the question of what drives variation in SRB using detaile…
Income Gains and Very Low-Weight Birth among Low-Income Black Mothers in California
We test the hypothesis suggested in the literature that an acute income gain in the form of the earned income tax credit reduces the odds of a very low-weight birth among low-income non-Hispanic black mothers. We apply ecological time series and supplemental individual-level logistic regression methods to monthly birth data from California between 1989 and 1997. Contrary to our hypothesis, the odds of very low-weight birth increases above its exp…
Income dividends and subjective survival in a Cherokee Indian cohort: A Quasi-Experiment
EBCI: Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; SES: Socioeconomic Status; LTI-Y: Life Trajectory Interview for Youth; GSMS: Great Smoky Mountains Study; SRL: Self-Reported Lifespan; SSS: Subjective Social Status
New York City’s Stop, Question, and Frisk Policy and Psychiatric Emergencies among Black Americans
Excess Injury Mortality in Washington State During the 2021 Heat Wave
Objectives. To determine whether the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave resulted in excess injury (both unintentional and intentional) deaths. Methods. With US death certificate data from December 29, 2013, to July 31, 2021, we generated weekly counts of injury deaths in Washington State and the rest of the country. We used time-series methods to identify excess injury deaths that may have occurred during and following the anomalously warm temperat…
Mental health symptoms following the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol
Psychiatric Emergencies in Los Angeles County During, and After, Initial Covid-19 Societal Restrictions: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis
Emergency department (ED) visits for psychiatric care in the US reportedly declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. This work, however, does not control for strong temporal patterning in visits before the pandemic and does not examine a potential "rebound" in demand for psychiatric care following the relaxation of initial societal restrictions. Here, we examine COVID-19-related perturbations in psychiatric care during and after the 1st stage of soc…
Continuity of Mental Health Care at Community Health Centers and Reduced Emergency Department Visits for Suicidal Ideation/Self-Harm
Understanding periviable birth: A microeconomic alternative to the dysregulation narrative
The Association Between Client Characteristics and Recovery in California’s Comprehensive Community Mental Health Programs
Objectives. In November 2004, California voters passed the Mental Health Services Act, which allocated more than $3 billion for comprehensive community mental health programs. We examined whether these county-level programs, known as “full service partnerships,” promoted independent living arrangements (i.e., recovery) among their clients. Methods. We used Markov chain models to identify probabilities of residential transitions among 8 living arr…
Life Expectancy during the Great Depression in Eleven European Countries
The recent global economic recession has renewed interest in knowing whether a declining economy affects population health. Understanding the extreme case of the Great Depression may inform the current debate as well as theory regarding biological and behavioral adaptations to unwanted economic change. We test the hypothesis, recently suggested in the literature, that period life expectancy at birth improved during the Great Depression. We applie…
Economic antecedents of the Swedish sex ratio
Male lifespan and the secondary sex ratio
Literature speculating on the fetal origins of later life morbidity often invokes the "damaged cohort" theory, i.e., that maternal responses to exogenous shocks induce "stress reactivity" in fetuses and thereby shorten the lifespan of males in utero during stressful times. A rival, or "culled cohort," theory posits that exogenous shocks to gravid females induce spontaneous abortions of frail male fetuses, leaving relatively hardy survivors who en…
The sex ratio and age‐specific male mortality: Evidence for culling in utero
While adverse conditions early in life reportedly predispose individuals to increased mortality in adulthood, controversy remains as to whether exogenous insults in utero, especially among male fetuses, induce similar cohort “damage” in populations. A rival theory postulates that exogenous stressors in gestation may “cull” frail male members of the cohort before birth, leaving a smaller but hardier cohort with improved survival. Recent tests, whi…
Selection in utero: A biological response to mass layoffs
Most research describing the biological response to unemployment appears appropriately motivated by clinical or public health concerns and focuses on death, disease, and medical care. We argue that expanding the work to include other outcomes could contribute to basic science. As an example, we use the response to mass layoffs to discriminate between two explanations of low ratios of male to female live births in stressed populations. One explana…
Infant mortality and diminished entelechy in three European countries
To GEE or Not to GEE: Comparing Population Average and Mixed Models for Estimating the Associations Between Neighborhood Risk Factors and Health
Two modeling approaches are commonly used to estimate the associations between neighborhood characteristics and individual-level health outcomes in multilevel studies (subjects within neighborhoods). Random effects models (or mixed models) use maximum likelihood estimation. Population average models typically use a generalized estimating equation (GEE) approach. These methods are used in place of basic regression approaches because the health of …
Male fetal loss in the U.S. following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
Societal responses to events such as September 11, 2001 do not appear confined only to persons who have ever met the deceased. The fetal death sex ratio in the US population may serve as a sentinel indicator of the degree to which pregnant women react to population stressors
The mental health workforce gap in low- and middle-income countries: A needs-based approach
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the shortage of mental health professionals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). METHODS: We used data from the World Health Organization's Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS) from 58 LMICs, country-specific information on the burden of various mental disorders and a hypothetical core service delivery package to estimate how many psychiatrists, nurses and psychosocial care providers would be n…
Transient cultural influences on infant mortality: Fire‐horse daughters in Japan
OBJECTIVES: Parental investment theory suggests that the quality and quantity of parental care depends, in part, on assessments of whether offspring will survive and yield grandchildren. Consistent with this theory, we hypothesize that parental perception that a birth cohort will have low reproductive success coincides with higher than expected infant mortality in the cohort. We test this hypothesis in industrialized Japan in 1966 when cultural a…
Hormonal evidence supports the theory of selection in utero
OBJECTIVES: Antagonists in the debate over whether the maternal stress response during pregnancy damages or culls fetuses have invoked the theory of selection in utero to support opposing positions. We describe how these opposing arguments arise from the same theory and offer a novel test to discriminate between them. Our test, rooted in reports from population endocrinology that human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) signals fetal fitness, contribut…
The Association Between Client Characteristics and Recovery in California’s Comprehensive Community Mental Health Programs
Objectives. In November 2004, California voters passed the Mental Health Services Act, which allocated more than $3 billion for comprehensive community mental health programs. We examined whether these county-level programs, known as “full service partnerships,” promoted independent living arrangements (i.e., recovery) among their clients. Methods. We used Markov chain models to identify probabilities of residential transitions among 8 living arr…
Life Expectancy during the Great Depression in Eleven European Countries
The recent global economic recession has renewed interest in knowing whether a declining economy affects population health. Understanding the extreme case of the Great Depression may inform the current debate as well as theory regarding biological and behavioral adaptations to unwanted economic change. We test the hypothesis, recently suggested in the literature, that period life expectancy at birth improved during the Great Depression. We applie…
Income Gains and Very Low-Weight Birth among Low-Income Black Mothers in California
We test the hypothesis suggested in the literature that an acute income gain in the form of the earned income tax credit reduces the odds of a very low-weight birth among low-income non-Hispanic black mothers. We apply ecological time series and supplemental individual-level logistic regression methods to monthly birth data from California between 1989 and 1997. Contrary to our hypothesis, the odds of very low-weight birth increases above its exp…
Intrauterine stress and male cohort quality: The case of September 11, 2001
Ambient temperature during gestation and cold-related adult mortality in a Swedish cohort, 1915-2002
Political fragmentation and widening disparities in African-American and white mortality, 1972–1988
From 1972 to 1988, political fragmentation in large urban counties moves positively with the racial/ethnic gap in mortality between whites and African-Americans. We discuss intervening mechanisms through which political fragmentation may disproportionately affect mortality among African-Americans
Life Expectancy
Life expectancy measures the mean age of death for a specified population. Scientists use this summary measure to test hypotheses regarding causes of population health and to compare the mortality experience across regions, defined subgroups, and time. A life table, which includes age‐specific death rates over the entire life course, provides the key measurements to estimate life expectancy. In countries with reliable data, life expectancy shows …
Epidemic cycles and environmental pressure in colonial Quebec
OBJECTIVES: Research on historical populations in Europe finds that infectious disease epidemics appear to induce predictable cycles in age-specific mortality. We know little, however, about whether such cycles also occurred in less dense founder populations of North America. We used high-quality data on the Quebecois population from 1680 to 1798 to examine the extent to which age-specific mortality showed predictable epidemic cycles. We further …
Do local employment centers modify the association between neighborhood urban form and individual obesity
Extensive literature examines the relation between land use patterns and obesity, but less work explores whether local employment centers may reduce obesity. Local employment centers may affect obesity via providing agglomeration benefits such as increased job/transportation opportunities and closer proximity to local facilities/destinations. We utilized a large serial cross-sectional health survey from Los Angeles, California, conducted over thr…
The stillbirth sex ratio as a marker of population health among live‐born males in Denmark, 1835‐1923
OBJECTIVES: We know little about whether an elevated stillbirth sex ratio (ratio of male to female stillbirths) gauges stronger selection in utero against frail male gestations and therefore predicts greater male infant survival. An alternative scenario could involve a "low endowment" case in which pregnancy cohorts show both excess male stillbirths and elevated mortality risk among male live births. We exploit the longest sex-specific stillbirth…
Obesity among black women in food deserts: An “omnibus” test of differential risk
The "omnibus" hypothesis, as forwarded by Ford and Dzewaltowski (2008), asserts that poor-quality food environments differentially affect low- and high-socioeconomic status (SES) populations. Accordingly, we examine, in a large sample of non-Hispanic (NH) black women, whether low access to healthy food corresponds with increased risk of obesity among residents of low- and high-poverty neighborhoods. In addition, we analyze whether any discovered …
Subprime Babies: The Foreclosure Crisis and Initial Health Endowments
The subprime mortgage crisis was a devastating financial shock for many homeowners. This research uses a probabilistic matching strategy to link foreclosure records with birth certificate records from 2006 to 2010 in California to identify birth parents who experienced a foreclosure. Among mothers who did, those issued a loan during the peak of subprime lending from 2005 to 2007 were more Hispanic and socioeconomically disadvantaged than mothers …
Understanding periviable birth: A microeconomic alternative to the dysregulation narrative
Continuity of Mental Health Care at Community Health Centers and Reduced Emergency Department Visits for Suicidal Ideation/Self-Harm
Income dividends and subjective survival in a Cherokee Indian cohort: A Quasi-Experiment
EBCI: Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; SES: Socioeconomic Status; LTI-Y: Life Trajectory Interview for Youth; GSMS: Great Smoky Mountains Study; SRL: Self-Reported Lifespan; SSS: Subjective Social Status
Medicine (49 works) · Demography (40 works) · Population (32 works) · Sociology (26 works) · Psychology (25 works) · Demography (24 works) · Environmental health (21 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (17 works) · Geography (16 works) · Gerontology (16 works)