Marcy Carlson & Leigh Senderowicz awarded major NICHD funding 

Congratulations to Marcy Carlson & Leigh Senderowicz, who were both awarded NICHD funding for their projects this fall!

Carlson along with Paula Fomby & Peter Fallesen were awarded an R01 “Generational Overlap: Changing Demography, Shared Lifetimes, and Family Resources.”

Abstract: Kinship ties form the bedrock of societies and provide meaning in terms of roles, obligations, and responsi- bilities. Generational overlap in the form of shared lifetimes represents a fundamental condition guiding whether and how kin relationships may develop and the extent to which resources are shared. Yet, we know little about the prevalence, duration, or life course timing of generational overlap, how it varies by socioeco- nomic status, and how it may potentially influence individual health and wellbeing. Generational overlap is con- sequential because it offers an important perspective for observing the demographic constraints on multigener- ational family investments in children. We propose to provide new information about the overlap in shared life- times for grandchildren and grandparents across two industrialized countries – the U.S. and Denmark. Both countries have experienced declines and delays in fertility, lengthening life expectancies, and notable educa- tional expansion in the 20th century, but these have occurred on different timelines, to different degrees, and within different social policy regimes. We use harmonized data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Danish population register, the Add Health Parent Study and the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe to evaluate generational overlap and its implications across historical time. We consider three genera- tions – grandparents (G1), parents (G2), and grandchildren (G3) and focus on grandparents born since 1912. We address three specific aims: 1) Provide a descriptive portrait of the prevalence and length of generational overlap for grandparents (G1) and grandchildren (G3) in the U.S. and Denmark using an innovative age-pe- riod-cohort approach; 2) Explicate the role of educational expansion in shifting generational overlap, including the specific case of within-family intergenerational mobility where diminished generational overlap may be an unanticipated `cost’ of intergenerational mobility; 3) Document the social class gradient in grandparents’ life course position (employment status, health, and proximity to kin) arising from the timing and duration of gener- ational overlap and describe the intergenerational exchanges of time, money, and care that result – and for Denmark, consider subsequent health/wellbeing for G1-G3. We attend to further variation by gender, family structure, and (for the U.S.) race/ethnicity. In sum, shared lifetimes among grandparents, parents and grand- children represent a key aspect of how kinship ties shape individual life courses. We explore how the duration, quality, and consequences of these shared lifetimes are shaped by demographic processes across genera- tions. This project will be led by an outstanding team of established collaborators who are leaders in the fields of family demography and social inequality and who possess the methodological skill and expert knowledge of each data source to achieve the study’s aims. These findings have important implications for the intergenera- tional transmission of inequality, as well as potential resource demands on governments and families.

Senderowicz was awarded a K01 for her project “Contraceptive Autonomy: A Mixed-Methods Approach to Developing a Novel Family Planning Measure.”

Abstract: Contraceptive autonomy – people’s ability to decide for themselves what they want in regard to contraceptive use, and to realize that decision – is essential for reproductive health and wellbeing. The primary goal of this proposal is to develop, refine, and test a contraceptive autonomy indicator that measures the extent to which family planning programs respect and promote free, full, and informed contraceptive decision-making. The longer-term objective of this research is to incorporate a concise survey module for this indicator into existing population-based surveys for routine, standardized, and comparable monitoring across time and place. Improved measurement of contraceptive autonomy can create new health systems incentives for respectful, rights-based family planning. Specific aims of this project include 1) Developing a novel contraceptive autonomy indicator that maximizes information and minimizes respondent burden via formal psychometric analysis of novel survey data from Burkina Faso; 2) Assessing the transportability of “contraceptive autonomy” across diverse sociocultural contexts; and 3) Test and refine the updated autonomy indicator in Nepal and Kenya with cognitive interviews. To meet Aim 1, the PI will use a first-of-its-kind dataset from Burkina Faso with novel survey questions on informed contraceptive decision-making, full access to a broad contraceptive method mix, and free contraceptive choice. To achieve Aims 2 and 3, the PI will collaborate with leading researchers in Nepal and Kenya to collect new data, using semi-structured in-depth and cognitive interviews with a diverse sample of women to understand how notions of autonomy differ across context, and gather pilot data to inform a future multi-site validation study. The goal of the training and career development portion of this grant is to foster the independent research career of Dr. Leigh Senderowicz. Dr. Senderowicz is an emerging scholar of patient-centered family planning and global health metrics. With the guidance of mentors Dr. Daniel Bolt, Dr. Jenny Higgins, Dr. Corinne Rocca and Dr. Claire Wendland, Dr. Senderowicz will pursue a program of training in latent variable modeling, transnational comparative qualitative analysis, survey scale-up and research translation, and professional development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. These training activities will grow her methodological repertoire and enhance her career as an independent reproductive health scholar. The proposed research is poised to make a substantial impact on global reproductive health, helping to expose reproductive health disparities, and provide new data to inform equitable, person-centered reproductive health programs.