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In the News: Jennifer Karas Montez

States’ COVID-19 Restrictions were Associated with Increases in Drug Overdose Deaths in 2020

Douglas A. Wolf, Shannon M. Monnat, Jennifer Karas Montez, Emily Wiemers, and Elyse Grossman
This brief summarizes the findings of a paper that used national data to identify how states’ COVID-19 policies affected drug overdose rates among U.S. adults ages 25-64 during the first year of the pandemic.
May 2, 2024

10 Ways to Better Understand How Shifting State Policy Contexts Affect Americans’ Health

Jennifer Karas Montez

“10 Ways to Better Understand How Shifting State Policy Contexts Affect Americans’ Health,” authored by University Professor Jennifer Karas Montez, was published in the Milbank Quarterly.

April 24, 2024

Montez Cited in Washington Post Article on the Impact of States’ Policies on Life Expectancy

The differences in state policies directly correlate to those years lost, said Jennifer Karas Montez, director of the Center for Aging and Policy Studies and author of several papers that describe the connection between politics and life expectancy.

October 17, 2023

Maxwell Sociologists Honored and Elected to Leadership Positions at ASA Annual Meeting

Prema Kurien and Janet M. Wilmoth received awards, and several faculty colleagues were elected to roles in the American Sociological Association. 

October 4, 2023

Maxwell Sociologists Receive $1.8 Million From the NIA to Study Midlife Health and Mortality

The research team led by Jennifer Karas Montez and Shannon Monnat hopes to better understand how state policies and local economic conditions impact health and mortality rates.

September 21, 2023

ACA Medicaid Expansions Did Not Significantly Improve Maternal Morbidity

Pinka Chatterji, Hanna Glenn, Sara Markowitz, and Jennifer Karas Montez
This data slice summarizes findings from a study that tested whether ACA Medicaid expansions helped reduce severe maternal morbidity.
August 30, 2023

Electoral Democracy and Working-Age Mortality

Jennifer Karas Montez, Kent Jason Cheng, Jacob M. Grumbach

"Electoral Democracy and Working-Age Mortality," co-authored by University Professor Jennifer Karas Montez and social science Ph.D. student Kent Cheng, was published in The Milbank Quarterly.

July 10, 2023

Democratic Erosion Predicts Rising Deaths from Drug Poisoning and Infectious Disease

Jennifer Karas Montez, Kent Jason G. Cheng, and Jacob M. Grumbach
This brief summarizes a study examining how changes in electoral democracy in the 50 states predicted changes in the risk of death among adults ages 25-64 during 2000-2019.
June 22, 2023

Montez Quoted in Boston Globe Article on Life Expectancy and Where People Live

In one study, University Professor Jennifer Karas Montez and other researchers found that, if every state simply implemented the same policy environment as Connecticut, “The U.S. would increase its life expectancy by roughly two years,” she says. “That is a massive increase.”

April 24, 2023

Montez Quoted in Washington Post Article on Politics, Policy and Increasing Mortality Rates

University Professor Jennifer Karas Montez says “state policy knobs are a lever that we could use to really turn this country around and stop this alarming—just horrible when you think about it—increase in the risk of dying before age 65.”

December 28, 2022

Monnat and Montez Talk to US News About Their Research on Link Between Policy and Mortality Rates

“State policies, which have been relatively ignored in research on explanations for U.S. mortality trends, turn out to be really important for understanding geographic disparities in mortality,” Shannon Monnat, professor of sociology, tells U.S. News & World Report.

November 2, 2022

Montez Discusses New Research on Link Between Policy and Mortality Rates With NBC News, USA Today

If states had adopted liberal policies across the board, University Professor Jennifer Karas Montez and her co-authors calculated that 171,030 lives would have been saved in 2019 alone; on the flip side, conservative policies in all states would have led to an additional 217,635 working-age deaths.

October 28, 2022

U.S. state policy contexts and mortality of working-age adults

Jennifer Karas Montez, Nader Mehri, Shannon M. Monnat, Jason Beckfield, Derek Chapman, Jacob M. Grumbach, Mark D. Hayward, Steven H. Woolf, Anna Zajacova

"U.S. state policy contexts and mortality of working-age adults," co-authored by sociologists Jennifer Karas Montez and Shannon Monnat, was published by PLoS ONE.

October 27, 2022

See related: Health Policy, Longevity

Conservative State Policies Contribute to Higher Mortality Rates among Working-age Americans

Jennifer Karas Montez, Nader Mehri, Shannon Monnat
This study examined how state policies on criminal justice, taxes, environment, firearms, marijuana, health care, labor, and tobacco were associated with the risk of dying among working-age adults from 2000 to 2019.
October 25, 2022

Allowing Cities to Mandate Employer Paid Sick Leave Could Reduce Deaths among Working-Age Adults

Douglas A. Wolf, Jennifer Karas Montez, Shannon M. Monnat
This brief describes how working-age mortality rates from several external causes of premature death from 1999 to 2019 may have been lower if states had not preempted cities and counties from mandating paid sick leave.
September 23, 2022

U.S. State Preemption Laws and Working-Age Mortality

Douglas Wolf, Jennifer Karas Montez, Shannon Monnat

"U.S. State Preemption Laws and Working-Age Mortality," co-authored by Maxwell professors Douglas Wolf, Jennifer Karas Montez and Shannon Monnat, was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

September 1, 2022

See related: Health Policy, Longevity

Maxwell Faculty Research on Paid Sick Leave, Mortality Rate Cited by CBS News, CTV News

"U.S. State Preemption Laws and Working-Age Mortality," co-authored by Maxwell professors Douglas Wolf, Jennifer Karas Montez and Shannon Monnat, was featured in CBS News and CTV News articles.

September 1, 2022

Montez Talks to Scientific American About the Growing Mortality Gap Between GOP and Dem Areas

University Professor and demographer Jennifer Karas Montez was quoted in the Scientific American article, "People in Republican Counties Have Higher Death Rates Than Those in Democratic Counties."

July 20, 2022

The Chances of Dying Young Differ Dramatically Across U.S. States

Nader Mehri , Jennifer Karas Montez
This data slice shows state-level differences in rates of death by ages 30, 50 and 65.
June 21, 2022

Montez Talks to NPR About the Link Between Politics and Health

University Professor Jennifer Karas Montez was interviewed on NPR about the link between politics and health.

June 15, 2022
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