Work in Progress

Kinship Inequality in the United States

An examination of black-white differences in kinship networks, kin availability, and familial life course trajectories in the United States from 1910 to 2009 using microsimulation techniques.

(View the latest draft of this paper: here)

Kin Dependency Ratios

(with Monica Alexander)

An elaboration of formal demographic methods to estimate the availability of kin using readily available national data. We demonstrate a practical application of this technique: the derivation of a kin dependency ratio (KDR)—a measure of expected kin support burden—which we compare to the total age dependency ratio (TADR), a commonly-reported measure of public support burden in aging populations.

(Preliminary results were presented in section at the Population Association of America, Annual Meeting 2019. View the latest draft of this paper: here)

Demography and the Network Structure of Family

(with Robert Pickett)

A formal investigation of the mechanical relationship between demography (mortality and fertility) and kinship network structure. In the process, a microsimulation method for translating demographic rate data into network adjacency data is developed as a viable and efficient strategy for conducting future work on this topic.

(A poster of preliminary results was presented at the Population Association of America, Annual Meeting 2017. View the poster: here)

Negative Age Stereotypes and Mental Health among American Veterans

(with Becca Levy)

A longitudinal study of the relationship between self-expectations of aging and mental health conditions among U.S. military veterans. Special emphasis is placed on elucidating coping strategies that may help mitigate the adverse health impact of veterans' negative views regarding their own aging process.

(Recently published at Social Science and Medicine.)

Disability and Death in Divergent Deportation Contexts

(with Juan Pedroza)

A re-evaluation of the Hispanic Mortality Paradox (HMP) in American cities with divergent trajectories of deportation policy and practice.

(Preliminary results were presented in section at the Population Association of America, Annual Meeting 2019. An extended summary of this project can be viewed: here)

Sub-felony Risk over the Life Course

(with Peter Hepburn & Eric Gianella)

A study of sub-felony risk in California prior-to and following the de-criminalization of marijuana use throughout the state. Special attention is paid to identifying the demographic and temporal correlates of sub-felony conviction that may steer individuals toward further sub-felony or even felony-level conviction.

Published Work

Pedroza, Juan Manuel, and Pil H. Chung. 2021. "Death and Disabilities in Divergent Deportation Contexts: Revisiting the Hispanic Epidemiological Paradox." in Migration and Mortality: Social Death, Dispossession, and Survival in the Americas, edited by Jamie Longazel and Miranda Cady Hallett. Philidelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Excellent summary by Juan

Levy, Becca R., Pil H. Chung, Martin Slade, Peter H. Van Ness, and Robert H Pietrzak. 2019. “Active Coping Protects against Negative Aging Self-Stereotypes Contributing to Psychiatric Conditions.” Social Science and Medicine 228:25–29.

Chung, Pil H., and Peter Hepburn. 2018. “Mass Imprisonment and the Extended Family.” Sociological Science 5:335–360. Full text

Riffe, Tim, Pil H. Chung, Jeroen Spijker, and John MacInnes. 2017. “Time-to-Death Patterns in Markers of Age and Dependency.” Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 14:229–54. The motley crew at PAA 2015

Levy, Becca R., Corey Pilver, Pil H. Chung, and Martin D. Slade. 2014. “Subliminal Strengthening: Improving Older Individuals’ Physical Function over Time with an Implicit-Age-Stereotype Intervention.” Psychological Science 1–9.

Levy, Becca R., Martin D. Slade, Pil H. Chung, and Thomas M. Gill. 2014. “Resiliency Over Time of Elders’ Age Stereotypes After Encountering Stressful Events.” The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 10–13.

Levy, Becca R., Pil H. Chung, Talya Bedford, and Kristina Navrazhina. 2013. “Facebook as a Site for Negative Age Stereotypes.” The Gerontologist 54:172–76.

Levy, Becca R., Pil H. Chung, and Martin D. Slade. 2011. “Influence of Valentine’s Day and Halloween on Birth Timing.” Social Science and Medicine 73:1246–48. Fist-bumped by PhD Comics

Levy, Becca R., Pil H. Chung, and Maureen E. Canavan. 2011. “Impact of Explanatory Style and Age Stereotypes on Health across the Life Span.” in Handbook of Life-Span Development, edited by Karen L. Fingerman, Cynthia A. Berg, Jacqui Smith, and C Antonucci, Toni. New York, NY: Springer.

External Work

In addition to my own research, I've had the privilege to contribute to exciting and important ongoing work being conducted at the following organizations.

Code for America is a civic tech organization dedicated to improving the implementation and delivery of government services at scale.

The Public Rights Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering state and local attorneys with data-driven tools and insights to proactively protect the rights of community members.

The Shift Project is a large, nationally-representative study of retail and food service workers in the United States. This project is led by Daniel Schneider (Harvard) and Kristen Harknett (UCSF).

Paul Chung