Institute for Population Research (IPR)

The Ohio State University Institute for Population Research (IPR) is a nationally recognized multidisciplinary research center with signature strengths in the study of family demography, population health, immigration and integration. IPR brings together behavioral and health scientists from seven colleges and seventeen departments across the university to better understand the health and family outcomes of children, adults and communities.

At a Glance

• Member of the Association of Population Centers and is the centerpiece of Ohio State’s Population and Health Targeted Investments in Excellence (TIE)
• Received a $2.2 million, 5-year national center award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) establishing IPR as a premier population research center with signature strengths in the study of family demography, population health, immigration, and integration
• Offers advice on incorporating geographic analysis in population and health research projects through its Geographic Core
• Fosters multi-disciplinary research on population and health through seed grants, weekly seminars, didactic workshops, and assistance with research grants

Faculty Focus

Christopher Browning (Sociology, Initiative on Population Research) has received two grants (National Institute on Drug Abuse and WT Grant Foundation) to conduct a study examining risk behaviors and health outcomes among Franklin County youth.

Hui Zheng, assistant professor of sociology, has been featured in USA Today, MSN Health, U.S. News & World Report and Medline Plus for his research titled, Variance Function Regression in Hierarchical Age-Period-Cohort Models, with Applications to the Study of Self-Reported Health.

Area-Specific Information

Seminars
Weekly seminars provide a forum for scholars from other universities and Ohio State faculty to present ongoing research to a multidisciplinary audience

Methodological Workshops
IPR organizes one two-day didactic workshop for members of the Ohio State community. 2011-2012 Statistical Methods for Analyzing Longitudinal Data and Missing Data: Overview and Guide to Practice workshop topic was Complex Systems and Agent-Based Modeling

Working Groups
Small sets of IPR affiliates explore research areas that are of great significance and/or newly emerging. Recent working groups have been organized for health disparities, geographic analysis of health, and complex systems analysis

Seed Grants
Provides 6-8 seed grants to affiliates for work towards submission of proposals for external funding. Priority is given to multi-disciplinary projects and to more junior faculty

Graduate Students
IPR provides office space for twelve graduate students each autumn, and organizes a graduate student conference jointly with the population center at Bowling Green State University

Administrative Grant Support
IPR provides pre and post award assistance to affiliates

Recent National Research

• Intermarriage patterns among immigrants
• Determinants of union formation and dissolution
• Consequences of marriage and cohabitation on health and well-being of single mothers
• Intergenerational influences on birth outcomes
• Effect of family structure on child development
• Neighborhood and social context effects on adult health and adolescent risk behavior
• Geographic analysis of health
• Immigration to the U.S. and health outcomes
• Residential segregation according to race/ethnicity and social class
• Gender difference in higher education

Recent International Research

• Unwanted fertility in low-income setting: levels, determinates, consequences
• Fertility decline in Sub-Saharan Africa: a cohort analysis 
• HIV/AIDS and fertility in Africa
• Union formation/dissolution and health in Mexico
• History of human health

The Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization on Demography

Demography is the study of how the three core population processes, fertility, mortality, and migration, interrelate with major societal institutions, such as the family and the economy. The purpose of the GISD is to provide graduate students with interdisciplinary training in the techniques and substance of demography. Through coursework and interactions with faculty across campus, and engagement with IPR (e.g. regular attendance at the weekly seminar series), participants will receive the training necessary to conduct high value research on population-related issues with a high degree of technical rigor. 

9.2015