Inadequate nutrition can harm children’s health and development, including academic outcomes. A promising way to boost child nutrition is through home meal programs. Psychologists Rebecca Ryan, Ariel Kalil, and Anna Gassman-Pines, sociologist Pamela Herd, political scientist and public policy scholar Carolyn Barnes, and public policy scholar and behavioral scientist Elizabeth Linos will evaluate the effects of a home meal program on student academic outcomes in a low-income community. They will conduct a field experiment for their study.

One common form of criminal punishment involves monetary sanctions, or legal financial obligations (LFOs). LFOs impact millions of people experiencing economic instability. Some evidence suggests that eliminating or reducing financial barriers can improve reintegration, but few studies have identified policies that can lessen the disparate impacts of LFOs. Sociologist Brittany Martin will investigate the effects of recent LFO policy reform in Rhode Island, which aims to alleviate court-related debt.

Critical historical events leave a lasting impact on individuals’ developmental trajectories and there is reason to expect that young adults were particularly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sociologists Megan Iantosca, Shelley Kimelberg, and Kristen Schultz Lee will examine how young adults, age 18 to 24, navigated the challenges of school and work during the COVID-19 pandemic and how their experiences impacted their understandings of career paths and social mobility.

Higher education trajectories are often interrupted or incomplete. Thirty percent of students “stop out” of college—taking breaks between enrollments—and 31-percent drop out and do not complete their degree within eight years of entering college. Sociologist Christina Ciocca Eller will examine the decision-making processes of students who start but do not finish their college degree, with a focus on reenrollment decisions. She will conduct 180 in-depth interviews with students who have some college but no credential for her study.

This grant is funded in part by the Spencer Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation.

This grant is funded in part by the Spencer Foundation.

This grant is funded in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Worker cooperatives are mostly small firms that account for a very small proportion of the economy. Although proponents claim they are associated with higher pay, job security, and job satisfaction, there is little research on the extent to which they benefit workers and whether they are a viable business model.

Flexible work arrangements, including schedule control and remote work, have the potential to help parents better coordinate their work and family responsibilities. However, it is unclear how flexible work arrangements impact gender inequality. Sociologists Laura Adler and Emma Zang will investigate the extent to which flexible work arrangements affect gender inequality at home and at work.

High-profile cases of police violence have spurred renewed attention to the issue of police use and misuse of force.  Sociologist and criminologist David Kirk will will investigate whether police officers exposed to use of force by fellow officers are more likely to use force after their exposure. He will analyze 911 call data, demographic data, work assignment data, records on use of force from the Dallas Police Department, and American Community Survey data for his study.