Reproductive and Sexual Health

The MPC research on reproductive and sexual health spans the life course, addressing health from preconception through childhood and adolescence, pregnancy and post-delivery experiences, and parenthood. Three features of MPC’s reproductive and sexual health research community highlight our capacity for cutting-edge contributions:

  1. Disciplinary diversity;
  2. Rich and varied data resources; and
  3. The combination of established and emerging scholars

MPC scholars of reproductive and sexual health span eight disciplines: epidemiology, applied economics, geography, health policy, history, pediatrics, public policy and sociology. Such disciplinary diversity is a fruitful incubator for innovative new scholarship, catalyzing novel partnerships and expanding research across fields.

Over the next five years, we plan two major reproductive and sexual health initiatives that build on existing projects and expertise. First, MPC investigators will examine sexual risk behaviors and contexts for disease transmission. Changing norms and practices with respect to sexual behavior, in both developed and developing countries, have profound implications for disease transmission. This initiative will assess the effects of early sexual activity, adolescent fertility, female genital cutting, and abortion and will also focus on sexual health issues facing gay, lesbian and bisexual youth.

In a second initiative, MPC investigators are studying determinants of health outcomes in pregnancy and childbirth. Childbirth is the most common and most costly reason for hospitalization in the United States and is an important factor in mortality in developing countries. How women give birth and how infants are born affect the health of communities and generations. We will explore the interplay of demographic and economic circumstances, health behaviors, and medical practice to advance understanding of maternal and child health and health care policy.

Both research initiatives will rely on innovations in MPC data infrastructure that support analyses not otherwise possible. For example, IPUMS-DHS supports historical and geographic comparisons of reproductive health in low resource countries. Other MPC data projects like Integrated Health Interview Series (IHIS) data in IPUMS-Health and IPUMS-CPS open new opportunities for studying reproductive health, health systems, and fertility in the historical and contemporary United States. For example, using IHIS data, Kozhimmanil (2012) [62] provided a much-needed assessment of trends in health insurance coverage of pregnant and reproductive-age women.

The MPC’s established and emerging reproductive and sexual health researchers constitute an exciting scholarly community at the MPC. In the past five years, MPC has gained eight new affiliates with expertise in reproductive and sexual health. This infusion of new energy, coupled with the experience of established scholars, fosters the development of theory and research to transcend stubborn disciplinary divides, promote new approaches, and propose interventions to alleviate health problems and disparities. MPC’s new affiliates in applied economics, health policy and management, and public policy are especially well-positioned to disseminate and translate important new findings into effective policy.