Rachel Donnelly

Interests

Health and Health Disparities; Demography; Family

Biography

Rachel is a doctoral candidate in the department of Sociology and a graduate student trainee in the Population Research Center. Her reresearch focuses on the social determinants of mental and physical health, with an emphasis on stress/adversity, marital and family relationships, and life course processes. She also examines how gender, sexual orientation, and race shape disparities in health, including the processes contributing to health. Rachel's research takes a critical look at emerging macro-level trends (e.g., the rise in precarious employment) and social changes (e.g., same-sex marriage) to gain new understandings of the implications for health. 

Rachel’s dissertation examines the consequences of precarious employment – work that is uncertain, unpredictable, and risky – for marriage and health in midlife. She has been awarded a Dissertation Research Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation for this project.