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Kenzie Mintus

@kenziemintusphd.bsky.social
1K followers 1.8K following 83 posts

Sociologist studying aging, disability, and health. Writing a book about aging in place, social connections, and the importance of inclusive environments. Thoughts and opinions are my own. #sociology #medsoc #gerontology

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Reposted by Kenzie Mintus
Gerontology Research @geronmedia.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Losing a close friend affects older adults differently. #JGSSAdvAccess research finds that those with strong social support recover fine. Socially vulnerable older adults experience steep increases in depression after losing a friend. buff.ly/hKYTulm @geronsociety.bsky.social @academic.oup.com
buff.ly
Social vulnerability and the mental health consequences of the death of a close friend in older adulthood
AbstractObjectives. Close friend death is a common experience in later adulthood, yet its mental health consequences remain understudied. This study examin
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
What I find disingenuous about these types of criticisms is that we do not expect other types of scientists to stay neutral about scientific knowledge that can improve lives. We don't tell cancer researchers that they shouldn't have an opinion on the clinical relevance of their discoveries.
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Reposted by Kenzie Mintus
Demography - the flagship journal of PAA @readdemography.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
In “Wildfires & Birth Outcomes,” @conteristo.bsky.social & @mariarubiocab.bsky.social assess how exposure to wildfire & PM2.5 during pregnancy is associated w/ lower birth weight & increased risk of LBW & preterm birth. @mpidr.bsky.social @cedemografia.bsky.social read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...
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Elizabeth Wrigley-Field @wrigleyfield.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
This study of four cohorts of French schoolchildren shows that the gender gap in math (girls falling behind) begins essentially immediately as soon as kids start school. They use the natural variation in kids' ages at school start to show that it's school entry, not age, that triggers the change.
nature.com
Rapid emergence of a maths gender gap in first grade - Nature
Boys and girls exhibit very similar maths scores upon school entry, but a gender gap in favour of boys becomes highly significant after 4 months of schooling, which increases with years of schooling,&...
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Dear @elsevierconnect.bsky.social. I hate everything about this. It makes me not want to read articles from your journal and certainly not want to submit my own work. Even when minimized, this is incredibly intrusive. You cannot "X" out of it. Please for the good of science. Do better.
Screenshot of Social Science & Medicine article page with AI "Reading Assistant" taking up a large portion of the webpage. A red circle with text "why ??" is added.
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Reposted by Kenzie Mintus
Timothy Caulfield @caulfieldtim.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Our new study explored how well various AI chatbots responded to health questions on various topics. Sum: not great. Nearly half (49.6%) of responses were problematic. See study: bmjopen.bmj.com/content/16/4... via @bmj.com
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 07/05/2026
Kind of surprised that this hasn't been bigger news. It's finals week for a whole lot of universities, and yet, Canvas (a learning/grading platform used by ~9,000 schools globally) is currently inaccessible because of a pay-or-have-your-data-leaked hack. www.insidehighered.com/news/tech-in...
insidehighered.com
“PAY OR LEAK”: Hackers Target Big Higher Ed Vendor
The criminal extortion group ShinyHunters breached Instructure last week. The hackers, who have also attacked individual universities, demanded the ed-tech giant pay up or face a data leak.
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
File this under "conference habits that date me": Creating a word document of my program choices and printing them out. @popassocamerica.bsky.social, I had a very tough time choosing this year. #PAA2026
Screenshot of a word document with conference sessions titles and times
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Reposted by Kenzie Mintus
Manuel Schechtl @schechtlm.eurosky.social · 13/04/2026
New paper documenting a negative association between childhood exposure to local wealth inequality and inter-class social ties in adulthood. If children have fewer chances to meet peers from different class backgrounds, those divides may persist far beyond childhood.
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Michelle S. Phelps @michellesphelps.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
yes *and* there are more people in prison today who were on probation/parole at the time of arrest than the entire prison pop in 1974. The problem is not only technical violations but how easy it is to get a new charge while on supervision. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/....
journals.sagepub.com
Are Supervision Violations Filling Prisons? The Role of Probation, Parole, and New Offenses in Driving Mass Incarceration - Michelle S. Phelps, H. N. Dickens, De Andre’ T. Beadle, 2023
Advocates for reform have highlighted violations of probation and parole conditions as a key driver of mass incarceration. As a 2019 Council of State Government...
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
I believe the only correct response to an overwhelming to-do list is to post cat memes. Happy almost-the-end-of-the-semester to all those who celebrate.
media.tenor.com
a white cat is sitting in a pile of styrofoam .
Alt: a white cat is sitting in a pile of styrofoam and being covered by more following styrofoam packing material.
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Demographer colleagues: Do you know of any analysis that examines LE by race, income, and place? I'm interested in LE disparities between high income and low income individuals by race across geographic settings. This article comes close, but not quite: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
thelancet.com
Ten Americas: a systematic analysis of life expectancy disparities in the USA
Our analysis confirms the continued existence of different Americas within the USA. One's life expectancy varies dramatically depending on where one lives, the economic conditions in that location, an...
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Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
These are “low enrollment” majors but the classes are regularly at capacity. They changed the funding structure a few years ago here, switching the allocation from course enrollments to majors then blamed these departments for a structural, top-down change. This is entirely a political choice.
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Zachary Levenson @grundrza.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Yesterday, those who teach Intro to Sociology at Florida colleges (as opposed to universities) received a ready-made curriculum from the state and were ordered to teach it. Yes, you read that correctly. The *state* is enforcing a curriculum on college profs, complete w/ the following restrictions:
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Sometimes I wish I could just send out a Batman-like signal to my entire professional network that simply said "who do I owe something to this week."
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
I forgot to post my annual #SociologyValentine. Better late than never. Roses are red, Violets are blue, Structural conditions, Means we all got issues.
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Reposted by Kenzie Mintus
Demography - the flagship journal of PAA @readdemography.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Chin & Miller, in “Health, Wealth & Racial Welfare Gaps Among Older Americans,” find that much of the gap is determined by age 60 initial conditions & suggest that policies to close “gaps in late life may be more efficient if targeted earlier in the life cycle." read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Only 15 days until the @asanews.bsky.social Annual Meeting Call for Papers closes. The Section on Disability in Society has some great sessions (if I do say so myself). Please consider submitting. @asadisability.bsky.social #ASA2026 #Sociology #Disability
Disability and Media

This session will feature papers examining the dynamic associations among disability, identity, community, and media. Topics may include explorations into mass media, popular culture, and/or social media.

Session Participants:

Session Organizer: Kenzie Mintus, Indiana University Indianapolis
Disability and Social Connections

This session will feature papers focused on disability, ableism, and social connections. We broadly define social connections, and topics may include social and personal relationships, social networks, families, groups and organizations, social participation, social isolation, or loneliness.

Session Participants:

Session Organizer: Kenzie Mintus, Indiana University Indianapolis
Disability in Society Section Open Call Paper Session

This session is open to all submissions in the area of disability. This session will feature cutting-edge and innovative research within the Sociology of Disability.

Session Participants:    

Session Organizer: Kenzie Mintus, Indiana University IndianapolisIncarceration, Institutionalization, and Disability (Co-sponsored by Crime, Law, and Deviance Section)

Please note: This is a co-sponsored session. Submissions for this section will be made in the portal under the Disability in Society Section.

Disabled individuals, particularly those with mental disabilities, are over-represented in incarcerated and justice-involved populations. During the mid-twentieth century the US underwent a process of “deinstitutionalization” closing large mental health hospital and wards without corresponding community supports. A consequence of this trend was the criminalization of mental illness and increased risk of incarceration. We continue to see high rates of mental health conditions among incarcerated populations. Furthermore, the graying of the prison population has shone a light on issues around physical impairment and chronic illness. This co-sponsored session invites papers focused on understanding the complex relationships among incarceration, institutionalization, and disability. We are especially interested in sociological analyses that recognize disability as an axis of inequality that intersects with other axes (e.g., social class, race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) to shape experiences with the criminal legal system.

Session Participants:

Session Organizers: Kenzie Mintus, Indiana University Indianapolis; Brianna Remster, Villanova University
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
According to previous data, Phil's prediction accuracy rate is around 35%. So, perhaps, it is good news he saw his shadow. I know I'm ready for a bit more sunshine (both literally and metaphorically). www.noaa.gov/heritage/sto...
noaa.gov
Grading the groundhogs
In honor of Groundhog Day and in the spirit of fun, we pitted groundhogs from all over the United States against each other — and data from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information — to s...
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Reposted by Kenzie Mintus
Karen Benjamin Guzzo @karenguzzo.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
We do have some clues about the not-so-secret key to longevity: it’s social and economic privilege and resources, preferably from birth.
Screenshot of an article about the key to longevity
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
I can't imagine what my life trajectory would have been w/o being exposed to all that Sociology had to offer. When 18 yo me sat in my Sociology classes at the University of Florida, it was like I found a home. Sociology spoke to my soul and gave me a sense of purpose. No one should be denied that.
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
"How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world" -William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice Shine on MN, shine on world.
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Reposted by Kenzie Mintus
Sam Levin @samtlevin.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
ICE detained a 5-year-old Minnesota boy coming home from school + took him and his dad to Texas, school officials say. The family has an active asylum case + entered the US at a port of entry. "They’re taking children. They're not violent criminals. They're little kids," the superintendent told me.
theguardian.com
ICE detains five-year-old Minnesota boy as he came home, say school officials
Superintendent says Liam Ramos and his father were taken into custody while in their driveway and sent to Texas
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Approximately, 1/3 of authors from sociological research self-report using GenAI on a weekly or more frequent basis. Wow. I'm disappointed. I assume that professional sociologists are well aware of the environmental impact of GenAI. They also know which communities will suffer the most.
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
I'm always happy to guest lecture as a general rule, but that's doubly true for folks being impacted. I have a lot of experience teaching medical sociology courses at the undergrad and grad level. I also teach in the areas of aging and disability.
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Reposted by Kenzie Mintus
Chris Conzen @chrisconzen.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
After 56 years, Indiana University is canceling the MLK dinner hosted by their Black Student Union.
insidehighered.com
Indiana University Cancels MLK Celebration Dinner
Indiana University in Indianapolis canceled a dinner in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. hosted annually in January by the Black Student Union, Mirror Indy reported.
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Elizabeth Wrigley-Field @wrigleyfield.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
I really want ppl w/o Minneapolis connections to understand You might've heard that Mpls public schools went hybrid bc so many families are in hiding. Well, a coworker just told me that today, during his kid's hybrid class, a kid's apt building was raided onscreen *Everyone has stories like this*
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Yiang Li @yiangli.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
New in @ssreditorial.bsky.social with @jasonwongyh.bsky.social and Linda Waite. We introduce and examine the "linked long arms" where early family disadvantages have spillover effects within marriage on social lives with women’s early disadvantage especially consequential. doi.org/10.1016/j.ss...
Paper abstract
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Richard M. Carpiano, PhD, MPH @rmcarpiano.medsky.social · 06/01/2026
New open access research to share (though awkward timing in light of Denmark's vax sched. in US news of late). Using Danish health registry data, we examine trends in child receipt of their 1st MMR shot by parent educ. over a period that coincides w/ 3 key antivaccine events. 1/ 🛟😷sociology policy
sciencedirect.com
Parental education disparities in childhood vaccination in Denmark: A test of two explanations for the role of misinformation
How does misinformation contribute to socioeconomic disparities in childhood vaccine uptake? While prior research has extensively examined the determi…
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
I keep seeing teaching advice that encourages letting students use LLMs (AKA AI) to brainstorm ideas. Do we NOT think the act of brainstorming is an important part of learning and critical thinking!? I know this is a lot harder to enforce, but actively encouraging it is a whole 'nother ball game.
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Does anyone know how Google Scholar ranks articles? I'm doing a very specific search. The top 5 articles are all from the past 2 yrs. Top 3 have a total of 3 citations, but #4 and #5 have nearly 50 citations ea. It's not relevance that's driving this. However, #4 and #5 have women as lead authors.
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Robyn Lewis Brown @robynlbrown.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
Honored to have my research elevated by @jofhsb.bsky.social for #InternationalDayOfPersonswithDisabilities. This recognition means so much. 2025 has been an extraordinary year for impactful research in the sociology of disability. Grateful for this community. @asadisability.bsky.social
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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
We already have a massive nursing shortage that the Dept of Ed just ensured will get even worse. Hospitals are going to become increasingly dangerous places to be.
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
We discussed healthcare reform in my #MedSoc class today. I told my students that in a different timeline, where Watergate didn't happen, the US could have achieved universal healthcare in 1974. It always blows a few minds.
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
I'm so saddened by the news of Alice Wong's passing. I'll be teaching the Sociology of Disability in the spring. The Disability Visibility readings are always my students' favorites. As The Sociologist's Dojo said "Go read Alice Wong's Books"
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Karen Benjamin Guzzo @karenguzzo.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Yearly (and sometimes monthly) data on various aspects of affordability at the state level from 2017-2024/25 from @urbaninstitute.bsky.social. They find that half of Americans don't have the resources to live securely in their community.
urban.org
The American Affordability Tracker
Timely data on Americans’ finances and the cost of basic needs by state and congressional district.
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Laura Mauldin @lauramauldin.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Did you know November is National Family Caregivers Month? Did you know there are 63 MILLION family caregivers in the US? I made the website, Disability at Home, to chronicle the ingenious hacks that caregivers and disabled folks create to make life work -- check it out! www.disabilityathome.org
disabilityathome.org
Disability At Home
Visit the post for more.
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Are any other #GSA2025 attendees getting nervous about successfully arriving to Boston via plane? Do we have any back-up plans for disrupted travel, @geronsociety.bsky.social?
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Timothy Caulfield @caulfieldtim.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time www.bbc.com/mediacentre/... The AI failings "are systemic, cross-border, and multilingual, and we believe this endangers public trust."
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Ronald W. Berkowsky, PhD 🏳️‍🌈 @ronaldberkowsky.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
This is a quick reminder that the Older Americans Act (responsible for a wealth of elder services despite being chronically underfunded for decades) has yet to be reauthorized, jeopardizing the lives of millions. But apparently we have plenty of money for ICE, and Argentina, and a ballroom, and…
kff.org
What to Know About the Older Americans Act and the Services it Provides to Older Adults | KFF
The Trump administration is proposing a reorganization and staffing cuts at HHS that create uncertainty about the potential effects on older adults, who receive services authorized under the Older Ame...
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Joe Hanson @drjoehanson.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
When people learn with ChatGPT instead of following their own searches, they end up knowing less, caring less, and producing worse advice, even when the facts are the same. Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow. academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
academic.oup.com
Experimental evidence of the effects of large language models versus web search on depth of learning
Abstract. The effects of using large language models (LLMs) versus traditional web search on depth of learning are explored. A theory is proposed that when
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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
While individual charity cannot substitute for government, your individual choice does matter. If you donate to a food bank there are families that will be able to eat today that otherwise could not. Donate to your local food bank (MI for me!). www.foodgatherers.org/get-involved...
foodgatherers.org
Donate Form | Food Gatherers
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MiCDA-UMISR @micda-umisr.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
New work from MiCDA @umisr.bsky.social WSUPsychology affiliate Amanda Leggett in The Gerontologist Does caregiver stress get under the skin? Associations with care recipient inflammation myumi.ch/JPR8q
myumi.ch
Does caregiver stress get under the skin? Associations with care recipient inflammation
AbstractBackground and Objectives. A wealth of research has focused on the caregiving stress process, while less is devoted to understanding how caregiver
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
FINALLY!
media.tenor.com
two women are sitting next to each other on a couch with the words sweata weatha written on the screen .
Alt: two women are sitting next to each other on a couch with the words sweata weatha written on the screen .
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JHSB @jofhsb.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Today is #InternationalDayofOlderPersons -> How do social-environmental factors affect cognitive ageing? Siyun Peng & Brea Perry explore the interplay between early and later life simulating environments: bit.ly/48DcfMO @usf.edu @iusociology.bsky.social @asamedsoc.bsky.social
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Leah Abrams @leahrabrams.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
The @popassocamerica.bsky.social deadline is coming up on Sunday 📆 I welcome submissions to Session 708: Older Workers, Longer Working Lives, and Health. I look forward to reading your work in this area!
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Seth Edmunds @phealthy.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
This is pretty crazy, study models millions of indirect hurricane deaths potentially driving/contributing to the life expectancy disparity in the US: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
a, Total incidence of TCs on CONUS by month. Bar height is sum of average maximum wind speeds for all state-by-storm events. Colours correspond to decades. b, Stacked overlapping excess mortality responses to each storm for all of CONUS. Each storm response aggregates state-level responses nationally, accounting for state-level population and adaptation. Outline colours correspond to the decade when the TC occurred. The upper envelope is the total estimated mortality burden for CONUS resulting from all TCs occurring during the prior 172 months (see Supplementary Fig. 3). c, Official deaths directly resulting from TCs for each month according to NOAA National Hurricane Center and NOAA National Weather Service6,7. The y-axis scale is the same for b and c.
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Kenzie Mintus @kenziemintusphd.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
COMMUNITY: All the other reasons flow from this reason. And, I think we all could use a bit more community these days.
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