Current Projects
I'm currently working on several projects simultaneously. First, I'm analyzing data from the Gen Z health behavior survey—a cross-sectional study collected from four ideal typical regions in China proper. The survey examines substance use and addiction, particularly electronic cigarettes, in the context of youth stress in an increasingly atomized society. My team focuses on how different forms of family capital (economic, cultural, and social) generate stress processes for adolescents and young adults.
Second, I've compiled province-level administrative data from 2000 to 2023 using multiple sources to investigate spatial and temporal variation in sexually transmitted infections across mainland China. The data reveals a puzzling pattern: different STI types don't change concomitantly. There's considerable fear that certain risk behaviors or demographics are driving HIV prevalence higher in China. If sexual risk behaviors or intravenous drug use were driving HIV increases in specific provinces, I'd expect corresponding rises in syphilis rates—but that's not what I'm seeing. This suggests unique combinations of context-level risk factors, irreducible to individual behavioral or socioeconomic characteristics, that structurally shape epidemiology. I'm investigating this using theory-driven models alongside machine learning.
My third research vein examines culture and race/ethnicity in East Asia. With my graduate students, I'm studying how ethnic context affects health and demographic outcomes. I define ethnic context broadly—not just ethnicity itself, but communal culture, since newer nation states often lump heterogeneous groups under the same official label. Using innovative data on the spatial distribution of people and events, I'm analyzing clustering and distance between populations and cultures. These datasets, some harmonized across East Asian regions and countries, allow me to examine how being "fit in" or "left out" of mainstream culture affects health.
