Biography:

Dr. Sameera S. Nayak (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Public Health at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She uses social epidemiologic and qualitative methods to investigate associations between social conditions and health inequities around the world. She has conducted research globally in the East African region as well as domestically in the U.S. Her research streams intersect around three main themes: (1) immigrant health, immigration policy, and legal status stratification, (2) political determinants of health, such as partisan polarization and abortion access, and (3) equitable health system program development and evaluation. Her cross-cutting research bridges siloed work in public health, sociology, and political science. Some of her recent projects include identifying structural and legal barriers to help-seeking for immigrants who have experienced gender-based violence, assessing the adverse health impacts of perceived political polarization, mapping state-level alignment between abortion legislation and public attitudes, and examining how the spectrum of legal statuses at the micro-level impact the well-being of non-naturalized immigrants in the U.S. Dr. Nayak earned her Ph.D. in Population Health from Northeastern University in 2022. She holds an undergraduate degree from UCLA and a master’s degree from Columbia University.

Health in the Turbulent U.S. Sociopolitical Climate: Mental Health, Abortion Attitudes, & Immigration

Abstract:

The sociopolitical landscape of the United States (U.S.), including laws, policies, and societal values, creates conditions that differentially enhance or diminish population health. This talk will describe a program of research examining how polarization and hostility shape people’s lives, health, and behaviors across multiple levels of influence and domains of health in the U.S. How do perceptions of growing polarization in American society affect the onset of health conditions such as anxiety and depressive disorders? To what extent does polarized legislation at the state level align with public attitudes toward abortion access and legality? How are immigrant domestic violence survivors’ lives shaped by an increasingly hostile political climate? To answer these questions, I draw on three observational studies that leverage data from primary surveys, focus groups, the 2020 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, and the Guttmacher Institute’s 2020 rating of state abortion policies. Results highlight the adverse mental health effects of deepening perceived political polarization, the disconnect between multifaceted public attitudes and polarized reproductive health legislation, and the detrimental individual-level impacts of dehumanizing immigration policy. Population health implications, structural interventions, and policy recommendations will be discussed.