Description: Applies a systems perspective to examine the personal, social, and cultural factors that influence the age at which women initiate childbearing and the implications of these factors for the health of women and infants. Topics include teenage childbearing, Black American fertility patterns, infant mortality, ethnographic and other research methods, and related policy issues. Reviews current, historical, and cross-cultural examples. Students apply course concepts and methodologies to specific research and policy questions.
Description: Explores dimensions of poverty in terms of the interrelationships of socioeconomic status, racism, minority status and health. The focus is on the United States and topics discussed include different conceptualizations of and perspectives on the relationship of poverty to health, issues in child and family health, in urban and rural poverty and health, and issues relevant to improving health services and health policy targeted at socioeconomically disvantanged populations.
