James S. House

University of Michigan


Primary Section: 53, Social and Political Sciences
Secondary Section: 52, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Membership Type:
Member (elected 2007)

Research Interests

Trained as an interdisciplinary social psychologist, I have worked in sociology and social epidemiology to understand the impact of broader social structures and processes on individuals' attitudes, behavior, and well-being, and especially on their health. My and my colleagues' research has helped to demonstrate: first the adverse effects on health of occupational and other forms of stress; then how social relationships and supports can buffer or mitigate these deleterious health effects of stress and promote health more generally; and finally how stress, social relationships and supports, and a broad range of other social, psychological and behavioral factors help us to understand and explain socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in health and the ways health changes over the adult life course. This has contributed to increasing recognition that reducing these social disparities in health is a major goal of public health research and policy and critical to improving overall population health. My current research and writing also seek to improve population health and reduce health disparities by increasing policy-relevant evidence and understanding that population health and health disparities are heavily a function of social, economic, psychological and behavioral factors as well as biomedical ones, and hence of social and economic policies as well as health policies.

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