Department of Sociology

Eileen E.S. Bjornstrom
Assistant Professor

I received my Ph.D. in 2009 from Ohio State University. My research and teaching interests are centered on medical sociology, urban sociology, social control, and research methods.

Research Interests

Broadly, I am interested in the ways that economic and social characteristics of place are associated with inequalities in well-being. Within this framework I am currently pursuing two lines of inquiry.  

(1) The first is based on work in my dissertation, which examined the relationship between neighborhood income inequality, social resources, and health outcomes. I am especially interested in how context may be experienced differently by members of traditionally less powerful groups and whether this contributes to health disparities. Specifically, I consider how community characteristics may be differentially important for residents across individual socioeconomic status, relative position, and race-ethnicity.  

(2) I am also developing a project that will investigate the ways in which characteristics of the local built environment, such as land use, commercial diversity, and commercial decline, are associated with individual resident health, with a focus on propensity for overweight and obesity.  

Another project I am involved in with Bob Kaufman ( Temple University), Ruth Peterson, and Michael Slater (both of Ohio State University) examines the ways that perpetrators and victims are portrayed in television crime news, and how context of both the news story and media market influence portrayals across race-ethnicity.

Courses Taught

Social Statistics

Recent Publications

Browning, Christopher and Eileen E.S. Bjornstrom “Neighborhood Built Environment
     and Mortality: The Physical Context as Risk-Regulator” Forthcoming in the
     InternationalHandbook of Adult Mortality. Eds. Richard Rogers and Eileen
     Crimmins. Springer.

Bjornstrom, Eileen E. S., Robert Kaufman, Ruth Peterson and Michael Slater *. “Race
     and Ethnic Representations of Lawbreakers and Victims in Crime News: A
     National Study of Television Coverage” Conditional Accept. *Authors are
     alphabetical denoting equal contributions.

Frank, Reanne and Eileen E.S. Bjornstrom. “A Tale of Two Cities: Residential Context
     and Risky Behavior among Latino Adolescents in Los Angeles and Chicago” Under
     Review.

312 Middlebush Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211-6100
(573) 882-8331
Fax: (573) 884-6430