Marieke Van Willigen
Associate Professor
Ph.D., The Ohio State University 1997
Areas of Interest: Mental Health, Gender, Volunteering, Environmental Sociology
Office: Brewster B-103B
Tel: 252.328.6092
E-mail: vanwilligenm@ecu.edu

Curriculum Vita

Research

Selected Publications and Papers:
Bradley, Don and Marieke Van Willigen. Forthcoming. "Migration and Mental Health Among Older Adults: A Growth Curve Analysis Based on Panel Data from the Health and Retirement Study, 1996-2006." Journal of Aging and Health.

Horney, J.A., MacDonald, P.D., Van Willigen, M., Berke, P., & Kaufman, J. (2010). Individual Actual or Perceived Property Flood Risk: Did it Predict Evacuation from Hurricane Isabel in North Carolina, 2003? Risk Analysis, 30(3), 501-511.

Horney, Jennifer A., MacDonald, Pia D.M, Steve B. Wing, and Marieke Van Willigen. 2010. "Factors Associated with Risk of Evacuation Failure from Hurricane Isabel in North Carolina 2003." International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters.

"Environmental Stressors: The Mental Health Impacts of Living Near Industrial Activity."Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 46: 289-305. Downey, Liam and Marieke Van Willigen (co-authors). September 2005.

"A Comparative Assessment of Impacts and Recovery from Hurricane Floyd among Student and Non-Student Households" Natural Hazards Review. Van Willigen, Marieke, Bob Edwards, Stephanie Lormand, Ken Wilson, and John Maiolo. 2005.

"The Race Gap in Support Group Participation: Real or Artifact?" Evaluation Review.28(2): 123-143 Michalec, Barret, Marieke Van Willigen, Kenneth Wilson, Ann Schreier, and Susan Williams. 2004.

"Riding Out the Storm: The Experiences of the Physically Disabled During Hurricanes Bonnie, Dennis, and Floyd." Natural Hazards Review. Special Issue. 3(3): 98-106. Marieke Van Willigen, Bob Edwards, Terri Edwards, and Shaun Hessee. 2002.

"Benefits of Equitable Relationships: The Impact of Sense of Fairness, Household Division of Labor and Decision-Making on Social Support." Sex Roles. 44(9/10): 571-597. Van Willigen, Marieke and Patricia Drentea. 2001.

" Heading for Higher Ground: Factors Affecting Real and Hypothetical Hurricane Behavior." Environmental Hazards Review. Whitehead, John, Bob Edwards, Marieke Van Willigen, John Maiolo, Ken Wilson, and Kevin Smith. 2001.

"Do Disasters Effect Individuals’ Psychological Well-Being?: An Over-Time Analysis of the Effect of Hurricane Floyd on Men and Women in Eastern North Carolina. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters. 19(1) 40-65.2001.

"Differential Benefits of Volunteering Across the Life Course" Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences. vol 55B, no 5. 2000, S1-S11.

"Education and the Subjective Quality of Life," Journal of Health and Social Behavior, vol. 38, no. 3, 1997, pp. 275-297 (with Catherine E. Ross).

"Women's Self-Help and the Reconstruction of Gender: The Postpartum Depression and Breast Cancer Movements," Mobilization, vol. 2, 1996, pp. 123-43 (with Verta Taylor).

"Gender, Parenthood, and Anger," Journal of Marriage and the Family, vol. 58, no. 3, 1996, pp. 572-584 (with Catherine E. Ross).

"Instrumentalism in the Land of Opportunity: Socioeconomic Causes and Emotional Consequences," Social Psychology Quarterly, vol. 59, no. 4, 1996, pp. 322-337 (with John Mirowsky and Catherine E. Ross).

Current Projects:
Stigma, Discrimination, Social Support and Lesbian Mental Health: Kelly Giusto, a former graduate student, and I constructed an internet-based survey of lesbians in North Carolina which includes measures of mental health, experiences of discrimination, perceptions of stigma, and sources of social support (among many other things). Emails were sent to GLBT organizations across North Carolina asking them to forward information about the survey to their members. 203 women responded to the survey during the fall of 2004. The theoretical framework for the study was presented at the American Sociological Association in 2003: "Pearlin’s Stress Process Model, Stigma, and the Case of Lesbian mental Health". The data are currently being analyzed for publication.

Race, Gender, and Individual Well-Being among Adolescents

This body of research has spanned a number of projects with graduate students. It includes work with Kelly McCullough-Barton on factors influencing the achievement gap in education. It also involves a paper with a RCLS student on the differential impacts of extracurricular activities on the psychological well-being of male and female teenagers. Finally it includes work with David Craig, now a PhD student at NC State University, on race differences in drug dealing behavior.

Health Disparities in NC

I am just beginning a project which will examine in a more holistic way patterns of health disparities in North Carolina. Going beyond individual predictors of health, I plan to examine structural factors such as community resources in the form of health services, food outlets, athletic facilities and the like.

My other research has examined the impact of volunteering on physical and psychological wellbeing, the affect of gender inequality in the family on quality of life, and the impacts of hurricanes on the well-being of residents of Eastern North Carolina.