Florencia Torche

All Publications

• Unequal effects of disruptive events SOCIOLOGY COMPASS Aquino, T., Brand, J. E., Torche, F. 2022

  View details for DOI 10.1111/soc4.12972

  View details for Web of Science ID 000756671800001

• Impact of Medicaid Expansion on Interpregnancy Interval. Women's health issues : official publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health Liu, C., Snowden, J. M., Rossin-Slater, M., Torche, F., DiTosto, J. D., Carmichael, S. L. 1800

  Abstract

  OBJECTIVES: Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) improved access to reproductive health care for low-income women and birthing people who were previously ineligible for Medicaid. We aimed to evaluate if the expansion affected the risk of having a short interpregnancy interval (IPI), a preventable risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes.METHODS: We evaluated parous singleton births to mothers aged 19 or older from U.S. birth certificate data 2009-2018. We estimated the effect of residing in a state that expanded Medicaid access (expansion status determined at 60days after the prior live birth) on the risk of having a short IPI (<12months) using difference-in-differences (DID) methods in linear probability models. We stratified the analyses by maternal characteristics and county-level reproductive health care access.RESULTS: Overall risk of short IPI was 14.9% in expansion states and 16.3% in non-expansion states. The expansion was not associated with a significant change in risk of having a short IPI (adjusted mean percentage point change 1.24 [-1.64, 4.12]). Stratified results also did not provide support for an association.CONCLUSIONS: ACA Medicaid expansion did not have an impact on risk of short IPI. Preventing short IPI may require more comprehensive policy interventions in addition to health care access.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.whi.2021.12.004

  View details for PubMedID 35016841

• The Political Context and Infant Health in the United States AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW Torche, F., Rauf, T. 2021

  View details for DOI 10.1177/00031224211000710

  View details for Web of Science ID 000648347800001

• The Normativity of Marriage and the Marriage Premium for Children's Outcomes(1) AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY Torche, F., Abufhele, A. 2021; 126 (4): 931-968

  View details for DOI 10.1086/713382

  View details for Web of Science ID 000640226800005

• The Transition to Fatherhood and the Health of Men JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY Torche, F., Rauf, T. 2020

  View details for DOI 10.1111/jomf.12732

  View details for Web of Science ID 000581178700001

• Early-Life Circumstances and Their Effects Over the Life Course POPULATION RESEARCH AND POLICY REVIEW Torche, F. 2019; 38 (6): 771–82

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11113-019-09555-w

  View details for Web of Science ID 000499663300001

• Varieties of Indigeneity in the Americas SOCIAL FORCES Telles, E., Torche, F. 2019; 97 (4): 1543–69

  View details for DOI 10.1093/sf/soy091

  View details for Web of Science ID 000493319100018

• Restrictive Immigration Law and Birth Outcomes of Immigrant Women AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY Torche, F., Sirois, C. 2019; 188 (1): 24–33

  View details for DOI 10.1093/aje/kwy218

  View details for Web of Science ID 000465359900005

• Estimating Intergenerational Mobility With Grouped Data: A Critique of Clark's the Son Also Rises SOCIOLOGICAL METHODS & RESEARCH Torche, F., Corvalan, A. 2018; 47 (4): 787–811

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0049124116661579

  View details for Web of Science ID 000447566400007

• Restrictive Immigration Law and Birth Outcomes of Immigrant Women. American journal of epidemiology Torche, F., Sirois, C. 2018

  Abstract

  Unauthorized immigration is one of the most contentious policy issues in the United States. In an attempt to curb unauthorized migration, many states have considered restrictive laws intended to make life so difficult for unauthorized immigrants that they would choose to leave the country. Arizona's Senate Bill 1070, enacted in 2010, pioneered these efforts. Using population-level natality data and causal inference methods, we examine the effect of SB1070 on infants exposed before birth in Arizona. Prenatal exposure to the bill resulted in lower birthweight among Latina immigrant women, but not among US-born white, black, or Latina women. The decline in birthweight resulted from exposure to the bill being signed into law, rather than from its (limited) implementation. The findings indicate that the threat of a punitive law, even in the absence of implementation, can have a harmful effect on the birth outcomes of the next generation.

  View details for PubMedID 30358825

• Intergenerational Mobility at the Top of the Educational Distribution SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION Torche, F. 2018; 91 (4): 266–89

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0038040718801812

  View details for Web of Science ID 000446701300001

• Prenatal Exposure to an Acute Stressor and Children's Cognitive Outcomes DEMOGRAPHY Torche, F. 2018; 55 (5): 1611-1639

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s13524-018-0700-9

  View details for Web of Science ID 000446538700002

• Prenatal Exposure to an Acute Stressor and Children's Cognitive Outcomes. Demography Torche, F. 2018

  Abstract

  Exposure to environmental stressors is highly prevalent and unequally distributed along socioeconomic lines and may have enduring negative consequences, even when experienced before birth. Yet, estimating the consequences of prenatal stress on children's outcomes is complicated by the issue of confounding (i.e., unobserved factors correlated with stress exposure and with children's outcomes). I combine a natural experiment-a strong earthquake in Chile-with a panel survey to capture the effect of prenatal exposure on acute stress and children's cognitive ability. I find that stress exposure in early pregnancy has no effect on children's cognition among middle-class families, but it has a strong negative influence among disadvantaged families. I then examine possible pathways accounting for the socioeconomic stratification in the effect of stress, including differential exposure across socioeconomic status, differential sensitivity, and parental responses. Findings suggest that the interaction between prenatal exposures and socioeconomic advantage provides a powerful mechanism for the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage.

  View details for PubMedID 30105648

• Means-Tested School Vouchers and Educational Achievement: Evidence from Chile's Universal Voucher System ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE Mizala, A., Torche, F. 2017; 674 (1): 163-183

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0002716217732033

  View details for Web of Science ID 000413733400008

• Panel Conditioning in the General Social Survey SOCIOLOGICAL METHODS & RESEARCH Halpern-Manners, A., Warren, J. R., Torche, F. 2017; 46 (1): 103-124

  Abstract

  Does participation in one wave of a survey have an effect on respondents' answers to questions in subsequent waves? In this article, we investigate the presence and magnitude of "panel conditioning" effects in one of the most frequently used data sets in the social sciences: the General Social Survey (GSS). Using longitudinal records from the 2006, 2008, and 2010 surveys, we find evidence that at least some GSS items suffer from this form of bias. To rule out the possibility of contamination due to selective attrition and/or unobserved heterogeneity, we strategically exploit a series of between-person comparisons across time-in-survey groups. This methodology, which can be implemented whenever researchers have access to at least three waves of rotating panel data, is described in some detail so as to facilitate future applications in data sets with similar design elements.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0049124114532445

  View details for Web of Science ID 000397239500005

  View details for PubMedID 28025587

• Compensation or Reinforcement? The Stratification of Parental Responses to Children's Early Ability DEMOGRAPHY Gratz, M., Torche, F. 2016; 53 (6): 1883-1904

  Abstract

  Theory and empirical evidence suggest that parents allocate their investments unequally among their children, thus inducing within-family inequality. We investigate whether parents reinforce or compensate for initial ability differences between their children as well as whether these parental responses vary by family socioeconomic status (SES). Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) and a twin fixed-effects approach to address unobserved heterogeneity, we find that parental responses to early ability differences between their children do vary by family SES. Contrary to prior findings, we find that advantaged parents provide more cognitive stimulation to higher-ability children, and lower-class parents do not respond to ability differences. No analogous stratification in parental responses to birth weight is found, suggesting that parents' responses vary across domains of child endowments. The reinforcing responses to early ability by high-SES parents do not, however, led to increases in ability differences among children because parental responses have little effect on children's later cognitive performance in this twin sample.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s13524-016-0527-1

  View details for Web of Science ID 000389347700009

  View details for PubMedID 27844397