My name is Marissa N. Maline and I am originally from Hanford, CA. Growing up in a low-income, racially marginalized community, I saw how social factors—including income, education, and race/ethnicity—influence the health-related choices people can make, as well as their likelihood of experiencing poor health outcomes. As a result, my research is rooted in an understanding of how social and structural conditions contribute to health disparities and inequalities. While individual behaviors and risk factors certainly play a role, my work primarily emphasizes the factors that put people “at risk of risks.”
Currently, I am a Sociology PhD Candidate with expertise in the Sociology of Health and Illness and a focus on prescription opioid misuse. With consideration to the evolving opioid epidemic—and an understanding that prescription opioid misuse remains a significant risk factor for fatal and nonfatal overdose—my dissertation examines how prescription opioid misuse differs across and within social positions, and in what ways social positions shape individuals’ likelihood of misuse. Drawing on data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, I employ medical sociology theories and frameworks to examine the relationship between various social positions (e.g., SES, gender, sexual identity, and race/ethnicity) and misuse among both adolescents and adults. My research ultimately aims to inform prescription opioid misuse interventions that extend beyond individual-level risk factors.
Under the guidance of Dr. Andrea N. Polonijo, I have also contributed to projects that (1) identify working conditions and social factors that shape vaccine uptake among California’s agricultural workers and (2) investigate if stigma is a fundamental cause of LGBT health inequities.
