Bill McCarthy received his degree from the University of Toronto.
His research focuses on: health, crime and delinquency, and
research methods. Current research projects include:
Examining the context of adolescent sex and its consequences
for education, mental health and problem behavior across the life
course.
Examining homicide patterns in two Canadian and two American
cities throughout the 20th century.
Analyzing the backgrounds and health of service workers from
two comparable cities, one in the U.S. and one in Canada.
Study of juvenile crime.
2257 Social Sciences and Humanities Building
Davis, CA
Official measures of poverty may not capture the difficulties
afflicting low-wage workers, since households can still
experience material hardship while not considered poor by
official measures. From a survey of front-line service workers,
we find that material hardship is associated with higher levels
of self-reported depression and overall poorer mental health.
This suggests that the mental health of low-wage workers may
benefit from laws that not only increase earnings but also
facilitate income stability. Low-wage workers may also benefit
from programs that directly address material hardship.
In 2010, an estimated 2.7 million children and one in nine
African-American children had an incarcerated parent.[1]
Incarceration creates challenges for inmates’ families. Resources
that inmates had contributed are removed, while incarceration
introduces new expenses. Children with incarcerated fathers have
worse educational outcomes[2] and poorer mental health[3] than
otherwise comparable children. Employment assistance and less
restrictive visitation rules may mitigate the economic and
emotional effects incarceration has on families.
