Crises lay bare the social fault lines of society. In the United States, race, gender, age, and education have affected vulnerability to COVID-19 infection. Yet, consequences likely extend far beyond morbidity and mortality. Temporarily closing the economy sent shock waves through communities, raising the possibility that social inequities, preexisting and current, have weakened economic resiliency and reinforced disadvantage, especially among groups most devastated by the Great Recession. We address pandemic precarity, or risk for material and financial insecurity, in Indiana, where manufacturing loss is high, metro areas ranked among the hardest hit by the Great Recession nationally, and health indicators stand in the bottom quintile. Using longitudinal data (n = 994) from the Person to Person Health Interview Study, fielded in 2019–2020 and again during Indiana’s initial stay-at-home order, we provide a representative, probability-based assessment of adverse economic outcomes of the pandemic. Survey-weighted multivariate regressions, controlling for preexisting inequality, find Black adults over 3 times as likely as Whites to report food insecurity, being laid off, or being unemployed. Residents without a college degree are twice as likely to report food insecurity (compared to some college), while those not completing high school (compared to bachelor’s degree) are 4 times as likely to do so. Younger adults and women were also more likely to report economic hardships. Together, the results support contentions of a Matthew Effect, where pandemic precarity disproportionately affects historically disadvantaged groups, widening inequality. Strategically deployed relief efforts and longer-term policy reforms are needed to challenge the perennial and unequal impact of disasters. Significance The 2008 Great Recession widened socioeconomic inequities among young adults, people of color, and those without a college degree. The COVID-19 pandemic raises renewed concerns about inequality. Leveraging pre–post data from a population-representative sample of Indiana residents, we examine employment and food, housing, and financial insecurity. Comparing data before COVID-19 reached the state and during the initial stay-at-home orders, we find socioeconomic shocks disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups, controlling for prepandemic status. Findings are consistent with patterns of inequality observed following other disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, the Chicago Heatwave, the Buffalo Creek Flood, and the Great Recession. As with these disasters, additional surges are likely to escalate short-term hardships, revealing the axes of social devastation that translate into durable inequality.

An influential literature in criminology has identified indirect “collateral consequences” of mass imprisonment. We extend this criminological perspective to the context of the U.S. education system, conceptualizing exclusionary discipline practices (i.e., out-of-school suspension) as a manifestation of intensified social control in schools. Similar to patterns of family and community decline associated with mass incarceration, we theorize that exclusionary discipline policies have indirect adverse effects on non-suspended students in punitive schools. Using a large hierarchical and longitudinal dataset consisting of student and school records, we examine the effect of suspension on reading and math achievement. Our findings suggest that higher levels of exclusionary discipline within schools over time generate collateral damage, negatively affecting the academic achievement of non-suspended students in punitive contexts. This effect is strongest in schools with high levels of exclusionary discipline and schools with low levels of violence, although the adverse effect of exclusionary discipline is evident in even the most disorganized and hostile school environments. Our results level a strong argument against excessively punitive school policies and suggest the need for alternative means of establishing a disciplined environment through social integration.

Relatively little existing research has examined variation in psychological distress outcomes for individuals who suddenly lose access to multiple es

The current opioid epidemic in the US has its historical roots in the movement during the 1990s to address undertreated chronic pain. In response, opioid-producing pharmaceutical companies engaged in aggressive marketing and prescribers overcorrected, relying on powerful opioid analgesics to treat acute and minor pain in addition to chronic and severe pain. Subsequently, the widespread use of opioid analgesic agents created demand for long-term and non-medical use of prescription and illicit opioids.^1,2 To address the growing opioid epidemic, policy makers have focused largely on controlling the prescription and use of opioid analgesics through the implementation of supply-side drug policies. These include prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), pain clinic laws, and prescription limit laws to reduce inappropriate prescribing behavior. In tandem, policy measures to reduce harms and barriers associated with treating and reporting drug overdose, including naloxone access laws and Good Samaritan laws, have been introduced.

Background and Objectives: Social connectedness has been linked prospectively to cognitive aging, but there is little agreement about the social mechanisms driving this relationship. This study evaluated 9 measures of social connectedness, focusing on 2 forms of social enrichment—access to an expansive and diverse set of loosely connected individuals (i.e., social bridging) and integration in a supportive network of close ties (i.e., social bonding).Research Design and Methods: This study used egocentric network and cognitive data from 311 older adults in the Social Networks in Alzheimer Disease study. Linear regressions were used to estimate the association between social connectedness and global cognitive function, episodic memory, and executive function.Results: Measures indicative of social bridging (larger network size, lower density, presence of weak ties, and proportion of non-kin) were consistently associated with better cognitive outcomes, while measures of social bonding (close ties, multiplex support, higher frequency of contact, better relationship quality, and being married) largely produced null effects.Discussion and Implications: These findings suggest that the protective benefits of social connectedness for cognitive function and memory may operate primarily through a cognitive reserve mechanism that is driven by irregular contact with a larger and more diverse group of peripheral others.