Contact Information

Contact Information

PhD Candidate, Demographer, Sociologist.

Posts by Collection

portfolio

publications

Connecting Fathers: Fathers’ Impact on Adult Children’s Social Networks

Published in The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 2022

This paper is was written while I was an undergraduate and published during my first year of graduate school.

Recommended citation: Soria C, Lawton L. Connecting Fathers: Fathers’ Impact on Adult Children’s Social Networks. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development. 2023;96(1):19-32. doi:10.1177/00914150221106645 hhttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00914150221106645

Commentary: Examining Contextual Factors Contributing to Differentials in COVID-19 Mortality in U.S. vs. India

Published in Frontiers in Public Health, 2022

This commentary examines the disparities in COVID-19 mortality rates between the U.S. and India, exploring demographic dynamics and contextual factors contributing to the “Indian death paradox.”

Recommended citation: Zanwar PP, Wallace KL, Soria C, Perianayagam A. Commentary: Examining contextual factors contributing to differentials in COVID-19 mortality in U.S. vs. India. Front Public Health. 2022;10:995751. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.995751 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.995751/full

Assessing the 10/66 Dementia Classification Algorithm for International Comparative Analyses with the U.S.

Published in American Journal of Epidemiology, 2025

Cross-national comparisons of dementia prevalence are essential for identifying unique determinants and cultural-specific risk factors, but methodological differences in dementia classification across countries hinder global comparisons. This study maps the 10/66 algorithm for dementia classification, widely used and validated in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), to the U.S. Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study (ADAMS), the dementia sub-study of the Health and Retirement Study, and assesses its performance in ADAMS.

Recommended citation: Jorge J Llibre Guerra, Jordan Weiss, Jing Li, Chris Soria, Ana Rodriguez-Salgado, Juan de Jesús Llibre Rodriguez, Ivonne Z Jiménez Velázquez, Daisy Acosta, Mao-Mei Liu, William H Dow, Assessing the 10/66 Dementia Classification Algorithm for International Comparative Analyses with the U.S., American Journal of Epidemiology, 2024;, kwae470, https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwae470 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39745806/

The Caribbean American Dementia and Aging Study: Protocol for a Population-Based Study of Older Adult Health and Dementia in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico

Published in BMC Geriatrics, 2025

CADAS is a multi-purpose household study of aging focused on the life course determinants and consequences of health and dementia in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Cuba.

Recommended citation: Liu MM, Llibre-Guerra J, Soria C, Li J, Zayas Llerena T, Rodriguez G, Acosta D, Jiménez Velázquez I, Llibre-Rodriguez JJ, Dow WH. The Caribbean American Dementia and Aging Study: protocol for a population-based study of older adult health and dementia in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. BMC Geriatr. 2025;25(1). doi:10.1186/s12877-025-06131-0 https://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12877-025-06131-0

talks

Father Connection & Support in Adulthood (UC Berkeley Social Networks Study)

Published:

Despite rapidly expanding interest in fathers, scholars know little about the impact of fathers on adult health and well-being. How does the positive presence – or lack thereof - of fathers in adult children’s lives affect their social networks? Drawing on attachment theory and social capital theory to examine novel UC Berkeley Social Networks Study (UC Nets) data, I seek to extend understanding of how father attachment and socialization can influence adult social well-being. I find that individuals who name a father in their social network have significantly more social ties. Those with a “close” father have larger social networks than those who name a father who is not “close.” This has consequences for individuals’ broader networks: respondents with a “close” father report more males – but not females – in social activities networks. In contrast, having a “close” mother was associated with more females to confide in, but not males.

Partisan Context and Its Associations on Individual Behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Published:

Joint presentation with Dr. Audrey Dorélien examining partisan differences in the adoption of protective health behaviors during COVID-19 and modeling how these differences impact disease dynamics. Using detailed survey data on partisanship, contact rates, mask usage, and vaccination rates, we demonstrated that partisan differences in health behaviors exceed racial and gender differences. We incorporated these observations into a Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) model framework that explicitly incorporates partisanship to identify the most significant mechanisms driving disease spread, emphasizing the importance of considering partisan identification in public health policy and pandemic preparedness.

Partisan-Influenced Health Outcomes

Published:

Radio interview as a Wonderfest Science Envoy on KPOO’s “Let Me Touch Your Mind” show, hosted by Marilynn Fowler. Discussed research on partisan-influenced health outcomes and how political partisanship shapes public health behaviors and disease spread.

Partisan Differences in the Spread of Disease

Published:

Presented as a Wonderfest “Science Envoy” at a public science event co-hosted with Marin Science Seminar. The talk explored how political partisanship significantly influences how different groups respond to public health guidance, affecting their adherence to protective measures against infectious diseases. Understanding partisan-based disparities in acceptance of scientific evidence helps us to predict the population-wide spread of diseases and to improve public health outcomes.

Benefits and Challenges of AI in Demography

Published:

Participated in a panel discussion on the benefits and challenges of AI in demography at the 2025 PAA Annual Meeting. Discussed use-cases and benefits/limitations of large language models (LLMs) for survey research alongside other panelists.

Hispanic Migrant Cognitive Aging

Published:

Joint presentation with Dr. William H. Dow examining the Hispanic health paradox in cognitive aging. The talk explored the contradiction in Hispanic aging where Mexican migrants, despite being more socioeconomically disadvantaged, demonstrate better cognitive aging outcomes than other Hispanic migrant groups. This research contributes to understanding health disparities and the complex relationship between socioeconomic status and health outcomes in aging populations.

CatLLM: Augmenting Social Science Research with Large Language Models

Published:

Presented on computational tools that augment social science research using large language models. Introduced CatLLM—an open-source Python package that enables researchers to apply language and vision models to survey coding, image analysis, and data categorization without machine learning expertise. The talk covered practical applications in demographic research, including automated coding of open-ended survey responses and analysis of cognitive health data.

teaching

Teaching experience 1

Undergraduate course, University 1, Department, 2014

This is a description of a teaching experience. You can use markdown like any other post.

Teaching experience 2

Workshop, University 1, Department, 2015

This is a description of a teaching experience. You can use markdown like any other post.