Jessica Pearlman

Director of Research Methods Programs
ISSR
E27-A Machmer Hall

Jessica Pearlman joined ISSR in September 2016 and serves as ISSR's Director of Research Methods Programs. Dr. Pearlman came to University of Massachusetts from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where she earned a PhD in Sociology and a MS in Statistics. She also holds a MA in Applied Anthropology from the University of South Florida.

Her methodological training is multidisciplinary and includes survey design and sampling, ethnographic methods, and statistical coursework from the departments of Economics, Biostatistics, Psychology, Statistics and Sociology.

Prior to joining ISSR, Dr. Pearlman worked for several years as a statistical consultant, primarily at the Odum Institute at UNC-CH, advising faculty, graduate student, undergraduate students and non-profit organizations on the appropriate statistical methods to use for their research projects.She has also held research positions at the consulting firm Social Policy Research and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Dr. Pearlman’s research explores the relationships between macro-economic conditions, labor market structure, public policy, and stratification, in particular economic inequality and health disparities. She examines how transformations of labor market opportunities over the past 40 years have contributed to changing patterns of inequality among educational levels, age groups and between men and women. Her research focuses on both the United States and Nepal.

Selected Publications

  • Mamo, Sara, Jessica Pearlman and Kara Wheeler (2023). Associations Between Age-Related Hearing Loss, Cognitive Impairment and Multiple Chronic Conditions in a Group Care Setting. In Press. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 66 (12): 5087-5108.
  • Azamarnesh, Deniz, Jessica Pearlman, Elena Carbone and Janie DiNatale (2023). Construct Validation of the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) among Young College-Educated Women. Nutrients 15(21):4553-4564.
  • Young, Kathryne and Jessica Pearlman (2022). Racial Disparities in Lifer Parole Outcomes: The Hidden Role of Professional Evaluations. Law and Social Inquiry 47(3):.783-820
  • Pearlman, Jessica and Dean Robinson (equal authorship) (2022). State Policies, Racial Disparities, and Income Support: A Way to Address Infant Outcomes and the Persistent Black-white gap?  Journal of Health, Politics, Policy and Law 47(2):225-258.
  • Geissler, Kimberly, Jessica Pearlman and Laura Attanasio (2021). Physician Referrals During Prenatal Care. Maternal and Child Health Journal 25:1820-1828.
  • Gupta, Sanjiv, Liana Sayer, and Jessica Pearlman (2021). Educational and Type of Day Differences in Mothers’ Time Availability for Child Care and Housework. Journal of Marriage and the Family 83(3):786-802.
  • Santiago-Rosario, Maria, Sara Whitcomb, Jessica Pearlman and Kent McIntosh (2021). Associations Between Teacher Expectations and Racial Disproportionality in Discipline Referrals.  Journal of School Psychology 85:80-93.
  • Pearlman, Jessica (2019). Occupational Mobility for Whom?: Education, Cohorts, the Life Course and Occupational Gender Composition, 1970-2010. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 59:81-93.
  • Campbell, Colin and Jessica Pearlman (2019). Access to Social Network Support and Material Hardship. Social Currents 6(3):284-304.
  • Pearlman, Jessica (2018). Gender Differences in the Impact of Job Mobility on Earnings: The Role of Occupational Segregation. Social Science Research 74:30-44.
  • Pearlman, Jessica, Lisa Pearce, Dirgha Ghimire, Prem Bhandari and Taylor Hargrove (2017). Postmarital Living Arrangements in Historically Patrilocal Settings: Integrating Household Fission and Migration Perspectives. Demography 54(4):1425-49.
  • Pearce, Lisa, George Merlin Hayward and Jessica Pearlman (2017). Measuring Five Dimensions of Religiosity Across Adolescence. Review of Religious Research 59(3): 367-93.
  • Pearlman, Jessica (2015). The Consequences of Job Displacement for Health: Moderating Influences of Economic Conditions and Educational Attainment. Social Science Research 52:570-87.
  • Campbell, Colin and Jessica Pearlman (equal authorship) (2013). Period Effects, Cohort Effects and the Narrowing Gender Wage Gap. Social Science Research 42(6):1693-1711.
  • Huffman, Matt, Philip Cohen and Jessica Pearlman (2010). Engendering Change: Organizational Dynamics and Workplace Gender Desegregation 1975-2005. Administrative Science Quarterly 55:255-77.