Massachusetts General Hospital | MassGeneral Hospital for Children

Research by the Goodman lab seeks to understand the processes through which differences in social status influence children’s health and the trajectory toward adult cardiovascular health.  A second line of inquiry is related to obesity, insulin resistance, and cardiometabolic risk.   A third line of research is developing and evaluating programs which build strengths, encourage civic engagement, and offer opportunities for teens to positively impact both themselves and their environments. Current projects include the PSD Study a longitudinal study of social status impact on health of adolescents and young adults, and IPACE (Intervention and Policy Advocacy for Changing Environments) which conducts community-based research to further knowledge through community partnerships that promote health and sustainable, systemic change.

The Goodman group is NIH and foundation funded and resides within MGHfC’s Center for Child and Adolescent Health Research and Policy

Current Student Opportunities

Understanding Community-level Conditions which lead to Hunger, Food Insecurity, and Obesity in Children  
The goals of this set of projects, which build on current ongoing projects, are threefold—first to examine the community level conditions that lead to hunger, food insecurity and obesity; second to determine if and how sociocultural and economic disparities impact the prevalence; and third-to explore potential community-specific solutions to these problems in the low income communities adjacent to the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Selected publications (From over 100 total)

1. Goodman E. The role of socioeconomic status gradients in explaining differences in U.S. adolescents’ health.  Am J Public Health, 1999; 89:1522-1528.
2. Goodman E, Hinden, BR, Khandelwal, S.  Accuracy of teen and parental reports of obesity and body mass index.  Pediatrics 2000; 106(1):52-58.
3. Goodman E, Amick BC, Rezendes MO, Levine S, Kagan J, Rogers WH, Tarlov AR. Adolescents’ understanding of social class: A comparison of White upper middle class and working class youth. J Adolesc Health 2000; 27:80-83.
4. Goodman E, Capitman J. Depressive symptoms and cigarette smoking among teens.Pediatrics 2000:106;748-755.
5. Goodman, E, Adler, NE, Kawachi, I, Frazier, AL, Huang, B, and Colditz, GA.  Adolescents' Perceptions of Social Status: Development and Evaluation of a New Indicator. Pediatrics, 2001;108.  URL: http//www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/108/2/e31.
6. Goodman E, Huang B.  Socioeconomic Status, Depression, and Health Service Utilization Among Adolescent Women, Women’s Health Issues, 2001;11;416-426.
7. Goodman, E and Huang, B.  Socioeconomic status, depressive symptoms, and adolescent substance use.  Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med,  2002;156:448-453.
8. Goodman, E and Whitaker, RC.  A Prospective Study of the Role of Depression in the Development and Persistence of Adolescent Obesity.  Pediatrics, 2002;109:497-504.
9. Goodman, E, Adler, NE, Daniels, SR, Slap, GB, Morrison, J, Dolan, LM. Impact of objective and subjective social status on obesity in a biracial cohort of adolescents.  Obes, Research, 2003;11:1018-1026.
10. Goodman E, Huang B, Wade TJ, Kahn RS: A multilevel analysis of the relation of socioeconomic status to adolescent depressive symptoms: does school context matter? J Pediatr, 2003 143:451-456.
11. Goodman, E, Slap, GB, and Huang, B. Quantifying the Public Health Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Adolescent Depression and Obesity, Am J Public Health, 2003; 93:1844-1850.
12. Goodman E, Daniels S, Morrison J, Huang B, Dolan L: Metabolic Syndrome in Adolescents: A Comparison of the WHO and NCEP Definitions. J Pediatr, 2004: 145;445-451.
13. Goodman E, McEwen BS, Huang B, Dolan LM, Adler NE. Social inequalities in biomarkers of cardiovascular risk in adolescence. Psychosom Med 2005; 67:9-15.
14. Goodman E, Dolan LM, Morrison JA, Daniels SR. Factor Analysis of Clustered Cardiovascular Risks in Adolescence: Obesity is the Predominant Correlate of Risk Among Youth. Circulation, 2005, 111:1970-77.
15. Dolan LM, Bean J, D'Alessio D, Cohen RM, Morrison JA, Goodman E, Daniels SR. The frequency of abnormal carbohydrate metabolism and diabetes in a population based screening of adolescents. J Pediatr. 2005;146(6):751-758.
16. Goodman E, McEwen BS, Dolan LM, Schafer-Kalkhoff T, Adler NE.  Social disadvantage and adolescent stress. J Adolesc Health. 2005;37:484- 492.
17. Woo JG, Dolan LM, Daniels SR, Goodman E, Martin LJ. Adolescent Sex Differences in Adiponectin are Conditional on Pubertal Development and Adiposity. Obes Research. 2005;13(12):2095-101.
18. Finkelstein DM, Kubzansky LD, Goodman E.  Social status, stress, and adolescent smoking. J Adolesc Health. 2006;39:678-685.
19. Goodman E, Dolan LM, Daniels SR. Socioeconomic disparities in insulin resistance: results from the Princeton school district study. Psychosom Med. 2007;69(1):61-67.
20. Finkelstein DM, Kubzansky LD, Capitman J, Goodman E. Socioeconomic differences in adolescent stress: the role of psychological resources. J Adolesc Health. 2007;40:2:127-134.
21. Goodman E, Daniels SR, Meigs JB, Dolan LM. Instability in the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome in adolescents. Circulation. 2007;115:2316-2322.
22. Crimins NA, Dolan DM, Martin LJ, Bean JA, Daniels SR, Lawson L, Goodman E, Woo JG.  Stability of adolescent body mass index during three years of follow up. J Pediatr. 2007;151:383-387.
23. Goodman E, Huang B, Schafer-Kalkhoff T, Adler NE. Perceived socioeconomic status: a new type of identity which influences adolescents' self rated health. J Adolesc Health. 2007;41:479-487.
24. Lemeshow AR, Fisher L, Goodman E, Kawachi I, Colditz G.  Longitudinal study of subjective social status and weight change in female adolescents. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008;162:23-28.
25. Woo JG, Dolan LM, Morrow AM, Geraghty SR, Goodman E.  Breastfeeding helps explain racial and socioeconomic status disparities in adolescent adiposity. Pediatrics. 2008;121(3):e458-465.
26. Goodman E, Graham TE, Dolan LM, Daniels SR, Goodman ER, Kahn BB. The relationship of retinol binding protein 4 to changes in insulin resistance and cardiometabolic risk in overweight black adolescents. J Pediatr. 2009;154:67-73.
27. Bethell C, Read D, Goodman E, Johnson J, Besl J, Cooper J, Simpson, LA. Consistently inconsistent: a snapshot of across and within state disparities in the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity. Pediatrics. 2009;123(Supplement_5):S277-286.
28. Ashe, M. Bennett G, Economos CD, Goodman E, Schilling J, Quintiliani L, Rosenbaum S, Vincent J, Must a assessment of coordination of law-based efforts across jurisdictions and sectors for obesity prevention and control. J Law Medicine and Ethics. 2009;37:45-54.
29. Must, A, Bennett G, Economos CD, Goodman E, Schilling J, Quintiliani L, Rosenbaum S, Vincent J, Ashe M. Improving coordination of law-based efforts across jurisdictions and sectors for obesity prevention and control. J Law Medicine and Ethics. 2009;37:90-98.
30. Goodman E, Li C, Tu Y-K, Ford E, Sun S, Huang T. Stability of the factor structure of the metabolic syndrome across pubertal development: confirmatory factor analyses of three alternative models. J Pediatr. 2009;155(3):S5.e1-S5.e8.
31. Li C, Ford E, Huang T, Sun S, Goodman E. Patterns of change in cardiometabolic risk factors associated with the metabolic syndrome among children and adolescents: the Fels longitudinal study. J Pediatr. 2009;155(3):S5.e9-S5.e16.
32. Emans SJ, Austin SB, Goodman E, Orr DP, Freeman R, Stoff D, Litt IF, Schuster MA, Haggerty R, Granger R, Irwin CE. Improving adolescent and young adult health – training the next generation of physician scientists in transdisciplinary research. J Adolesc Health. 2010;46:100-109.
33. Davila, E, Florez, H, Fleming, L, Lee, D, Goodman, E, LeBlanc, W, Caban-Martinez, A, Arheart, K, McCollister, K, Christ, S, Clark, J, Clarke, T. Prevalence of the Metabolic Syndrome among US Workers. Diabetes Care. 2010; 33(11):2390-5.
34. Davila EP, Christ SL, Caban Martinez A, Lee DJ, Arheart KA, LeBlanc WG, McColllister KE, Clarke T, Zimmerman FJ, Goodman E, Muntaner C, Fleming LE. Young adults, mortality, and employment. J Occup Environ Med. 2010;52(5):501-4.
35. Goodman E. Must A, Daniels SR, Dolan LM. Hostility and adiposity mediate disparities in insulin resistance in adolescents and young adults. J Pediatr. 2010; 157:572-577.
36. Caban AJ, Lee DJ, Goodman E, Davila EP, Fleming LE, LeBlanc WG, Arheart KL, McCollister KE, Christ SL, Zimmerman FJ, Muntaner C, Hollenbeck JA. Health Indicators Among Unemployed and Employed Young Adults. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2011;53:196-203.
37. Goodman E. Must A. Depressive Symptoms in Severely Obese Compared to Normal Weight Adolescents: Results from a Community-Based Longitudinal Study. J Adolesc Health, 2011;49:64-69.
38. Jackson B, Twenge JM, Souza C, Chiang J, Goodman E. Low subjective social status promotes ruminative coping. J Applied Soc Psych, 2011; 41:2434-2456. 
39. Khullar, D, Oreskovic, NM, Perrin, JM, Goodman, E.  Optimism and the SES Gradient in Adolescent Obesity, J Adolesc Health, 2011; 49:553-555. 
40. Jackson, B and Goodman, E.  Low Social Status Markers: Do They Predict Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence?  Race Soc Probl,3:119-128.
41. Kubzansky, LD, Gilthorpe, MS, and Goodman, E.  A Prospective Study of Psychological Distress and Weight Status in Young Adults, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2011, (DOI) 10.1007/s12160-011-9323-8.
42. Pietras, SA, Rhodes, ET, Meyers, A, and Goodman, E. Understanding Pediatricians’ Views toward School-based BMI Screening in Massachusetts:  A Pilot Study, J Sch Health, 2012;82:107-114.
43. Sacheck J, Goodman E, Chui K, Choimitz, V, Must, A, and Economos, C. Vitamin D Deficiency, Adiposity, and Cardiometabolic Risk in Urban Schoolchildren. J Pediatr. 2011. Jul 22. [Epub ahead of print]
44. Kachan BS, Fleming LE, LeBlanc WG,  Goodman, E, Arheart KL, Caban-Martinez , AJ, Clark,TC, Ocasio MA, Christ S, and Lee,  DJ. Worker Populations at Risk for Work-related Injuries across the Life Course, American Journal of Industrial Medicine, In press.
45. Au, LE, Economos, CD, Goodman, E, Must, A, Chomitz, VR, Sacheck, JM.  Vitamin D Intake and Serum Vitamin D in Ethnically Diverse Urban School Children.  Public Health Nutrition, In press.

Elizabeth-Goodman

Phone: 617-643-5469
Fax: 617-726-1886
Email: esmith35@partners.org

Public Transportation Access: yes
Disabled Access: yes