Research on mental health beliefs and behaviors

My primary line of research applies a cultural sociology lens to contextualize long-term trends in mental health and treatment in the United States. I focus on changing understandings and beliefs at the macro level and how they influence individuals’ behaviors and decision-making

In my first book project, I am using computational and qualitative text analysis and custom text datasets to analyze how news media and individuals think about and make sense of mental health and illness over time.

My other research on mental health uses the National Health Interview Survey to assess trends in psychological distress and treatment-seeking behaviors.

• Johnson, Amy L. 2021. “Changes in Mental Health and Treatment, 1997-2017.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 62(1):53-68.
  • Mentioned in the podcast Mad in America.
  • Featured in The Society Pages.
• (under review) Johnson, Amy L. “Mental Illness and the Resilience of Deviance.”
• (under review) Johnson, Amy L., Christopher Levesque, Neil A. Lewis, Jr., and Asad L. Asad. “Uncertainty about Immigration Enforcement Predicts Latino U.S. Citizens and Noncitizens’ Psychological Distress, 2011-2018.”

Research on gender beliefs

In collaborative research conducted with the VMWare Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab, I explore how young adults’ gender beliefs are informed by cultural ideas of individualism and agency and contribute to persistent gender inequality by directing young adults away from structural solutions. The project, which uses longitudinal interview and survey data, is still ongoing and findings have been published in Social Problems and Sociological Perspectives.

• Carian, Emily K. and Amy L. Johnson. 2022. “The Agency Myth: Persistence in Individual Explanations for Gender Inequality.” Social Problems. 69(1):123-42.
• Baralt, Lori, Emily K. Carian, Amy L. Johnson, Sojung Lim, and Soo-Yeon Yoon. 2020. “Millennials and Gender in an Era of Growing Inequality.” Sociological Perspectives 63(3):452–60.