University of Wisconsin–Madison

Category: Research

Quality of Life in Autistic Children: Discrepancies Between Self- and Caregiver-Proxy Reports and Associations With Individual Characteristics

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Autism Research (2025) Authors: Emily Skaletski, Rebekah Rodriguez, Sharon Gartland, Karla Ausderau, Lauren Bishop, James  Li, Brittany Travers Abstract: Quality of life (QoL) is important for everyone and has been identified as a priority for autistic people. However, studies typically focus on caregiver-proxy-reported QoL and its related individual characteristics, even though self- and caregiver-proxy-reported QoL …

Practice and Practicalities: Challenges To Housing First Implementation across Nine DV Service Providers

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Journal of Family Violence (2025) Authors: Kaitlyn M. Sims, Mariel J. Barnes & Kate L. Walsh Abstract: Purpose Domestic Violence Housing First (DVHF) prioritizes removing survivors’ immediate barriers to safe and stable housing via unconditional and flexible financial assistance to reduce exposure to violence, increase stability, and improve physical and mental health. The current study …

Leveling Up or Dropping Out: Searching for Learning Routines in Crowdsourced Environments

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Proceedings of the ACM Human-Computer Interaction (2025) Authors: Corey Jackson, Carsten Østerlund, Anand Vamsi, Alexander O. Smith, Karsten Crowston Abstract: We explore patterns of interaction with different learning resources (e.g., forums) to predict learning outcomes in an online citizen science project called Gravity Spy. To explore how volunteers engage with and benefit from these resources, …

Journal-Sentinel highlights McQuillan’s research on policies protecting gender expression

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Most Wisconsin schools protect students from discrimination against everything but this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, October 13, 2025 By Natalie Eilbert A study of Wisconsin school board policies has found that nearly all districts have policies protecting students from discrimination based on sexual orientation and the vast majority protect students from discrimination based on gender identity. But …

Research Reveals Hidden Role of Skin Tone in Hazardous Job Assignments 

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  Research led by IDS Graduate Fellow and Wisconsin School of Business PhD candidate Alexis Avery uncovers how historical biases around skin tone continue to shape workplace experiences, particularly in the assignment of hazardous tasks. Avery finds that managers draw on these biases when deciding who is best suited for dangerous work, leaving darker-skinned employees disproportionately …

Inclusive but Not Integrative: Ethnoracial Boundaries and the Use of Spanish in the Market for Rental Housing

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Sociological Science (2023) Authors: Ariela Schachter, John Kuk, Max Besbris, Garrett Pekarek Abstract: Increasing Spanish fluency in the United States likely shapes ethnoracial group boundaries and inequality. We study a key site for group boundary negotiations—the housing market—where Spanish usage may represent a key source of information exchange between landlords and prospective renters. Specifically, we examine the use …

A Rapidly Changing Ecology of Aid: Accepting Help and Stigma in the Aftermath of Disaster

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Qualitative Sociology (2024) Authors: Anna Rhodes, Max Besbris Abstract: Drawing on the human ecology framework, which describes social structure as dynamic and social action as environmentally contingent, this article examines behavior and attitudes around accepting help after disaster. Through two years of longitudinal in-depth interviews with 59 households in one community whose homes flooded during Hurricane Harvey, …

Pandemic Housing: The Role of Landlords, Social Networks, and Social Policy in Mitigating Housing Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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RSF: The Russel Sage Foundation Journal of Social Sciences (2024) Authors: Max Besbris, Sadie Dempsey, Brian McCabe, Eva Rosen Abstract: This article uses a subsample of low-income American Voices Project respondents who rent their homes to examine how households coped with housing insecurity at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. First, some renters reported more housing stability because …

Mortality Rate and Age of Death Among Medicare-Enrolled Autistic Older Adults

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Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders (2023) Authors: Morgan Krantz, Djhenne Dalmacy, Lauren Bishop, Madison Hyer, Brittany N. Hand Abstract: An emerging body of evidence suggests that autistic people are at greater risk for mortality than non-autistic people. Yet, relatively little is known about mortality rates among autistic people during older adulthood (i.e., age 65 or older). We …

“I’m dealing with a health care system that doesn’t get it”: Barriers and Facilitators to Inclusive Healthcare for Autistic Adults

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Autism (2024) Authors: Kiley J. McLean, Meghan Hass, Jamie Koenig, Megan Horvath, Mariah Vigil, Nicole E. Werner, Lauren Bishop Abstract: Emerging research points to high rates of major psychiatric disorders and chronic medical conditions among autistic adults. However, the unique healthcare needs of autistic adults are often overlooked, perhaps due to limitations in population-level surveillance and widespread …