Ryon Cobb, PhD

Ryon Cobb was a 2014-2015 RCMAR Fellow at the USC Schaeffer Center. His RCMAR project was Health Shocks and Health Behavior Change: An Intersectionality Approach. Cobb received his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology from Florida State University. His research areas include: medical sociology; race and ethnicity; and family, life course, and aging. He is currently a K12 Scholar, receiving funding from the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Association, working toward his long-term goal of improving the renal health of older adults by assessing the contribution of gene-environment interactions to renal aging among older Black adults.

Recent publication:

Attributions for Everyday Discrimination and All-Cause Mortality Risk Among Older Black Women: A Latent Class Analysis Approach
Erving, C. L., Cobb, R. J., & Sheehan, C. (2022). Attributions for everyday discrimination and all-cause mortality risk among older black women: A latent class analysis approach. The Gerontologist, 63(5), 887–899. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnac080

Recent Work

COVID-19 and Psychological Distress: Racial Differences Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults

This study examines the interplay between perceptions of the COVID-19 outbreak as a threat to one’s day-to-day life, race, and psychological distress among middle-aged and older men and women.
Categorized in
Discrimination and Hypertension among Older African Americans and Caribbean Blacks: The Moderating Effects of John Henryism

Discrimination is a major contributor to health disparities between Black and White older adults. Although the health effects of discrimination are well established, less is known about factors that may intervene in the discrimination-health connection, such as coping strategies.
Categorized in
- Research
- Journal Articles
Parents’ Perceived Neighborhood Safety and Children’s Cognitive Performance: Complexities by Race, Ethnicity, and Cognitive Domain

This study examines racial/ethnic variations in the effect of parents’ subjective neighborhood safety on children’s cognitive performance.
Categorized in
- Research
- Journal Articles
Neighborhood Social Group Participation and Depressive Symptoms Among Mid-to-Late Life Black Americans: Does the Association Differ by Ethnicity?

This study examined how neighborhood social participation relates to depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older African Americans and Caribbean Blacks.
Categorized in
- Research
- Journal Articles
Perceived COVID-19 Health Threat Increases Psychological Distress Among Black Americans

The present study used data from the American Trends Panel to examine the interplay between the perceived COVID-19 health threat, discriminatory beliefs in medical settings, and psychological distress among Black Americans.
Categorized in
- Research
- Journal Articles

Ryon Cobb, PhD's Bio

Recent Work

COVID-19 and Psychological Distress: Racial Differences Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults

Discrimination and Hypertension among Older African Americans and Caribbean Blacks: The Moderating Effects of John Henryism

Parents’ Perceived Neighborhood Safety and Children’s Cognitive Performance: Complexities by Race, Ethnicity, and Cognitive Domain

Neighborhood Social Group Participation and Depressive Symptoms Among Mid-to-Late Life Black Americans: Does the Association Differ by Ethnicity?

Perceived COVID-19 Health Threat Increases Psychological Distress Among Black Americans