Lenna Nepomnyaschy

My research focuses broadly on the effects of individual and neighborhood-level poverty and inequality, and social policies on the health, development, and overall well-being of children, mothers, and fathers in lower-income families. Much of my work examines the impact of these macro-structural factors and social policies, particularly policies related to child support and the carceral system, on the ability of lower-income and nonresident fathers to be involved with their children and on the effects of fathers’ involvement on children’s well-being. Recent work in this area has focused on the economic standing and health of lower-income men and nonresident fathers, particularly as they move through middle age. Another line of work examines disparities in infant, child, and adolescent health by socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and immigration status. My work is primarily based on analyses of large, national, population-based, longitudinal datasets using advanced and quasi-experimental statistical methods. I received a PhD from Columbia University in 2003 and an MSW from Rutgers in 1991.

Rutgers Research Profile

2025                Chancellor Award for Excellence in Mentoring. Rutgers University – New Brunswick

2024                PhD Professor of the Year Award. Rutgers School of Social Work

2021                Fellow, Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR)

Pro-Democracy, Anti-Authoritarian, Action Resources (Living Document)

Rutgers Social Work Policy Network Archive

Ph.D. Program

Conceptual Foundations of Social Work & Social Welfare (16:910:645)

Advanced Statistical Methods I: Applied Regression (16:910:638) 

Advanced Statistical Methods II: Generalized Linear Models (16:910:639)

MSW Program

Poverty, Inequality, Discrimination & Public Policy (19:910:544)

Advanced Contemporary Policy: Economic Justice for Families & Communities (19:910:585)  

Politics, Policy & Racial Justice (19:910:527)

* student co-author; ** post-doc co-author

Hirshkowitz, Malya* & Lenna Nepomnyaschy. 2026. Short and Long-Term Impacts of Sports Team Participation on Adolescent and Young Adult Depression and Anxiety. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 36, e70246: 1-15. DOI: 10.1111/jora.70246

Dwyer Emory, Allison, Lenna Nepomnyaschy, Maureen Waller, Daniel Miller. 2026. Marginalized Men’s Socioeconomic Precarity and Mothers’ Ability to Make Ends Meet. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 12(2):140-170. Special Issue: Thirty Years since Making Ends Meet: What We Know about How Single-Mothers Survive Today. DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2026.12.2.06

Gale, Adrian & Lenna Nepomnyaschy. 2025. Perceptions of School Climate and Psychological Functioning Among Black Youth: Do Sex and Income Matter? Developmental Psychology. Online first. DOI: 10.1037/dev0002054

James, Christine* & Lenna Nepomnyaschy. 2025. Childhood Disability and Serious School Discipline Among Urban Youth. Academic Pediatrics. 25(4):1-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.acap.2025.102798

Battle, Brittany, Marleina Ubel* & Lenna Nepomnyaschy. 2024. The Family Policing Industrial Complex: Alternative Responses to Carceral Logics in Sites Intended for Support of Families. Theoretical Criminology, 28(4); 516-533. (Special Issue on Dismantling the Shadow Carceral State). DOI: 10.1177/13624806241274761

Reynolds, Addam*, Emily Greenfield & Lenna Nepomnyaschy. 2024. Disparate Benefits of Higher Childhood Socioeconomic Status on Cognition in Adulthood by Intersectional Social Positions. Advances in Life Course Research, 60: 1-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2024.100608

Manley, Lauren* & Lenna Nepomnyaschy. 2024. Exposure to Maternal Experiences of IPV in Early Childhood and Sleep Health in Adolescence. Child Abuse & Neglect, 152:1-12. DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106803

Gale, Adrian & Lenna Nepomnyaschy. 2023. School Connectedness and Mental Health Among Black Adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Online first: 1-12. DOI: 10.1007/s10964-023-01898-0

Nepomnyaschy, Lenna and Daniel P. Miller. 2023. “Expanding Our Understanding of Public Policies to Support Father Involvement.” In Bellamy, Jennifer L., Brianna P. Lemmons, Qiana R. Cryer-Coupet, and Jennifer A. Shadik (Eds.) Social Work Practice with Fathers: Engagement, Assessment, and Intervention (p. 147-167). Springer International. (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-13686-3_9)

Scher, Clara*, Lenna Nepomnyaschy & Takashi Amano. 2023. Cognitive and Physical Decline as Predictors of Depression among Older Adults. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 42(3): 387-398. DOI: 10.1177/07334648221139255

Nepomnyaschy, Lenna, Margaret Thomas, Alexandra Haralampoudis*, Huiying Jin*. 2022. Nonresident Fathers and Children’s Economic Precarity. ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (online first). DOI: 10.1177/0002716222111934

Robbins, Nathan*, Maureen R. Waller, Lenna Nepomnyaschy & Daniel P. Miller. 2022. Child Support Debt and the Well-being of Disadvantaged Fathers of Color. Journal of Marriage and Family, 84(5):1366-1386. http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12841 (Awarded the Best Research Article Award from the Men in Families Focus Group of the National Council on Family Relations)

Zhang, Liwei**, Cassandra Simmel, Lenna Nepomnyaschy. 2022. Neighborhood Inequality and Child Maltreatment Rates in US Counties, 2009-2018. Child Abuse & Neglect. DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105328

Zhang, Liwei**, Lenna Nepomnyaschy, Cassandra Simmel. 2022. So Close Yet So Different: Neighborhood Inequality and Child Maltreatment. Child Abuse & Neglect. DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.104988.

James, Christine*, Manuel E. Jimenez, Roy Wade Jr., Lenna Nepomnyaschy. 2021. Adverse Childhood Experiences and Teen Behavior Outcomes: The Role of Disability. Academic Pediatrics. DOI: 10.1016/j.acap.2021.05.006

Nepomnyaschy, Lenna, Allison Dwyer Emory, Maureen Waller, Daniel R. Miller, Kasey Eickmeyer**. 2021. Parental Debt and Child Well-being: What Type of Debt Matters for Child Behavior Outcomes? RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences. 7(3)122-151. DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2021.7.3.06

Haralampoudis, Alexandra*, Lenna Nepomnyaschy & Louis Donnelly. 2021. Head Start Participation and Nonresident Fathers’ Involvement with Children. Journal of Marriage and Family, 83(3):699-716.  DOI: 10.1111/jomf.12756

Waller, Maureen R., Lenna Nepomnyaschy, Daniel P. Miller, Meaghan Mingo*. 2021. Using a Narrative Approach to Analyze Longitudinal Mixed Methods Data. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, DOI: 10.1177/1558689820953237. 

Nepomnyaschy, Lenna, Daniel Miller, Maureen Waller & Allison Dwyer Emory. 2020. “The Role of Fathers in Reducing Socioeconomic Inequalities in Adolescent Behavior Outcomes.” Social Service Review 94(3): 521-566. 

Dwyer Emory, Allison, Daniel P. Miller, Lenna Nepomnyaschy, Maureen R. Waller & Alexandra Haralampoudis*. 2020. “The Minimum Wage and Fathers’ Residence with Children.” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 41(3): 472-491.  

Dwyer Emory, Allison, Lenna Nepomnyaschy, Maureen Waller, Daniel Miller, Alexandra Haralampoudis*. 2020. “Providing After Prison: Nonresident Fathers’ Formal and Informal Contributions to Children.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 6(1):84-112. 

Miller, Daniel R., Margaret Thomas*, Maureen Waller, Lenna Nepomnyaschy & Allison Dwyer Emory. 2020. “Father Involvement and Socioeconomic Disparities in Child Academic Outcomes.” Journal of Marriage and Family 82(2):515-533.  

O’Connor, Julia* and Lenna Nepomnyaschy. 2020. “Intimate Partner Violence and Material Hardship among Urban Mothers.” Violence Against Women 26(9): 935-954. 

Sariscsany, Laurel*, Irwin Garfinkel, and Lenna Nepomnyaschy. 2019. “Describing and Understanding Child Support Trajectories.” Social Service Review 93(2):143-182.  

Gold, Sarah* and Lenna Nepomnyaschy. 2018. “Neighborhood Physical Disorder and Early Delinquency among Urban Children. Journal of Marriage and Family. 80(4):919-933