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ASA Mental Health Section

The purpose of the Section on Sociology of Mental Health is to provide an integrative supportive framework for research on social factors in mental health.

The Mental Health Section considers issues ranging from serious mental disorders to subjective indicators of quality of life. The focus is on research and theory pertaining to social processes and mental health functioning.

Click the link above to join or renew your membership for the American Sociological Association. If you are already a member of ASA, you may use the link to join the Mental Health Section.

Programs and Structure

ASA Minority Fellowship Program

Program Description

The MFP fellowship is a pre-doctoral training program intended for the development of sociologists of color interested in mental health and drug abuse research. Sociological research and research training should focus on the causes, treatment, or prevention of mental disorders or drug abuse. MFP seeks to attract talented doctoral students to ensure a diverse and highly trained workforce is available to assume leadership. The program is co-funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA). Research on core areas of the research missions of NIMH and NIDA include schizophrenia, depression, eating disorders, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, drug abuse and addiction across the life course. In addition, research focusing on stigma associated with mental disorders and drug abuse, compliance to treatment; disparities in access, treatment, and service delivery; assessments of risk and protective factors of mental disorders; and abuse are all relevant to the missions and priorities of the NIMH and NIDA. Sociologists have much to contribute to these research agendas, including basic research on health disparities, the characteristics of service delivery systems that work, and the characteristics of strategies for their successful wide spread implementation.

Mentorship Program

Mission Statement

The purpose of this program is to connect graduate students with research interests in the sociology of mental health to a faculty mentor with a similar research area of interest at a different institutional setting.  

The Mentor Relationship  

The relationship between a faculty mentor and graduate student might resemble the advisor/advisee relationships. Faculty mentors may provide feedback on graduate student research papers, guidance on research ideas, give advice or information with regard to professional development, and potentially make an effort to meet up at the mental health section reception during the ASA annual meetings.  

How to get involved  

Graduate students:
Look over the list of faculty mentors and identify a faculty mentor with research interests similar to your own – you may also wish to do a quick literature search for their most recent publications and familiarize yourself with those works. Then, send an email to that faculty mentor with a brief research statement and a description of the specific type of assistance you are looking for from the faculty mentor. In the email, be sure to refer to the Mentoring Program through the Mental Health Section of ASA. 

Faculty:
If you would like to become a faculty mentor or have your name removed from the list of faculty mentors on the ASA Mental Health Section website, then contact Christina Falci cfalci2@unl.edu. For individuals who want to become a faculty mentor, please provide me with your full name, research interests and institutional affiliation

By-Laws

Established November 1991, revised by referendum 1996, June 2005, June 2011, June 2012, June 2016, June 2023, June 2024


Purpose: The purpose of the Section on the Sociology of Mental Health is to provide an integrative and supportive organizational framework for sociological research on mental health. It encourages this purpose through meeting participation, conferences, publications, and other means deemed appropriate by the Council of the Section. The Section does not promote a particular definition of mental health; rather, the term is inclusive, ranging from serious mental disorders through subjective indicators of the quality of life.


Officers and Council: The Officers of the Section shall consist of the following: a Chair, a Chair-elect, a Past Chair, and a Secretary-Treasurer. The Council consists of the Officers and seven additional members. The seven additional Council members include the Chair of the Nominating Committee, Chair of the Publications Committee, the Newsletter Editor, Chair of the Mental Health Section Award Committee, Membership Chair, and two standing members, one of whom will be a graduate student. All members of Council, with the exception of the Newsletter Editor (who is appointed), shall be elected by the membership.


Council members serve two-year terms, except the Chair (who is on the Council for three years, as Chair-elect, Chair, and Past Chair), the Secretary-Treasurer (who is on Council for three years, and Newsletter Editor (who serves a four year term). Responsibilities of the Section Officers are as follows. The Chair-elect will serve in the first year as a member of the Program and Awards Committees. The Chair will serve as Chair of the Council, Program Committee Chair, and Presider at the annual business meeting. The Past Chair remains on Council and serves as a member of the Awards Committee. The Secretary-Treasurer shall take and circulate minutes of meeting, and keep and present documents and financial records of the Section.


Except for the office of Secretary-Treasurer, annual elections will alternate between two versions. In odd years, elections will be for Chair-elect, Chair of the Publications Committee, the Membership Chair, and one standing Council member. In even years, elections will be for Chair-elect, Chair of the Nominating Committee, Chair of the Awards Committee, and the student member. Election for the office of Secretary-Treasurer will be held every three years beginning in 2014.


Thus, subsequent elections for this office will be held in 2017, 2020, 2023, and every third year thereafter.


Officers may not succeed themselves. No member may hold two elective offices simultaneously. No member may be a member of Council for more than a continuous five-year period, and no member may hold Council positions for more than seven years of any ten-year period.
The Newsletter Editor shall be appointed by the Publications Committee Chair and confirmed by Council. The term of office shall be four years.


Only members of the American Sociological Section who are also members of the Section on the Sociology of Mental Health are eligible to hold office. A student holding a position as standing member of Council must be a student member of the ASA, a student member of the Section, and be currently enrolled in a graduate program at the time of election. Current section Officers and other Council members have voting rights at Council meetings. The Chair of the Nominations Committee, Newsletter Editor, and incoming Officers and Council members shall have voice but not vote.


If an elected office is vacated before the end of the term, it will be filled for the unexpired term by appointment of the Chair as approved by the Council.


Powers of the Council: The Council is vested with the power to carry out all necessary operations for the Section, acting as the representatives of the membership. To that end, it shall meet annually on the occasion of the ASA Annual Meeting. The Council shall make decisions by majority rule of its attending, voting members. The Council meeting is restricted to Council members and invited guests. The general business meeting is open to all Section members and shall be devoted to discussion of issues presented by Council or by membership.


Questions to be brought before the Section membership for approval may originate with the Council itself, by a petition of 10 percent of the Section membership or by 25 members of the Section (whichever is less), and may be referred to a ballot of Section members by the same means. Any resolution passed by the annual business meeting of the Section shall automatically be submitted to the Section membership by ballot.
 

Elections and Voting: The elections of the Section shall be carried out in cooperation with the American Sociological Association and coordinated to its schedule. A simple majority of the members voting for each Council position shall determine the outcome, as it shall for all referenda or revisions of by-laws as may be submitted for vote. In the elections for seats on the Council (normally with two candidates per position), the two candidates having the largest number of votes shall be elected when two seats are available. Newly elected Officers and Council members shall assume office immediately after the adjournment of the business meeting of the Section at the Annual Meeting of the ASA. They are encouraged to attend the council meeting that occurs prior to the business meeting that marks the start of their terms, to familiarize themselves with other council members and upcoming work.


Committees: There shall be a Nominating Committee, consisting of the Committee Chair and the student member of Council. The Nominating Committee shall present two members for each office to be voted on by the Section via ballot, as stipulated above. Candidates may also be added to the ballot by petitions of at least 25 members of the Section. In case of such petitions, there may be more than two choices for a particular position. Normally, members of the Nominating Committee will collect nomination forms at the annual business meeting, and after by mail, and will normally include the single most nominated member as one of their two choices. The other choice(s) will be determined by ranking by members of the Nominating Committee, from a list of names generated by nomination forms.


There shall be a Program Committee, consisting of the Chair and Chair-elect of the Section. The Program Committee will appoint organizers for the upcoming year’s ASA sessions, and will oversee development of topics in these sessions. The committee will attempt to ensure year to year diversity among session offerings. The Program Committee will also work in conjunction with the ASA Program Committee to encourage sessions pertaining to the theme of the annual meeting as well as organize and encourage joint sessions with associated sections.


There shall be a Publications Committee consisting of the Publications Chair and Newsletter-Editor. The purpose of this Committee will be to prepare a Section Newsletter to be distributed to section membership through the American Sociological Association. In addition, if special publication projects are undertaken by the Section, the Publications Committee will serve as the organizational arm of the Section in searching for and arranging appropriate publication sources.


There shall be a Mental Health Awards Committee, which will consider entries for all Section awards (see below). The membership of the Committee will be as follows: The Chair of the Committee, the Chair-elect of the Section, the Past-Chair of the Section, the non-student standing member of Council, the lead (or sole) author of the best publication award for the past year, the recipient of the best dissertation award in the past year, and a Past-Chair of the Mental Health Awards Committee who will be appointed by the current Chair of the Committee and will serve for a term agreed upon by the Past- Chair so appointed. In making awards, the Awards Committee will be receptive to work from a broad range of sociological traditions by the diverse membership of the section. The Committee shall be responsible for deciding each year on the recipients of all Section Awards (see below).


The Membership Chair is responsible for encouraging Section membership through activities proposed to and approved by Council (ex. mailings to lapsed Section members). When deemed necessary, the Membership Chair may request appointment of additional committee members with Council approval.


Other committees shall be appointed by the Chair with the approval of Council on an ad hoc basis. The tenure of an ad hoc committee shall be determined by Council at the time it is constituted. The Chair of the ad hoc committee shall have voice but no vote at Council meetings.


There shall be a Journal Publication Committee consisting of the Publications Chair, the chair-elect, the past chair and the non-student standing member of Council.


The Journal Editor shall be selected by the section Council. The Journal Publication Committee shall solicit nominations and shall submit a list to Council of nominees for the editorship, to which list the Council may add or delete names. For purposes of selecting the new Editor, the current Editor shall be a non-voting member of the Journal Publication Committee.


The Editorial Board shall be composed of the Editor of the Journal as chair and a set of Deputy and Associate Editors. The number and composition of the Editorial Board shall be determined by the Council. Associate Editors shall be appointed by the Journal Publication Committee for three-year terms on the recommendation of the Editor. Approximately one- third of the terms of Associate Editors shall expire each year.


The Editor shall be responsible for the editorial management of the journal. The Editor shall have the authority to appoint such special issue editors as the Editor may deem necessary. Each Editor must work within the policies established by the Journal Publications Committee and within the budget set by Council. The Editor shall submit an annual report on the activities of the Journal including a financial statement, submission/acceptance rates and plans for future issues, etc. to the Journal Publication Committee prior to the annual meeting. The Editor shall have the right to reject for publication any paper or other communication that is submitted.


Section Awards: The Section will consider four awards each year: The Leonard I. Pearlin Award for Distinguished Scholarly Contributions for the Sociological Study of Mental Health, the Best Publication of the Year award, the Dissertation Award, and the Annual Graduate Student Paper Award. Each award may, but need not, be awarded each year. In addition, the Section will consider the Best Book Award every three years. For the Best Publication Award, published articles and book chapters that have appeared in print within a two-year period prior to the annual meeting will be considered. For the Dissertation Award, dissertations defended within the two academic years prior to the annual meeting will be considered. For the Annual Graduate Student Paper Award, papers completed or published within the two academic years prior to the annual meeting will be considered. Papers authored by more than one student are acceptable, but papers coauthored with faculty are not eligible. For the Best Book Award, books published in the prior three years will be considered. Awards will be presented at the annual business meeting or reception.


Membership: The membership of the Section is open to any member of the American Sociological Association without regard to the classification of the membership. Members who do not pay their Section dues shall be suspended, and dropped from the roles after two years.


Dues: Dues shall be set by the Council to cover the operation of the Section in accord with the requirements of the American Sociological Association.


By-law Changes: Proposed changes in these by-laws must first be discussed at an annual business meeting of the Section, then approved by a majority of the Council, and finally approved by a majority of the Section members through a formal vote carried out in cooperation with the American Sociological Association.

Section Officers

Section Officers 2024-2025

 Chair: Lijun Song, Vanderbilt University
 Chair Elect: Anna Mueller, Indiana University

 Past Chair: Eric R. Wright, Georgia State University

 Secretary-Treasurer: Lucie Kalousova, Vanderbilt University
 Council Member-at-Large: Christy Erving, University of Texas at Austin
 Nominations Committee Chair: Molly Copeland, Michigan State University

 Publications Committee Chair: Teresa Scheid, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
 Membership Committee Chair: Lacee Satcher, Boston College
 Awards Committee Chair: Marisa Young, McMaster University
 Student Member: Emily Eki, Indiana University
 Section Journal Editor: Alex E. Bierman, University of Calgary and Scott Schieman, University of Toronto
 Newsletter Editor: Teresa Scheid, University of North Carolina – Charlotte

 Section Webmaster: Richard Edward Adams, Â鶹ӰԺ

Recognition and Communication

Awards

Leonard I. Pearlin Award for Distinguished Contributions

Past Recipients

This award is given for distinguished contributions to the sociological study of mental health. Thanks to a generous donation from Leonard Pearlin, the mental health section of the ASA has created this annual award. The award honors a scholar who has made substantial contributions in theory and/or research to the sociology of mental health. Nominations should include a CV of the nominee and a letter of support describing the nominee's contributions to the sociology of mental health. Nominations should be sent to the Awards Committee Chair for the Mental Health Section, Marisa Young at myoung@mcmaster.ca,, by January 15, 2025.

Award for Best Publication in Mental Health

Past Recipients

This award is given for the best published article, book, or chapter in the area of the sociology of mental health. . To be eligible for the award, the publication must have appeared in print between August 2023 and August 2025. The awards committee will also conduct a search of works published in the past two years for potential candidates for this award. Letters of nomination for this award should be sent to the Awards Committee Chair for the Mental Health Section, , Marisa Young at myoung@mcmaster.ca, by February 1, 2025

Award for Best Book in Mental Health

This award (established in 2024) is given for the best published book in the area of the sociology of mental health. To be eligible for the award, the book must have appeared in print between August 2022 and August 2025. The awards committee will also conduct a search of books published in the past three years for potential candidates for this award. Physical or electronic copies must be made available to the nomination committee for consideration.  Letters of nomination for this award should be sent to the Awards Committee Chair for the Mental Health Section, Marisa  Young at myoung@mcmaster.ca, by February 1, 2025

Award for Best Dissertation in Mental Health

Past Recipients

This award is given for the best doctoral dissertation in the area of the sociology of mental health. To be considered for this award, the dissertation must have been defended within the two academic years (2023-2024 and 2024-2025) prior to the annual meeting. While not required, a letter from your dissertation advisor would be helpful. Please send a letter of nomination and a dissertation synopsis or a paper based on the dissertation to the Awards Committee Chair for the Mental Health Section, Marisa Young at myoung@mcmaster.ca, by March 1, 2025.

Graduate Student Paper Award

Past Recipients

This award is given to a current graduate student member of the section for the best published or unpublished article, book, or chapter in the area of mental health. To be considered for this award, the paper must have been completed within the two academic years (2023-2024 and 2024-2025) prior to the annual meeting by a current graduate student as the first author. Papers authored by more than one student are acceptable but papers coauthored with faculty are not eligible. Section members are encouraged to submit nominations. Self-nominations from graduate student members of the section are also welcome. Please send a letter of nomination and a paper to the Awards Committee Chair for the Mental Health Section, Marisa Young at myoung@mcmaster.ca, by April 1, 2025.

Newsletter

If you have material that you wish to appear in our Newsletter, please contact Teresa Scheid the Newsletter Editor.

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