(MENAFN- The Conversation)

• PhD Candidate, Sociology and Demography, The University of Texas at Austin

Profile Articles Activity

Matthew Blanton is a Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology and Demography at the University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on migration and religion in Latin America, with peer-reviewed work published in top journals on topics including migrant family separation, post-migration mental health, and the political implications of religious change. His recent public scholarship includes pieces published in The Boston Globe and The Hill. Before entering academia, he led a nonprofit organization in Guatemala for five years and worked with the National Immigration Forum on a bipartisan immigration reform campaign.

Experience

• 2015–present PhD Candidate, Sociology and Demography, The University of Texas at Austin
• 2015–2020 Program Director, Agua es Poder, Guatemala
• 2013–2015 Southeast Regional Mobilizer, National Immigration Forum

Education

• 2013 Fuller Theological Seminary, M.A., Intercultural Studies
• 2010 North Greenville University, B.A., Intercultural Studies

Publications

• 2025 Post-Migration Stressors and Mental and Physical Health Among Refugees and Migrants in Need of Protection: A Mixed-Methods Analysis with Weekly Panel Data, Society and Mental Health
• 2025 Family Separation Among Migrants in Need of International Protection: Anticipation, Duration, and Agency, International Migration Review
• 2024 International Displacement and Family Stress in Latin America, Journal of Family Issues
• 2024 Design and Implementation of an Intensive Panel Survey with Refugees and Other Migrants in Need of Protection in Costa Rica, PLOS One
• 2024 Border Ballads: The Poetry and Politics of Los Tigres del Norte, Migration Studies
• 2023 Variability in Mental Health Reporting Among Refugees and Migrants in Need of Protection: New Evidence from a Weekly Panel Survey, BMC Public Health
• 2023 Value Conditioned Interest: Secularity, Institutional Support, and the Sociology of Religion in Graduate Departments, The Sociological Quarterly
• 2022 Costa Rica as a Destination for Migrants in Need of International Protection: IMR Country Report, International Migration Review
• 2022 Threat or Godsend? Evangelicals and Democracy in Latin America, Journal of Religion and Demography

Professional Memberships

• Population Association of America
• American Sociological Association

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