Amy Spring
Associate Professor Gerontology, Sociology- Education
Ph.D., University of Washington, 2014
M.A., University of Washington, 2009
B.A., Western Washington University, 2006
- Specializations
Demography; Community & Urban Sociology; Residential Mobility & Internal Migration; Family; Environment; Health & Life Course; Quantitative Methods
- Biography
Dr. Spring is a demographer and urban sociologist whose research centers on families, communities, neighborhoods, and the environment. She joined the Sociology Department in 2015 after completing her Ph.D. from the University of Washington and a research fellowship at UW’s Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology.
She is particularly interested in studying residential mobility and internal migration within the context of family networks. She is also interested in the geography of family networks and in family support systems over the life course. Her findings show that family networks are very influential in determining who moves (Demography; Journal of Marriage & Family) and explaining racial/ethnic disparities in residential mobility (Social Science Research). Further, she finds that familial locations play a key role in residential mobility following divorce, health problems, and other adverse life events (Population, Space, and Place; Social Science Research). Her research also explores residential mobility and neighborhood context among sub-groups, including older adults (The Gerontologist), multiracial couples (Demography), and same-sex households (Population Research and Policy Review; Demography, highlighting how residential experiences intersect with social statuses and identities. In current projects, she is investigating the geography of family networks for older adults with disabilities, and the influence of family locations on migration following climate-induced natural disasters. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Spring is a faculty affiliate in the Urban Studies Institute and the Gerontology Institute at Georgia State University. She also serves on the editorial board of City & Community and Demography.
Dr. Spring teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in urban sociology, environmental sociology, sociology of neighborhoods, statistics, and research methods.
- Publications
Selected Publications:
For a complete list of publications, see Dr. Spring’s profile on Google Scholar.
Spring, Amy, and Amin Ghaziani. 2024. “New evidence from Census 2020 on the residential segregation of same-sex households: A research note.” Demography. https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-11482174
Spring, Amy, Brian J. Gillespie, and Clara H. Mulder. 2023. “Internal migration following adverse life events: Assessing the likelihood of return migration and migration towards family.” Population, Space, and Place 30(3): 2711. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2711
Spring, Amy, Elizabeth Ackert, Sarah Davis Roche, Dionne Parris, Kyle Crowder, and Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz. 2023. “Keeping kin close? The changing geography of family networks by race and income, 1981-2017.” Journal of Marriage and Family. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12911
Moore, Alexus*, Joy Dillard Appel*, Austin Harrison*, and Amy Spring. 2023. “Stuck or rooted?: Perspectives on residential immobility of children from poor neighborhoods and its policy implications.” Social Sciences 12(10): 553 https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12100553
Roche, Sarah*, Amy Spring, and Alexus Moore*. 2022. “Childhood neighborhoods and health: Census-based neighborhood measures versus residential lived experiences.” Health & Place 78: 102902. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102902
Spring, Amy, Clara H. Mulder, Michael J. Thomas, and Thomas J. Cooke. 2021. “Migration after union dissolution in the United States: The role of non-resident family.” Social Science Research 96: 102539. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102539
Spring, Amy, and Kayla Charleston. 2021 “Gentrification and the shifting geography of male same-sex couples”. Population Research and Policy Review 40: 1163-1194. doi:10.1007/s11113-020-09625-4.
Spring, Amy. 2021. “Breaking down segregation: Shifting geographies of male same-sex households within desegregating cities.” In Alex Bitterman and Daniel Baldwin Hess (eds.), The Life and Afterlife of Gay Neighborhoods: Resurgence and Renaissance. Springer.
Ackert, Elizabeth S., Amy Spring, Kyle Crowder, and Scott J. South. 2019. “Kin location as an explanation for racial/ethnic disparities in exiting and entering poor neighborhoods.” Social Science Research 84: 102-346. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2019.102346.
Gabriel, Ryan, and Amy Spring. 2019. “Neighborhood diversity, neighborhood affluence: An analysis of the neighborhood destination choices of mixed-race couples with children.” Demography 56(3): 1051-1073. doi:10.1007/s13524-019-00779-1.
Spring, Amy. 2018. “Short- and long-term impacts of neighborhood built environment on self-rated health of older adults.” The Gerontologist 58(1): 36-46. doi:10.1093/geront/gnx119.
Spring, Amy, Elizabeth S. Ackert, Kyle Crowder, and Scott J. South. 2017. “Influences of proximity to kin on residential mobility and destination choice: Examining local movers in metropolitan areas.” Demography 54(4): 1277-1304. doi:10.1007/s13524-017-0587-x.
Spring, Amy. 2013. “Declining segregation of same-sex partners: Evidence from Census 2000 and 2010.” Population Research and Policy Review 32(5): 687-716. doi 10.1007/s11113-013-9280-y