 Postdoctoral Research Scholar Paul Lazarsfeld Center for the Social Sciences, Institute of Social and Economic Research and Policy, Columbia University, New York MY RESEARCH
My research examines local mechanisms that generate social and spatial patterns in macro outcomes. By focusing on the social networks in which people and institutions are embedded, my findings demonstrate how large-scale phenomena – from the distribution of suicides at the workplace to the rising prevalence of autism – arise from the interactions among the individuals involved. Mechanisms of information diffusion and the spatial and temporal dimensions of social dynamics are central to my research. Popular accounts of my research on autism can be found in the Wall Street Journal, New Scientist, Psychology Today and a forthcoming article in the Time Magazine. You can find my papers on the effects of social influence on autism and on the associations between demographic changes, de novo mutations and autism from our project's website. NEWS/IN THE NEWSOur latest study finds that closely spaced pregancies are associated with increased risk of autism. See the reports on this study on Time, WSJ, USA Today and CNN.Autism Life Histories Survey - Please participate! Autism Explosion Half Explained, Half Still a Mystery in New Scientist-Health, August 16, 2010 EMPLOYMENTPost-doctoral Research Scholar, Paul Lazarsfeld Center for the Social Sciences, Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, Columbia University, 2007-Present HKJC Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, the University of Hong Kong, 2002-04 EDUCATIOND.Phil. University of Oxford, 2007. Dissertation: Pathways to Suicidal Behavior: A Mechanism-Based Approach (Supervisor: Peter Hedström). M.Phil. University of Oxford, 2002. (Supervisor: Tak Wing Chan) | CONTACT INFOkyl2111@columbia.edu MY CVSELECTED PUBLICATIONS Keely Cheslack-Postava, Liu Ka Y, Bearman
P (2011) Closely Spaced Pregnancies are
Associated with Increased Odds of Autism in California Sibling Births. Pediatrics 127(2)127:246–253. Liu Ka Y, King M, Bearman P.(2010) Social influence and the autism epidemic. American Journal of Sociology 115(5):1389-434 Liu Ka Y, Zerubavel N, Bearman P.(2010) Social demographic change and autism. Demography 47(2):327-343 Liu Ka Y (2009). Suicide Rates in the World: 1950-2004. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 39 (2):204-13. Hedström, P, Liu, Ka Y, Nordvik, M.(2008) Interaction domains and suicides: A population-based panel study of suicides in Stockholm, 1991-1999. Social Forces 87(2):713-740 Liu Ka Y, Beautrais A, Caine E, et al. (2007). Charcoal burning suicides in Hong Kong and urban Taiwan – An illustration of the impact of a novel method of suicide on overall regional rates. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 61:248-53 Liu Ka Y, Chen E, Chan C et al. (2006). Socio-economic and psychological correlates of suicidality among Hong Kong working-age adults: results from a population-based survey. Psychological Medicine 36: 1759-68. Yip PSF, Liu Ka Y. (2006). The Ecological fallacy of gender ratio of suicide in China. British Journal of Psychiatry 189: 465-6. SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS JK Swire Memorial Scholarship, full scholarship for D.Phil. study at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, 2004-2005 Swire & Cathay Scholarship, full scholarship for M.Phil. study at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, 2000-2002 |