Brian M Mayer

Interests

Research

Environment, Health, Disasters, Poverty, Risk, Pollution, Social Movements

Teaching

Environmental Sociology, Medical Sociology, Social Movements, Poverty, Inequality, Disasters

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Chapters

• Schaefer Caniglia, B., & Mayer, B. M. (2021). Sustainability, Resilience and Regeneration. In International Handbook of Environmental Sociology.
• Mayer, B. M. (2016). A Framework for Improving Resilience: Adaptation in Urban Contexts. In Resilience, Environmental Justice & the City. Routledge.
• Senior, L., Mayer, B. M., Brown, P., & Morello-Frosch, R. (2016). School Custodians and Green Cleaners: Labor-Environment Coalitions and Toxics Reductions. In The Toxic Schoolhouse(pp 151-176). New York: Routledge.
• Thompson-Dyck, K. L., Mayer, B. M., Anderson, K. F., & Galaskiewicz, J. J. (2016). Bringing People Back In: Planning for and Responding to Crisis as a Process Embedded in a Community Context. In Urban Resilience – A Transformative Approach.
• Mayer, B. M., Bergstrand, K., & Running, K. (2014). Science as Comfort: The Strategic Use of Science in Post-Disaster Settings. In Routledge Handbook on Science, Technology and Society(pp 419-434). New York: Routledge.

Journals/Publications

• Clarke, H. E., & Mayer, B. (2022). Community Recovery Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Toward A Theory of Cultural Resilience. Society & natural resources, 30(2), 129-144.
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  Culture plays an important role in communities' abilities to adapt to environmental change and crises. The emerging field of resilience thinking has made several efforts to better integrate social and cultural factors into the systems-level approach to understanding socialecological resilience. However, attempts to integrate culture into structural models often fail to account for the agentic processes that influence recovery at the individual and community levels, overshadowing the potential for agency and variation in community response. Using empirical data on the 2010 BP oil spill's impact on a small, natural resource-dependent community, we propose an alternative approach emphasizing culture's ability to operate as a resource that contributes to social, or community, resilience. We refer to this more explicit articulation of culture's role in resilience as . Our findings reveal that not all cultural resources that define resilience in reference to certain disasters provided successful mitigation, adaptation, or recovery from the BP spill.
• Mayer, B., Arora, M., Helm, S., & Barnett, M. (2022). Essential but Ill-Prepared: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affects the Mental Health of the Grocery Store Workforce. Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974), 137(1), 120-127.
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  Frontline essential workers face elevated risks of exposure to COVID-19 because of the interactive nature of their jobs, which require high levels of interaction with the general public and coworkers. The impact of these elevated risks on the mental health of essential workers, especially outside the health care sector, is not well studied. To address this knowledge gap, we examined correlations between perceptions of workplace risks and mental health distress among grocery store workers in Arizona.
• Mayer, B., Helm, S., Heinz, E., Barnett, M., & Arora, M. (2023). Doubt in store: vaccine hesitancy among grocery workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of behavioral medicine, 46(1-2), 167-178.
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  The objective of this study was to assess the influence of workplace safety conditions alongside the World Health Organization's model of the "3 Cs", on grocery store workers' vaccine hesitancy concerning COVID-19. Data for this study come from the Arizona Frontline Workers Survey, a longitudin web-based survey of 770 grocery store workers in the state of Arizona (US) collected in July 2020 and January 2021. We utilized ordinary least squares and multinomial logistic regression analyses to assess predictors of hesitancy at our Wave 2. Thirty-nine percent of our sample reported being unlikely to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Two aspects of the "3 Cs" model, confidence and convenience, were correlated with lower levels of vaccine hesitancy while the perceptions of being protected by one's employer increased hesitancy. Our findings underscore the importance of workplace conditions for vaccine hesitancy and the need to include vaccine messaging in employers' safety practices.
• Mayer, B. M., Barnett, M. A., Arora, M., & Helm, S. V. (2021). Grocery workers suffer the mental health effects of customer hostility and lack of safety in their workplace. The Conversation.
• Puetz, K., & Mayer, B. (2021). Pipes or Prisms? Personal Networks, Network Mechanisms, and Formal Support Receipt In The Wake Of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. The Sociological quarterly, 62(3), 548-569.
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  Social networks are commonly discussed in reference to processes of disaster recovery but rarely explicitly measured. We employ a mixed-methods approach drawing upon the personal-network data of 265 oysterworkers in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and qualitative accounts of individual experiences during the recovery process. We find evidence of two potential mechanisms linking network structure with the receipt of formal support: a networks-as-pipes approach linking networks and access to relevant information in the wake of a disaster and a networks-as-prisms approach where networks signal their social identities, shaping post-disaster actions and behaviors.
• Bergstrand, K., & Mayer, B. (2020). "The Community Helped Me:" Community Cohesion and Environmental Concerns in Personal Assessments of Post-Disaster Recovery. Society & natural resources, 33(3), 386-405.
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  This study investigates long-term appraisals of community recovery after a major environmental disaster. Specifically, we conducted a survey of 351 individuals living in coastal counties in Alabama and Florida on the five-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Using mixed methods that combined content analysis and ordinary least squares regression, we find that residents who believe they live in a community where neighbors help each other are more likely to see their communities as recovering. Conversely, reporting major effects from environmental problems, like lost fishing income, reduces perceptions of community recovery. Five years after the oil spill a majority of respondents saw little economic recovery and almost half perceived low environmental recovery. This reflects the importance of the environment to the long-term health and success of areas dependent on natural resources. It also suggests the need for directing funding toward community-level programs and preserving shared natural resources post-disaster.
• Bergstrand, K., & Mayer, B. M. (2020). The Community Helped Me:” Community Cohesion and Environmental Concerns in Personal Assessments of Post-Disaster Recovery. Society & Natural Resources, 33(3).
• Puetz, K., & Mayer, B. M. (2020). Social Capital and Receipt of Formal Recovery Support Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Sociological Quarterly.
• Varady, R. G., Gerlak, A. K., Mayer, B. M., Albrecht, T., Lemos, M. C., Zuniga Teran, A. A., Wilder, M. O., Mukherjee, A., & Ernst, K. C. (2020). The exigencies of transboundary water security: Insights on community resilience. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 44, 74-84.
• Varady, R., Gerlak, A., Albrecht, T., Wilder, M., Mayer, B. M., Zuniga-Teran, A., Ernst, K., & Lemos, M. (2020). The Exigencies of Transboundary Water Security: Insights on Community Resilience. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Special Issue: Resilience and Complexity, 44.
• Yuan, N. P., Mayer, B. M., Joshweseoma, L., Clichee, D., & Teufel-Shone, N. I. (2020). Development of Guidelines to Improve the Effectiveness of Community Advisory Boards in Health Research. Progress in community health partnerships : research, education, and action, 14(2), 259-269.
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  Community advisory boards (CABs) are a common community engagement strategy. Tools for developing CABs that are accessible to academic-community partnerships are limited. This article describes the process and partnership with the Hopi Tribe to develop CAB guidelines as a tool for research funded by the Center for Indigenous Environmental Health Research (CIEHR) and nonaffiliated projects.
• Yuan, N. P., Mayer, B. M., Joshweseoma, L., Clichee, D., & Teufel-Shone, N. I. (2020). Establishing guidelines for community advisory boards in public health research. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education and Action, 14(2).
• Zuniga Teran, A. A., Gerlak, A. K., Mayer, B. M., Evans, T., & Lansey, K. E. (2020). A multidimensional assessment of urban resilience from green infrastructure systems. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 44, 42-47.
• Zuniga Teran, A. A., Gerlak, A. K., Mayer, B. M., Evans, T., & Lansey, K. E. (2020). A multidimensional assessment of urban resilience from green infrastructure systems. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability.
• Zuniga-Teran, A., Gerlak, A., Lansey, K., Mayer, B. M., & Evans, T. P. (2020). A Multidimensional Assessment of Urban Resilience from Green Infrastructure Systems. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Special Issue: Resilience and Complexity, 44.
• Mayer, B. (2019). A Review of the Literature on Community Resilience and Disaster Recovery. Current environmental health reports, 6(3), 167-173.
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  The concept of resilience continues to grow in influence and prominence in national and international programs seeking to improve individual and collective capacity to prepare for and respond to disasters. This review of the literature published in 2018 examines how disaster scholars and professionals are conceptualizing and applying the concept of community disaster resilience.
• Mayer, B., Joshweseoma, L., & Sehongva, G. (2019). Environmental Risk Perceptions and Community Health: Arsenic, Air Pollution, and Threats to Traditional Values of the Hopi Tribe. Journal of community health, 44(5), 896-902.
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  American Indian and Alaska Native populations experience chronic disparities in a wide range of health outcomes, many of which are associated with disproportionate exposures to environmental health hazards. In the American Southwest, many indigenous tribes experience challenges in securing access to sustainable and safe sources of drinking water, limiting air pollution emissions on and off tribal lands, and cleaning up hazardous contaminants left over from a legacy of natural resource extraction. To better understand how households perceive the risk of exposure to potential environmental health risks, we conducted six focus groups organized by age and geographic location on the Hopi reservation. Focus group participants (n = 41) were asked to reflect on changes in their natural and manmade environment and how their health might be influenced by any potential changes. By investigating these environmental risk perceptions, we were able to identify arsenic in drinking water and indoor air quality as significant exposures of concern. These risk perceptions were frequently anchored in personal and familial experiences with health problems such as cancer and asthma. Older focus group participants identified ongoing shifts away from tradition and cultural practices as increasing environmental health risks. Similar to other communities economically dependent on the extraction of natural resources, focus group participants described the need for behavioral modifications regarding environmental health risks rather than eliminating the sources of potential health risks entirely. Our results suggest the need for including traditional values and practices in future interventions to reduce environmental health risks.
• Mayer, B. M., Blume, A., Black, C. J., & Stevens, S. J. (2018). Improving Student Learning Outcomes through Community-based Research: The Poverty Workshop. Teaching Sociology, Online first.
• Bergstrand, K., & Mayer, B. (2017). Transformative Environmental Threats: Behavioral and Attitudinal Change Five Years after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Environmental sociology, 3(4), 348-358.
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  Does experiencing an environmental disaster have the transformative power to change people's attitudes, behaviors, and political actions? Do these effects persist in the longer term? And what elements of environmental disasters are most effective at spurring change?Using survey data collected in two affected coastal counties around the five-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, we find that many residents reported mobilizing effects from the disaster: over two-thirds of respondents participated in political activities, about half engaged in environmentally-friendly lifestyle changes, and about half of the respondents reported more concern for the environment. We also investigate whether certain grievancesare more or less powerful in their transformative consequences, and differentiate damagescaused by perceived economic losses, social corrosion, physical health effects, ecological degradation, and emotional reactions. Interestingly, the strongest predictor of political, behavioral, or attitudinal changes was whether residents were affected emotionally by the oil spill, like feeling angry or distressed. Surprisingly, perceived economic losses had few effects, with the exception of becoming more opposed to offshore drilling. These results suggest that environmental threats can motivate political, lifestyle, or attitudinal changesand that certain elements of the experience may have more mobilizing power than others.
• Clarke, H. E., & Mayer, B. (2017). Community Recovery Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Toward a Theory of Cultural Resilience. SOCIETY & NATURAL RESOURCES, 30(2), 129-144.
• Mayer, B. M. (2017). Transformative Environmental Threats: Behavioral and Attitudinal Change Five Years After the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Environmental Sociology, 3(4), 348-358. doi:10.1080/23251042.2017.1330115
  More info

  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23251042.2017.1330115
• Clarke, H., & Mayer, B. M. (2017). Community Recovery Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: A Theory of Cultural Resilience. Society and Natural Resources, 30(2), 129-144.
• Abramson, D. M., Grattan, L. M., Mayer, B., Colten, C. E., Arosemena, F. A., Bedimo-Rung, A., & Lichtveld, M. (2015). The Resilience Activation Framework: a Conceptual Model of How Access to Social Resources Promotes Adaptation and Rapid Recovery in Post-disaster Settings. JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES & RESEARCH, 42(1), 42-57.
• Abramson, D. M., Grattan, L. M., Mayer, B., Colten, C. E., Arosemena, F. A., Bedimo-Rung, A., & Lichtveld, M. (2015). The resilience activation framework: a conceptual model of how access to social resources promotes adaptation and rapid recovery in post-disaster settings. The journal of behavioral health services & research, 42(1), 42-57.
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  A number of governmental agencies have called for enhancing citizens' resilience as a means of preparing populations in advance of disasters, and as a counterbalance to social and individual vulnerabilities. This increasing scholarly, policy, and programmatic interest in promoting individual and communal resilience presents a challenge to the research and practice communities: to develop a translational framework that can accommodate multidisciplinary scientific perspectives into a single, applied model. The Resilience Activation Framework provides a basis for testing how access to social resources, such as formal and informal social support and help, promotes positive adaptation or reduced psychopathology among individuals and communities exposed to the acute collective stressors associated with disasters, whether human-made, natural, or technological in origin. Articulating the mechanisms by which access to social resources activate and sustain resilience capacities for optimal mental health outcomes post-disaster can lead to the development of effective preventive and early intervention programs.
• Abramson, D., Grattan, L., Mayer, B. M., Colten, C., Arosemena, F., Bedimo-Rung, A., & Lichtveld, M. (2015). The Resilience Activation Framework: A conceptual model of how access to social resources promotes adaptation and rapid recovery in post-disaster settings. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 42(1), 42-57.
• Bergstrand, K., Mayer, B., Brumback, B., & Zhang, Y. (2015). Assessing the Relationship Between Social Vulnerability and Community Resilience to Hazards. Social indicators research, 122(2), 391-409.
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  This article contributes to the disaster literature by measuring and connecting two concepts that are highly related but whose relationship is rarely empirically evaluated: social vulnerability and community resilience. To do so, we measure community resilience and social vulnerability in counties across the United States and find a correlation between high levels of vulnerability and low levels of resilience, indicating that the most vulnerable counties also tend to be the least resilient. We also find regional differences in the distribution of community resilience and social vulnerability, with the West being particularly vulnerable while the Southeast is prone to low levels of resilience. By looking at both social vulnerability and community resilience, we are able to map communities' social risks for harm from threats as well as their capacities for recovering and adapting in the aftermath of hazards. This provides a more complete portrait of the communities that might need the most assistance in emergency planning and response, as well as whether such interventions will need to be tailored toward reducing damage or finding the path to recovery.
• Mayer, B., Running, K., & Bergstrand, K. (2015). Compensation and Community Corrosion: Perceived Inequalities, Social Comparisons, and Competition Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. SOCIOLOGICAL FORUM, 30(2), 369-390.
• Mayer, B., Running, K., & Bergstrand, K. (2015). Compensation and Community Corrosion: Perceived Inequalities, Social Comparisons, and Competition Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Sociological forum (Randolph, N.J.), 30(2), 369-390.
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  After disasters, victim compensation programs are typically associated with individual healing and community rebuilding. But post-disaster compensation systems also have the potential to introduce confusion and competition, further fraying the social fabric of communities affected by trauma. To assess the perceived effects of disaster compensation processes on community social relations, as well as the mechanisms that underlie such effects, we turn to the case of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, after which BP implemented one of the largest compensation systems in U.S.
• Bergstrand, K., Mayer, B. M., Brumback, B., & Zhang, Y. (2014). Assessing the Relationship between Social Vulnerability and Community Resilience to Hazards. Social Indicators Research.
• Morris, J. G., Grattan, L. M., Mayer, B. M., & Blackburn, J. K. (2013). Psychological responses and resilience of people and communities impacted by the deepwater horizon oil spill. Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association, 124.
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  On April 20, 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil platform in the United States Gulf of Mexico exploded, killing 11 persons and resulting in a 5-month spill of more than 206 million gallons of oil, affecting more than 950 miles of shoreline. Our initial studies in Baldwin County, Alabama, and Franklin County, Florida, conducted while the oil spill was still in progress, showed high levels of clinically significant anxiety and depression in persons living in coastal communities. Income loss was the most significant driver of anxiety and depression, rather than direct influx or contact with oil. Ongoing studies of these groups and their communities have been conducted under the auspices of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Deepwater Horizon Research Consortium. A year after the spill, there was no significant change in levels of anxiety or depression in our cohort. Income loss continued to be associated with higher levels of psychopathology; findings were not associated with age, gender, education, or psychiatric history. Media exposure was associated with persistent hyperarousal. Findings support a model of chronic psychological disruption after the oil spill disaster. Community studies underscored the "corrosive" nature of this type of man-made disaster (as compared with natural disasters that have hit the region), with particular concerns expressed about the compensation process administered by British Petroleum and the parties that followed. Our research highlights the very real and long-lasting impact of such disasters on individuals and communities, extending well beyond the areas where there was direct exposure to oil.
• Mayer, B. (2012). 'Relax and take a deep breath': print media coverage of asthma and air pollution in the United States. Social science & medicine (1982), 75(5), 892-900.
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  The media are an important social actor in the construction of the public's understanding of the complex relationships between the environment and their health. This paper explores the print media's coverage of the relationship between asthma and air pollution, focusing on the portrayal of causal certainty between exposure to various forms of air pollution and the etiology and exacerbation of the disease. By examining twenty years of newspaper articles from the New York Timeş Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post, this paper presents findings on trends across time, within papers, and across key themes. Although the print media's coverage of asthma and its environmental correlates has increased over time, this paper finds relatively little coherence in whether asthma is portrayed as directly caused by air pollution or triggered by exposures. In terms of coverage, outdoor sources of air pollution are covered more frequently - but with less certainty in the discussion of specific relationships. This lack of coherence and specificity in the portrayal of asthma as an environmental disease may weaken regulators' ability to act in passing air pollution reforms by lowering the public's interest and concern.
• Mayer, B. M. (2012). 'Relax and Take a Deep Breath': Print Media Coverage of Asthma and Air Pollution in the United States. Social Science & Medicine.
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  ;Your Role: Author;Full Citation: Mayer, Brian. 2012. “'Relax and Take a Deep Breath': Print Media Coverage of Asthma and Air Pollution in the United States.” Social Science & Medicine 75:892-900.;
• Mayer, B., Brown, P., & Morello-Frosch, R. (2010). Labor-Environmental Coalition Formation: Framing and the Right to Know. SOCIOLOGICAL FORUM, 25(4), 746-768.
• Mayer, B., Flocks, J., & Monaghan, P. (2010). The Role of Employers and Supervisors in Promoting Pesticide Safety Behavior Among Florida Farmworkers. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, 53(8), 814-824.
• Mayer, B., Flocks, J., & Monaghan, P. (2010). The role of employers and supervisors in promoting pesticide safety behavior among Florida farmworkers. American journal of industrial medicine, 53(8), 814-24.
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  Farmworkers in Florida's nursery and fernery industries have an elevated risk of exposure to chemical pesticides due to the enclosed nature of their workplaces and their close contact with pesticide-treated plant material. Farmworkers' beliefs about chemical exposures and their perception of employer's or supervisor's valuing of safety may limit the practice of workplace hygiene.
• Mayer, B. (2009). Blue-green coalitions: fighting for the right to know. New solutions : a journal of environmental and occupational health policy : NS, 19(1), 59-80.
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  The fight for information on the use, storage, and release of toxic substances in and from workplaces has been often referred to as the struggle for the right to know. The frustration of occupational safety-and-health activists in trying to obtain information on product names and potential risks closely mirrors that uphill struggle to access information from the state and industry faced by environmental activists. Given the similarities between the two situations, collaboration on the right to know produced a formidable alliance between the two movements-especially in New Jersey, where the dense population and the close proximity of industry to that population produced a powerful blend of anti-toxics and pro-union activism that redefined the relationship between blues and greens. This blue-green coalition, the New Jersey Work Environment Council, has existed since the 1980s and has continuously led the fight for safer workplaces and a cleaner environment by building bridges between labor groups and environmental activists.
• Overdevest, C., & Mayer, B. (2008). Harnessing the power of information through community monitoring: Insights from social science. TEXAS LAW REVIEW, 86(7), 1493-1526.
• Senier, L., Mayer, B., Brown, P., & Morello-Frosch, R. (2007). School custodians and green cleaners - New approaches to labor-environment coalitions. ORGANIZATION & ENVIRONMENT, 20(3), 304-324.
• Brown, P., McCormick, S., Mayer, B., Zavestoski, S., Morello-Frosch, R., & Senier, L. (2006). "A lab of our own" - Environmental causation of breast cancer and challenges to the dominant epidemiological paradigm. SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY & HUMAN VALUES, 31(5), 499-536.

Presentations

• Arora, M., Mayer, B. M., Helm, S. V., & Barnett, M. A. (2021). Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19 on Grocery Store Workers in Arizona: Results from Online Surveys. American Public Health Association Annual Meeting.
• Mayer, B. M., Helm, S. V., Barnett, M. A., & Arora, M. (2021, August). Essential but Ill-Prepared: Mental Health Effects among Grocery Store Workers during COVID-19’s First Wave in Arizona. American Sociological Association Annual Conference. Virtual.
• Mayer, B. M. (2020, Fall). Workplace Safety and Mental Health Distress among Grocery Store Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The University of Arizona Health Sciences COVID-19 Symposium.
• Mayer, B. M. (2020, Spring). Firefighters and Cancer: Shifts in Vocational Risk Tolerance?. ASU Center for Applied Behavioral Health Policy Winter Institute. Phoenix: ASU.
• Mayer, B. M. (2020, Summer). Firefighters and Cancer: Shifting Risk Perceptions and Occupational Culture. American Sociological Association Annual Conference.
• Mayer, B. M., & Bergstrand, K. (2020, Summer). Tangible and Intangible Social Support After Disaster: Mental Health, Resilience and the BP Oil Spill. American Sociological Association Annual Conference.
• Mayer, B. M. (2019, Fall). Community Resilience and the Built Environment. Restruct Built Environment Research SymposiumUA.
• Mayer, B. M. (2018, Summer). Cultural Competence: Initiatives to Reduce Disaster Vulnerability. Natural Hazards Workshop. Boulder, CO: Natural Hazards Center.
• Mayer, B. M. (2018, Summer). The Role of the Media in Disaster Resilience: News Coverage of the 2010 BP Oil Spill. American Sociological Association Annual Conference. Philadelphia: ASA.
• Mayer, B. M., & Bergstrand, K. (2018, Summer). The Best Small Town in America? Perceptions of Community and Disaster Recovery. American Sociological Association Annual Conference. Philadelphia: ASA.
• Mayer, B. M. (2017, Summer). The Political and Social Nullification of the Federal Response to the 2010 BP Oil Spill. American Sociological Association Annual Conference. Montreal: ASA.
• Whitewater, S., Mayer, B. M., Yuan, N. P., & Teufel-Shone, N. I. (2017, November). How to create an effective community advisory board for public health research: Guidelines for formation, operation, and evaluation. Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association. Atlanta, GA.
• Bergstrand, K., & Mayer, B. M. (2016, August). Transformative Environmental Threats: Behavioral and Attitudinal Change Five Years After the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. American Sociological Association Annual Conference, Seattle.
• Puetz, K., & Mayer, B. M. (2016, August). The Social Networks of Resilience: a Technique for Rapid Appraisal of Community Network Structure. American Sociological Association Annual Conference, Seattle. Seattle, WA: American Sociological Association.
• Bergstrand, K., & Mayer, B. M. (2015, August). Unfamiliar Terrain: Perceptions of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Implications for Community Recovery. American Sociological Association Annual Conference. San Francisco.
• Mayer, B. M. (2015, May). Linking Social and Environmental Health Science Post-Deepwater Horizon. Social Science-Environmental Health Collaborations Research to Action Conference. Northeastern University, Boston.
• Mayer, B. M., & Grattan, L. (2015, Fall). Modeling the Interplay of Individual and Community Resilience for Recovery from Hurricane Sandy. 2015 Hurricane Sandy Conference: Translating Research into Practice. New York.
• Puetz, K., & Mayer, B. M. (2015, August). Social Capital and Receipt of Formal Recovery Support Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. American Sociological Association Annual Conference. San Francisco.
• Bergstrand, K., & Mayer, B. M. (2014, August). Assessing the Relationship between Social Vulnerability and Community Resilience to Hazards. American Sociology Association Annual Conference. San Francisco.
• Mayer, B. M., Abramson, D., & Grattan, L. (2014, August). Testing the Resilience Activation Framework: A Model of How Social Resources Promote Recovery from Disaster. American Sociology Association Annual Conference. San Francisco.
• Mayer, B. M., Clarke, H., & Bergstrand, K. (2014, January). Prepared for the Worst? Resilience Gaps in the Natural/Technological Disaster Divide. 2014 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Eocystem Science Conference. Mobile: Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.
• Mayer, B. M., Flocks, J., & Lindsey, A. (2014, January). Challenges to Social-Ecological Resilience in the Apalachicola Bay Oyster Industry. 2014 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Eocystem Science Conference. Mobile: Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.
• Mayer, B. M., Running, K., & Bergstrand, K. (2014, August). Corroding Communities: Social Comparisons, Competition, and Uncertainty Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. American Sociology Association Annual Conference.
• Mayer, B. M., Running, K., & Bergstrand, K. (2014, March). Corroding Communities: Social Comparisons, Competition, and Uncertainty Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Conference. Albuquerque.
• Vaca, R., McCarthy, C., Puetz, K., & Mayer, B. M. (2014, February). A Protocol for Rapid Appraisal of Community Social Structure. Sunbelt Social Networks Conference of the International Network for Social Network Analysis. St. Petersberg, FL.
• Flocks, J., & Mayer, B. M. (2013, March). The Impact of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster Compensation Process on Gulf Coast Communities. The Society for Applied Anthropology 73rd Annual Meeting. Denver: SfAA.
  More info

  Literature observes that compensation processes after technological disasters can affect community recovery. After the 1989 Exxon Valdes oil spill, the Oil Protection Act (OPA) was enacted to mitigate the impact of prolonged, complex litigation on communities. Under OPA, British Petroleum (BP) was designated as the responsible party for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) disaster and was mandated to set up a compensation process. Results from key informant interviews and focus groups in four Florida and Alabama coastal communities indicate dissatisfaction with BP’s compensation process due to a lack consistency, accountability, and transparency. We conclude that the BP compensation process in these communities has contributed to ongoing individual and community stress.
• Mayer, B. M. (2013, November). Community and Corrosion in the Gulf. Community, Environment and Policy Division of the School of Public Health Speaker Series. University of Arizona: School of Public Health.
• Mayer, B. M. (2013, October). Community and Corrosion in the Gulf. School of Sociology Brownbag. School of Sociology.
• Mayer, B. M., & Benites-Gambirazio, E. (2013, August). Long-term Psychosocial Effects following Toxic Contamination: Does Permanent Residential Relocation Matter?. American Sociological Association Annual Conference. New York: ASA.
• Mayer, B. M., & Flocks, J. (2013, January). Compensation and Relative Deprivation in the Gulf: Challenges to the Recovery Process. 2013 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Conference. New Orleans: Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.
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  Evaluating one's own damages and recovery needs after a traumatic event in reference to others' has been observed in the disasters literature as an important component in the coping process. Sociological research on the impacts of disasters finds that disparate losses and compensation, perceived or real, can lead to a corrosive community whereby social bonds are eroded and replaced by mistrust, fear, and uncertainty. This paper explores the role of relative deprivation and reference groups in the formation of corrosive communities affected by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Based on interviews and focus groups with residents in coastal towns from 2011-2012, we find that the definition of an out-group - consisting of individuals receiving more compensation than perceived as deserved - significantly limits perceptions of satisfaction in the claims process and hinders individual and community recovery. Lacking transparency and consistency in its application, the compensation process can be seen as a potential contributor to ongoing individual and community distress.
• Mayer, B. M., & McCarty, C. (2013, January). A Protocol for Rapid Appraisal of Community Social Structure.” 2013 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Conference. 2013 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Conference. New Orleans: Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.
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  Residents of communities recovering from disasters rely on both formal and informal relationships for tangible and emotional support. The composition and structure of these relationships varies from one person to another and may result in different coping strategies. Within a small community, these personal networks may be part of a larger whole network structure with compositional and structural properties affecting how the personal networks are formed and access to resources. We present an analysis where we collected network data from stakeholders in three Gulf Coast communities where we asked respondents to list people they rely on following a disaster. Our results suggest that certain subgroups may be excluded in the sharing of resources and information that are vital to enhancing individual and community recovery. Our goals are to identify which combinations of sub-samples best represent the characteristics of the whole network and to develop a protocol for a Rapid Appraisal of Community Social Structure that can be generated quickly and with the least respondent burden.
• Mayer, B. M., Bergstand, K., & Running, K. (2013, August). Regulatory Challenges in a Post-Disaster Setting: Scientific Credibility after the BP Oil Spill. American Sociological Association Annual Conference. New York: ASA.
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  The recent catastrophic disasters of the 21st century have fueled a growing body of literature in science and technology studies (STS) on the relationship between science and the social dynamics of disaster prevention, management, and recovery. From the accidental release of nearly 5 million barrels of oil from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in 2010 to the nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in 2011, the need for improving our understanding of how technoscience is implicated in the way political institutions prepare for and deal with disasters has never been clearer. Toward this end, we examine the use of seafood testing procedures following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. We find that beyond simply generating knowledge, the seafood testing program served multiple purposes, from attempting to boost consumer confidence in Gulf seafood to making science accessible to seafood workers.
• Mayer, B. M., Flocks, J., Cantwell, R., Ishamel, F., Jones, D., & Taylor, J. (2013, July). A Community-Based Assessment of Social Vulnerability and Resiliency. Environmental Health Disparities & Environmental Justice Meeting. Research Triangle Park: NIEHS.
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  Our project seeks to advance the current knowledge on community vulnerability and resiliency by using community-based participatory research (CBPR) to qualitatively assess and improve upon indicators of social vulnerability and resiliency to technological disasters and identify successful strategies for resiliency in resource dependent communities along the Gulf Coast. This poster presents an overview of the community partners involved and how we have used CBPR in four communities to collect formative research data.
• McCarty, C., & Mayer, B. M. (2013, March). The Social Networks of Resilience Following an Environmental Disaster. The Society for Applied Anthropology 73rd Annual Meeting. Denver: SfAA.
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  Residents of communities recovering from disasters rely on both formal and informal relationships for tangible and emotional support. The composition and structure of their relationships vary and may result in different coping strategies. Within a community, personal networks may be part of a larger whole network. We will present an approach where we overlap the personal network data from key stakeholders in three coastal communities to understand the network structure of the entire community. This approach will allow us to identify key brokers, factions or subgroups within the community and common network resources outside the community that contribute to resilience.
• Tovar, J. A., McCarty, C., Vacca, R., & Mayer, B. M. (2013, July). The Social Networks of Resilience Following an Environmental Disaster. Environmental Health Disparities & Environmental Justice Meeting. Research Triangle Park: NIEHS.
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  Residents of communities recovering from disasters rely on both formal and informal relationships for tangible and emotional support. The composition and structure of their relationships vary and may result in different coping strategies. Within a community, personal networks may be part of a larger whole network. We will present an approach where we overlap the personal network data from key stakeholders in three coastal communities to understand the network structure of the entire community. This approach will allow us to identify key brokers, factions or subgroups within the community and common network resources outside the community that contribute to resilience.
• Mayer, B. M. (2012, 2012-08-01). Disaster and Recovery in the Gulf: Preliminary Results from the Field. American Sociological Association. Denver.
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  ;Submitted: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Mayer, B. M., Morris, G., & Grattan, L. (2012, 2012-10-01). Psychological Response and Resilience of People and Communities Impacted by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. American Clinical and Climatological Association Annual Conference. Sarasota, Florida.
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  ;Your Role: co-author;Submitted: Yes;Type of Presentation: Professional Organization;

Poster Presentations

• Mayer, B. M., Teufel-Shone, N. I., & Yuan, N. P. (2018, April). Guidelines to improve the use of community advisory boards: Applications for research on violence, trauma, and resilience. ResilienceCon 2019. Nashville, TN.
• Mayer, B. M., Bergstrand, K., Brumback, B., & Zhang, Y. (2014, January). Integrating Indicators of Social Vulnerability and Community Resilience to Assess Long-Term Recovery. 2014 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Eocystem Science Conference. Mobile: Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.
• Zhang, Y., Brumback, B., & Mayer, B. M. (2013, February). Constructing and Comparing Measures of Social Vulnerability and Community Resilience at the County Level. Florida Chapter of the American Statistical Association Annual Meeting. Pensacola, Florida: Florida Chapter of the American Statistical Association.
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  Our interest is in assessing the capacity of communities to withstand disasters, particularly of the Gulf Coast counties proximal to the BP oil spill. Two measures used by other researchers for this purpose are the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) and the Community Resilience Index (CRI). We modified existing methods of assessing these two constructs, and we computed the modified versions using data on all U.S. counties from the U.S. census and the American Community Survey. We graphed the measures separately using GIS software, and we also developed a method for their comparison. We found that the interior south-eastern counties tended to score in the lowest quartile on community resilience and in the highest quartile on social vulnerability, but that the Gulf Coast Counties generally did not. We are particularly interested in the results for four Gulf Coast counties in which we are engaged in community-based research in the wake of the Gulf Coast oil spill.