Benjamin Tyndall

Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology

Benjamin Tyndall received his B.A. in Sociology and Psychology from Vanderbilt University in 2007 and his M.A. in Sociology from Vanderbilt University in 2013. He successfully defended his dissertation proposal in August of 2015. His interests include social psychology, neighborhoods, race-ethnicity, family, and the life course. His research agenda is broadly concerned with the ways in which social position, particularly as experienced through residential context, affects the mental health and interpersonal relationships of individuals. His dissertation project is an exploration of the impacts of neighborhoods and other characteristics of residential context on the well-being of individuals across the early life course—from childhood to adolescence to early adulthood. Utilizing data from the mothers of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) 1979 and their children who were surveyed separately in the NLSY – Child and Young Adult samples, Ben examines specific processes that are relevant at each life stage to better understand how neighborhoods impinge on the well-being of individuals and how these effects accumulate over the life course. The project also includes targeted analysis of racial and ethnic differences in these processes given the stark race-ethnic differences that exist in neighborhood characteristics in the U.S. His other research projects analyze the psychosocial consequences of home ownership, the impacts of extended family on children’s academic achievement, and the growth and development of self-concept across early adulthood.