Education

• B.A. in International Studies, Political Science, and Anthropology & Sociology  Elmira College  2012
• M.A. in Development Studies  Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies  2014
• M.A. in Sociology  University of California, Los Angeles  2016
• Ph.D. in Sociology  University of California, Los Angeles  2021

Background

Current Grants

• PI: Career Development to Promote Reproductive Justice among Latinx Populations Post-Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Society of Family Planning. Total funding: $57,248.
• Co-PI (with Xiana Bueno (PI), Kristen N. Jozkowski (Consultant), Brandon Crawford (Consultant)). Supporting Access and Experience of Self-managed Abortion post-Dobbs among Latinx Migrant Populations in the US. Society of Family Planning. Total funding: $49,906.

Previous Positions

• Post-Doctoral Fellow, Indiana University, Department of Applied Health Science, 2022-2023
• Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Purdue University, Department of Public Health and Department of Human Development and Family Studies, 2021-2022
• Teaching Fellow, University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Sociology, 2019-2020
• Teaching Associate, University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Sociology, 2017-2018
• Teaching Assistant, University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Sociology, 2015-2017

Scholarly Interest

Public Health, Social Demography, Race and Ethnicity, Sociology of Health, Fertility, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Abortion, Maternal and Child Health, Mental and Physical Health, Education, Social Inequalities, Rural-Urban Analyses, Cross-National Analyses, Latinx, Immigrant Health, International Migration, International Development, Latin America, United States, Qualitative Methods, Quantitative Methods, Spatial Analysis

Selected Publications

Articles

Valdez, D., Mena-Meléndez, L., Jozkowski, K.N., Crawford, B.L., Arvind, A. (In Press). Online Social Media Reactions to the Overturn of Roe v. Wade: Public Health Implications and Policy Insights. Sexuality Research and Social Policy.

Crawford, B.L., Jozkowski, K.N., Mena-Meléndez, L., Turner, R.C. (2023). An Exploratory Examination of Attitudes Toward Illegal Abortion in the U.S. through Endorsement of Various Punishments. Contraception. 121(109952). Doi: /j.contraception.2023.109952.

Jozkowski, K.N., Mena-Meléndez, L., Crawford, B.L., Turner, R.C. (2023, online advance of print). Abortion Stigma: Attitudes Toward Abortion Responsibility, Illegal Abortion, and Perceived Punishments of "Illegal Abortion." Psychology of Women Quarterly (Special Issue "Reproductive Justice: Enhancing Science, Advocacy, and Practice"). Doi: 10.1177/0361684323118135.

Mena-Meléndez, L. (2022). Rural–Urban Differences in Unintended Pregnancies, Contraceptive Nonuse, and Terminated Pregnancies in Latin America and the Caribbean. Women's Reproductive Health 9(2). Doi: 10.1080/23293691.2021.2016135.

Mena-Meléndez, Lucrecia. (2020). Ethnoracial child health inequalities in Latin America: Multilevel evidence from Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru. SSM - Population Health 12(100673). Doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100673.