About

Dr. Julie Maslowsky is an Associate Professor of Health Behavior and Clinical Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, an Associate Professor of Health Behavior and Health Equity at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and a Research Associate Professor at the UM Institute for Social Research. She is a developmental psychologist and population health scientist who specializes in adolescent health, with a particular focus on sexual and reproductive health, including contraception and abortion. Her research integrates adolescent developmental science with population and reproductive health to inform developmentally appropriate policies and practices on adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Dr. Maslowsky is a team scientist, a builder, and an interdisciplinary scholar. She has been funded by multiple institutes of the NIH and is the founding director of Youth Reproductive Equity, a leading research collaborative focused on adolescent and young adult sexual and reproductive health post-Dobbs v. Jackson. Her current research includes developing a state-level policy data dashboard to facilitate research on reproductive health, creating digital decision support tools for adolescent contraceptive counseling, and conducting research on policy-ready research for youth abortion access. She is also an enthusiastic teacher and mentor, focusing on social determinants of health, intervention development, implementation science, and grant and manuscript preparation, with a goal to equip students and mentees with practical and theoretical knowledge to navigate complex health landscapes.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychology
• Demography
• Developmental psychology
• Environmental health

Selected publications

• Tubal Sterilization And Vasectomy Increased Among US Young Adults After The Dobbs Supreme Court Decision In 2022

  UNC Libraries · 2026-01-02

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Young adults’ access to contraception is shifting after the June 2022 United States Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. This concurrent mixed-methods study measured young adults’ use of and perceptions about tubal sterilization and vasectomy after the leaked Dobbs opinion in May 2022. Using national-level medical claims data from IQVIA, we conducted difference-in-differences analyses of tubal sterilizations and vasectomies by age and state policy; using open-text survey responses from national MyVoice surveys in 2022 and 2023, we thematically analyzed young adults’ perspectives. Tubal sterilization and vasectomy visits increased after May 2022 among participants ages 19–26. Difference-in-differences analyses found significant increases in tubal sterilization and vasectomy visits in states deemed likely to ban abortion. Survey responses highlight fear of loss of bodily autonomy and changes to pregnancy plans after Dobbs. Young adults increasingly obtained permanent contraception post-Dobbs, especially in states deemed likely to ban abortion, and they continue to face challenges to their bodily autonomy, whether they feel pressured to seek permanent contraception because of abortion policy restrictions or whether they desire permanent contraception but experience barriers obtaining it.

  PublisherDOI

• Adolescent and Young Adult Perspectives on Contraception Post-Dobbs: “The Next Closest Step to Having Control Over My Own Body”

  UNC Libraries · 2026-05-23

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Sleep Duration Among US Adolescents, 1991–2023

  PEDIATRICS · 2026-05-12

  article

  OBJECTIVES: We examined trends in adolescent sleep across recent decades in the United States. METHODS: Data were drawn from a nationally representative study, Monitoring the Future, measurement years 1991-2023, which represented cohorts of adolescents born from approximately 1972 to 2011 (n = 401 160). Outcomes were 2 self-reported survey items, one addressing sleep duration and another on subjective sleep sufficiency. Age-period-cohort models were estimated and sociodemographic differences in trends were examined. RESULTS: Adolescent sleep duration declined with increasing age during every period. Adolescents at every age in the last 10 years were more likely to report inadequate sleep duration compared with teens at those same ages in earlier decades. The period 2021-2023 had the lowest prevalences of getting 7 or more hours of sleep at every age (ranging from 37.2% at age 12 or 13 to 22.3% at 18 or 19). Disparities in sleep duration between non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic/Latino adolescents and their white peers, and between teens whose parents were more vs less educated, emerged and/or grew steadily over time. For instance, Black and white adolescents in 1991-1995 were equally likely to report 7 or more hours of sleep per night (odds ratio [OR] = 0.99 [0.92, 1.07]), but by 2023, Black teens were less likely to report this (OR = 0.79 [0.67, 0.93]). CONCLUSIONS: For decades, adolescents' sleep had been eroding. It is concerning that youth from marginalized sociodemographic groups appear to be at an even greater risk for profoundly short sleep, given that sleep is a resource that confers advantages for health and development.

  PublisherDOI

• Restrictive abortion policy climate is associated with increased depression symptoms among women in the United States: Findings from a 25-year longitudinal study

  SSM - Mental Health · 2026-02-21

  articleOpen access

  Purpose: To examine associations between state-level abortion restrictiveness and depression among female participants in a large, US sample surveyed from 1990 to 2015. Methods: Eligible participants were female respondents in the Monitoring the Future panel study followed from adolescence into adulthood (N = 19,881 female respondents with 50,995 unique observations). Depression symptoms were assessed using a four-item index. State-level restrictive abortion policy climate was quantified using an annual index of 18 policies, standardized across states and years. We modeled associations using log-binomial multilevel models, adjusting for individual (e.g., race/ethnicity, age, urbanicity) and state-level (e.g., unemployment, income inequality, political and legislative composition, demographic composition, gender wage gap) confounders. We conducted tests to assess robustness of findings, including using a negative control outcome (motor vehicle crashes), alternative populations (male respondents), and subgroup tests by religiosity. Results: A one-standard deviation increase in state abortion restrictiveness (equivalent to approximately 4 more restrictive laws) was associated with a 7% increase in depression symptoms among females (adjusted risk ratio [RR] = 1.07, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-1.11). As hypothesized, associations among our alternative sample were not statistically significant (males, RR = 1.03, 95% CI 0.99-1.08, though estimates did not statistically differ by sex) as were associations with our negative control outcome (motor vehicle crashes). As hypothesized, associations were most pronounced among female respondents reporting low religiosity (RR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.01-1.15), and not significant among those reporting high religiosity. Conclusion: Restrictive abortion policies are associated with higher depression symptoms among women. Legal protections for reproductive health care may benefit mental health.

  PublisherDOI

• 13. Associations Between Sociodemographic Factors, Pharmacy Type, and Availability and Accessibility of an Over-the-Counter Oral Contraceptive Pill in Three Michigan Counties

  Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology · 2026-03-11

  article
  PublisherDOI

• 25. Adolescents’ Awareness, Knowledge, and Perceptions of an Over-the-Counter Oral Contraceptive Pill

  Journal of Adolescent Health · 2026-02-13

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Adolescent and Young Adult Perspectives on Contraception Post-Dobbs: “The Next Closest Step to Having Control Over My Own Body”

  Women s Health Issues · 2025-05-22 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Adolescents’ awareness, knowledge, and perceptions of an over-the-counter oral contraceptive pill

  Contraception · 2025-09-16 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 2. Availability and Accessibility of an Over-The-Counter Oral Contraceptive Pill in Retail Pharmacies in a Single Midwest US County: An Exploratory Study

  Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology · 2025-02-28 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Implications of Abortion Restrictions for Adolescents

  JAMA Pediatrics · 2025-04-07 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  This cross-sectional study examines the proportion of the adolescent population potentially facing barriers to abortion access owing to 3 types of state restrictions in the US.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant F31DA029335

  NIH · $73k · 2013

• Demography, health, and contraceptive use of repeat teenage mothers

  NIH · $652k · 2017–2022

Frequent coauthors

• Daniel Powers

  The University of Texas at Austin

  41 shared

• Anita Madison

  Johns Hopkins Medicine

  38 shared

• Vinita Goyal

  Planned Parenthood

  38 shared

• John E. Schulenberg

  27 shared

• Olusegun Owotomo

  Johns Hopkins University

  15 shared

• C. Emily Hendrick

  University of Nevada, Reno

  12 shared

• Pamela Davis‐Kean

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  10 shared

• Christopher S. Monk

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  10 shared

Labs

• Julie Maslowsky's LabPI

Awards & honors

• Outstanding Adolescent Health Initiative, University of Mich…
• Public Voices Fellow, The Op-Ed Project
• Compassion in Action Award, presented by His Holiness the Da…