In the News: Shannon Monnat

According to Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, the recent decline in life expectancy "is due almost entirely" to increases in overdoses and suicides. "Although the declines are small, they are unprecedented, and they are signals that there is a serious well-being crisis in the U.S."

Children today face three serious mental health crises: death from drugs, alcohol and suicide, says Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion. "They’re much bigger societal issues that need to be addressed quickly or they’re going to manifest into something much more serious and then we’re going to be in big trouble not just now but decades to come."

"Opioids are far more deadly than any drugs that are entering through the U.S.-Mexico border,” says Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion.

Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, argues that in both rural and urban communities, two key factors—economic distress and supply of opioids—predict the rate of opioid deaths. "I really do want to push back against this cliché that addiction does not discriminate," Monnat says. "The physiological processes that underlie addiction themselves may not discriminate, but the factors that put people in communities at higher risk are are not spatially random."

"Opioids are a symptom and a symbol of far deeper issues in the U.S.," says Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion. She points to deteriorating economic conditions, a lack of investment in schools, a quick-fix culture and a toxic mix of "pain, despair, disconnection and lack of opportunity" as upstream problems that have fed into the nation's current drug crisis.

 The team, which includes Doug Wolf, professor of public administration and international affairs, Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology, and Jennifer Karas Montez, professor of sociology, will explore pre-emption’s effect on geographic inequities in health, focusing on labor and environmental policies.

“All you have to do is map a route wherever you’re at, gather your group and have fun walking!” says Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion. "Many organizations, universities and cities have adopted the Monday Mile activity and have seen great results," she adds.

According to Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, politicians are looking for quick fixes because of their short terms in office and public health in the U.S. too often treats problems after they appear. "If we were to invest similar money into revitalizing social infrastructure and economic infrastructure and our educational system we would see long term benefits," she says. 

According to Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, the opioid crisis is not disproportionately rural, but mortality rates among different rural areas vary drastically, depending on factors such as work stability and social infrastructure like churches or sport leagues. 

Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, explains how Trump overperformed in places with high rates of drug use, suicide, and family distress. According to Monnat, Trump's message of economic nationalism and promises to bring back manufacturing jobs resonated with people in these areas who felt left behind by globalization and the decline of traditional industries.

Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion says long-running challenges in many rural communities are the underlying drivers of the increase in opioid overdose rates, things like economic decline and social isolation. 

Lerner Chair Shannon Monnat's research found that the Rust Belt counties that put Trump over the top were those that lost the most people in recent years to deaths of despair—those due to alcohol, drugs, and suicide.