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Sociology

Faculty & Staff

3551 Cullen Boulevard, Room 450
Houston, TX 77204-3012
Phone: 713.743.3940

Link to Sociology Facebook page

Zelma Oyarvide Tuthill

Zelma

Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies

Phone: 713.743.6602
Email: zloyarvi@ central.uh.edu
Office: 469 Philip G. Hoffman Hall
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Education

Ph.D., Sociology, Rice University
M.A., Sociology, University of Houston
B.A., Psychology and Sociology, Houston Baptist University

Biography

Zelma Oyarvide Tuthill is an assistant professor of Sociology at the University of Houston. She is also the director of Undergraduate Studies in the department of Sociology, and a joint faculty member with the Women, Gender and Sexuality program. She received her PhD. From Rice University in 2020.

Her research examines how health inequality is reproduced across the intersections of race/ethnicity, nativity, gender identity and sexual orientation. As a health scholar her qualitative, quantitative and theoretical work examines various axis of wellbeing including health status, health behaviors and healthcare utilization among population groups.  In order to more accurately capture processes of inequality among marginalized groups, her research agenda highlights how racism, sexism and heterosexism structure and reproduce poorer health outcomes and health environments.

Research Interests

  • Population Health
  • Health Disparities
  • Race/Ethnicity, Class and Gender
  • Sexuality
  • Social Stratification

Teaching

  • Introduction to Sociological Research
  • Gender, Sexuality and Health

Selected Publications

  • Oyarvide Tuthill, Zelma. 2022. “Marginalized Within the Margins: Minority Stress and
  • Identity Centrality.” Sociological Inquiry. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12501
  • Oyarvide Tuthill, Zelma. 2022. “An Assessment of Racial and Ethnic and Sexual Identity Centrality and Smoking Behavior.” Journal of Homosexuality. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2022.2071137
  • Oyarvide Tuthill, Zelma, Justin Denney and Bridget K. Gorman. 2020. “Racial Disparities in Self-Rated Health Among Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Heterosexual Men and Women.” Ethnicity and Health 25(2):177–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/13557858.2017.1414157
  • Oyarvide Tuthill, Zelma and Bridget Gorman. 2019. “Medical Comfort at the Intersection of Gender and Sexual Orientation” Social Currents 6(5):464–486. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329496519852580
  • Gorman, Bridget and Zelma Oyarvide Tuthill. 2018. “Socioeconomic Status, Sexual Orientation and Healthy Aging” Generations: Journal of the American Society on Aging 42(2):57–60. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26556361
  • Oyarvide Tuthill, Zelma. 2017. “A Demographic Analysis of the Health Care Status of Children from LGBT Households.” Pp. 237-249 in Applied Demography and Public Health in the 21st Century, edited by M.N. Hoque, B. Pecotte and M.A McGehee. Switzerland: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43688-3
  • Oyarvide Tuthill, Zelma. 2016. “Negotiating Religiosity and Sexual Identity Among Hispanic Lesbian Mothers.” Journal of Homosexuality 63:1194–1210. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2016.1151691

Affiliations