Research
Dissertation Work. My dissertation investigates the microsociological processes that undergird taking on and eventually exiting a pediatric patient identity. To understand these processes, I collected data through 550 hours of ethnographic participant observation in a major children’s hospital. I followed 19 focal patients with chronic health conditions who were socially embedded in the hospital. I triangulated this data with formal and informal interviews with staff and print and online content related to the hospital. I explore how charity and altruism construct the “sick child,” the importance of social spaces, how the increasing numbers of patients surviving chronic health conditions navigate pediatrics, and the process of aging out.
Masters Thesis. The results of my master’s work focus on young adult identity in chronically ill individuals.
Autism Institute. I work on an interdisciplinary team on numerous policy-related initiatives, consulting on work utilizing qualitative methods, social disparities in health, and gender. My continued work involves a community engaged study with queer and transgender autistic adults (recording of the AIR-P workshop on this project), and another on cannabis and autism.
Collaborations. I have been fortunate to collaborate on two sociological projects focused on youth. The Social Worlds and Youth Wellbeing Study investigates youth suicide prevention in educational settings. The Health Lifestyles and the Reproduction of Inequality focuses on familial performances of health, including adolescent technology use.
Selected Publications
All publications are available upon request.
Katherine Ardeleanu, Hillary Steinberg, Tamara Garfield, Sam Voltaire, Tamara Garfield, Maci Brown, Lindsay Shea, Kyle Chvasta, Catherine Tan. “Self-Identification of Autism: Why Some Autistic Adults Lack a Clinical Diagnosis and the Case for Inclusion.” Accepted at Autism.
Sam Voltaire, Hillary Steinberg, Tamara Garfield, Kyle Chvasta, Katherine Ardeleanu, Lindsay Shea, Maci Brown. “Inextricably Tied: Nonbinary Autistic Individuals’ Views on How Their Gender Identity and Autism Are Connected.” Autism. 10.1177/13623613241257600.
Hillary Steinberg, Stefanie Mollborn, Jennifer Pace. 2023. “‘Mature Enough to Handle it?’: Gendered Parental Interventions in and Adolescents’ Reactions to Technology Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic” Journal of Family Issues. 10.1177/0192513X22115097. (Open Access).
Hillary Steinberg, Tamara Garfield, Alec Becker, and Lindsay Shea. 2023. “What Category Best Fits: Understanding Transgender Identity in a Survey of Autistic Individuals.” Autism in Adulthood. 10.1089/aut.2021.0079.
Hillary Steinberg, Tamara Garfield, Anne Roux, Lindsay Shea, Paul Shattock. “Same Transition, Different Perspectives: Comparing Dyadic Interviews with Autistic Young Adults and Parents.” Autism in Adulthood. 10.1089/aut.2022.0095.
Hillary Steinberg. 2023. “Doing Gender, Doing Disability: How Disabled Young Adults Approach Gender in Response to Ableism.” Volume 14 of Research in Social Science and Disability (RSSD). 10.1108/S1479-354720230000014006.
Hillary Steinberg, Stefanie Mollborn. “‘Optimizing’ Health in the Time of COVID: How Neoliberal Health Orientations Dictated Families’ Responses.” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World. 10.1177/23780231231207638. (Open Access).
Hillary Steinberg. 2020. “Distance and Acceptance: Identity Formation in Young Adults with Chronic Health Conditions.” Advances in Life Course Research 44:100325. 10.1016/j.alcr.2020.100325.
Selected for the 2020 Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award, American Sociological Association, Section on Disability and Society.