RebeccaKreitzer

Rebecca Kreitzer

Assistant Professor of Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapter Member: North Carolina SSN
Areas of Expertise:

Connect with Rebecca

(919) 962-0682

About Rebecca

Kreitzer's research focuses on gender, political representation, political inequality, and public policy in the US states. She is an expert in state reproductive health policy and biases in standard evaluations of teaching (SETs).

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

How Family Experiences During Adolescence Influence Americans' Attitudes about Abortion

  • Rebecca Kreitzer
Key Findings Brief,

In the News

Rebecca Kreitzer quoted by Elaine Godfrey, "What it Means to Defund Planned Parenthood" The Atlantic, March 27, 2017.
"'Contraception Deserts' are What You Get When You Cut off This Little-Known Federal Program," Rebecca Kreitzer, Washington Post, September 26, 2016.
"Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Same-Sex Marriage Across the U.S.: USAPP Experts React," Rebecca Kreitzer, London School of Economics U.S. Centre's Blog on Politics and Policy, June 26, 2015.
"The States are Now the Battleground in the Fight over Abortion Rights," Rebecca Kreitzer, London School of Economics U.S. Centre's Blog on Politics and Policy, February 4, 2015.
"The Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage in a State is a Signal that Causes Certain Groups to Change Their Opinion to Support the Policy," Rebecca Kreitzer, London School of Economics U.S. Centre's Blog on Politics and Policy, July 29, 2014.

Publications

"Evaluating Student Evaluations of Teaching: a Review of Measurement and Equity Bias in SETs and Recommendations for Ethical Reform" (with Jennie Sweet-Cushman). Journal of Academic Ethics 20 (2022): 73–84.

Discusses concerns with Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs), which are ubiquitous in the academe as a metric for assessing teaching and are frequently used in critical personnel decisions. Authors discuss ample evidence documenting measurement and equity bias in SETs, which also have low or no correlation with learning. The authors conclude with recommendations for the judicious use of SETs.

"Affordable but Inaccessible? Contraception Deserts in the US States" (with Candis Watts Smith, Kellen A. Kane, and Tracee M. Saunders). Journal Health Political Policy Law 46, no. 2 (2021): 277–304.

Focuses on whether, and the extent to which, the resources made available by Title X—the only federal policy aimed specifically at reproductive health care—are equitably accessible. 

"The Evolution of Morality Policy Debate: Moralization and Demoralization" (with Kellen A. Kane and Christopher Z. Mooney). The Forum (2019).

Describes that scholars of morality policy have built an extensive literature surrounding these issues, which often are associated with unusual political behavior. Shows studies aimed at explaining this behavior but avoided defining a “morality policy” explicitly, typically by focusing on issues that appeared obviously to pertain to morality, like abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. 

"The Dynamics of Racial Resentment Across the 50 US States" (with Candis Watts Smith and Feiya Suo). Perspectives: The Dynamics 18, no. 2 (2019).

Studies the role of racial animus in Americans’ political attitudes and policy preferences do so to help us understand national-level politics, and (racialized) policy is largely shaped at the state level.

"Reproductive and Replicable: An Empirical Assessment of the Social Construction of Politically Relevant Target Groups" Political Science and Politics (2018).

Assesses the underlying assumptions of Schneider and Ingram's theory of social construction of target populations. 

"Adolescent Determinants of Abortion Attitudes: Evidence from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth" (with Rebecca Kreitzer). Public Opinion Quarterly 80, no. 1 (2015): 66-89.

Shows that religious adherence and maternal gender role values are significant predictors of adult abortion opinions, even after controlling for contemporaneous religious adherence and the respondents’ own views on gender roles

"Modeling Heterogeneity in Pooled Event History Analysis (PEHA)" Public Opinion Quarterly 16 (2015): 121-141.

Demonstrates the best empirical approach to using the Pooled Event History Analysis method, a common way to study the spread of multiple policies across the states in the United States.

"Politics and Morality in State Abortion Policy" State Politics & Policy Quarterly 15, no. 1 (2015): 41-66.

Estimates the most significant predictors of approximately 40 different pro- and anti-abortion rights policy. 

"Does Policy Adoption Change Norms and Opinions on Minority Rights?: The Effects of Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage" (with Allison Hamilton and Croline Tolbert). Political Research Quarterly 67, no. 4 (2014): 795-808.

Evaluates the impact of the adoption of Varnum v. Brien on changing opinions on minority rights. 

"Women State Legislators: Women's Issues in Partisan Environments" (with Tracy L. Osborn), in Women and Elective Office, edited by Sue Thomas and Clyde Wilcox (Oxford University Press, 2014).

Discusses how political parties shape the ways that Republican and Democratic women legislate on women's issues by structuring their preferences. Also examines how partisan control of the legislative process shapes which women's issues make it into the legislative agenda.