#research

My research combines sociology, computational social science, and health science to study how social cognition and institutional structures shape behavior and inequality. Using causal inference, advanced statistics and machine learning, I investigate processes ranging from identity formation and communication to substance use and health policy outcomes.

Across projects, I focus on developing computational and statistical approaches that connect social theory with empirical measurement and policy-relevant applications.

Social Classification and Structural Inequality

This line of research examines how individuals construct social categories such as race, nation, and belonging, and how these perceptions translate into political attitudes and structural inequality.

Publications

Forthcoming The Disciplined Worker In and Out of Prison Reich, Adam & Triguero Roura, Mireia Annual Review of Criminology
Threatening for whom? National boundary-making, immigration, and support for the welfare state Triguero Roura, Mireia European Sociological Review paper code
Inequality on Top of the Hill: Race, Pay, and Representation Among Congressional Staff Jones, James J. & Triguero Roura, Mireia Socius paper code
2023 Visualizing Beliefs in Biological Racial Difference and Ordering across Europe Triguero Roura, Mireia Socius paper
2022 Racism without race: Reconstructing race through culture in Spanish social-science textbooks Triguero Roura, Mireia Ethnic and Racial Studies paper

Under Review

2026 Colorblind ethnocentrism: How ancestry and race continue to define Western national identities Triguero Roura, Mireia Revise & Resubmit — American Journal of Sociology preprint

Related teaching: Social Inequality · Social Psychology · Research Design

Computational Social Science

My methodological work develops computational and statistical tools to study social interaction, communication, and decision-making in large-scale behavioral data. This research integrates machine learning, natural language processing, and causal inference to analyze digital social environments. I also study how Large Language Models are used in the healthcare context.

Publications

2023 Reciprocity, Homophily, and Social Network Effects in Pictorial Communication: A Case Study of Bitmoji Stickers Jiang, Julie; Dotsch, Ron; Triguero Roura, Mireia; Liu, Yozen; Silva Souza, Vitor; Bos, Maarten; Barbieri, Francesco ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems paper

Under Review

2026 Use of Artificial Intelligence for Substance Use-Related Information Among Young Adults in the US; A cross-sectional analysis Triguero Roura, Mireia and Pia M Mauro Revise & Resubmit — JMIR Formative Research preprint

Working Papers

Am I addicted? Evaluating LLMs' responses to self-diagnosis queries Triguero Roura, Mireia et al.
The Ties that Bound: Online Pictorial Communication Reveals Cultural Boundaries in the World Triguero Roura, Mireia et al.
Social media, language, and politics: What language do people use to make arguments about undocumented immigrants? Triguero Roura, Mireia preprint code

Related teaching: Computational Social Science · Data Science · Statistics · Causal Inference

Substance Use, Health, and Social Policy

My applied research investigates how social environments, policy, and inequality shape substance use and treatment access across populations.

Note: The publications listed below are associated with an R01 project. Middle senior authors on these papers were collaborators on the R01 and contributed primarily through editing, reviewing, and discussion, rather than leading the analyses or conceptualization.

Publications

2026 Past-month tobacco and cannabis co-use by chronic disease and sociodemographic factors among U.S. adults 65+ years (2021-2023) Fahey, Margaret; Vora, Aabha; Gutkind, Sarah; Solomon, Haley; Triguero Roura, Mireia; Han, Benjamin; Mauro, Pia Journal of Applied Gerontology
Cannabis screening and discussions with clinicians among older adults in the US, 2021–2023 Mauro, Pia; Triguero Roura, Mireia; Carey, Elsa; Han, Benjamin H. American Journal of Preventive Medicine paper
2025 Trends in cannabis use disorder and treatment by race and ethnicity, 2002–2019 Triguero Roura, Mireia; Vora, Aabha; Eschliman, Evan; Mauro, Pia Frontiers in Psychiatry paper

Under Review

2026 Cannabis use and cannabis use disorder among older adults in the United States Han, Ben H.; Eschliman, Evan L.; Palamar, Joseph J.; Triguero Roura, Mireia; Mauro, Pia Revise & Resubmit — Addiction

Related teaching: Health & Society · Quantitative Methods · Policy Analysis