معرفی
Blake Victor Kent is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Westmont College, with affiliations at Harvard University's Human Flourishing Program, Massachusetts General Hospital's Center on Genomics, Vulnerable Populations, and Health Disparities, and Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion. He specializes in the sociology of religion, social epidemiology, and quantitative methods. His research focuses on religion/spirituality's impact on mental and physical health, particularly subjective religious experiences and their effects on diverse populations. He leads the Global Flourishing Study (GFS), a $43M initiative examining well-being in 220,000 participants across 20 countries.
His work integrates large-scale datasets like the National Consortium on Psychosocial Stress, Spirituality, and Health, analyzing race/ethnicity, mental health, and health disparities. Notable contributions include studies on religious attendance’s moderating effects on obesity risk, the role of congregational neglect in anxiety among South Asians, and buffering effects of religion on childhood trauma’s impact on depression. His findings appear in journals like Health Psychology, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, and Frontiers in Public Health.
Dr. Kent’s academic leadership includes board roles at the Review of Religious Research and the Global Flourishing Study’s core analysis team. His research bridges sociology, epidemiology, and psychology, emphasizing rigorous quantitative approaches to spiritual and health dynamics. Collaborations span institutions like Harvard, Baylor, and the MASALA Study on South Asian health. His work has garnered media attention from Forbes, BBC, and USA Today.
