Marc A. Zimmerman, PhD

Principal Investigator, Director
Professor, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health

marcz@umich.edu
734-763-1989

Biography

Dr. Marc A. Zimmerman is the Marshall H. Becker Collegiate Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education in the School of Public Health and Co-Director of the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention at the University of Michigan. He is the Principal Investigator and Director of the CDC-funded Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center and Prevention Research Center, and Co-Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance-funded National Center for School Safety. Dr. Zimmerman has over 35 years of experience studying youth violence. His research focuses on the application and development of empowerment theory and the study of adolescent health and resiliency. He has translated his research on individual and community risk and promotive factors to develop and evaluate community-based programs with an emphasis on the prevention of community violence. His work includes creating the evidence-based program Youth Empowerment Solutions and the development of Busy Streets Theory which is focused on the effects of urban vacant lot rehabilitation and greening. Dr. Zimmerman is the Editor of Youth & Society and Editor Emerita of Health Education and Behavior.

Publications

Zimmerman, M. A., Stewart, S. E., Morrel-Samuels, S., Franzen, S., & Reischl, T. M. (2011). Youth Empowerment Solutions for Peaceful Communities: Combining theory and practice in a community-level violence prevention curriculum. Health Promotion Practice, 12(3), 425–439. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839909357316

Zimmerman, M. A., Eisman, A. B., Reischl, T. M., Morrel-Samuels, S., Stoddard, S., Miller, A. L., Hutchison, P., Franzen, S., & Rupp, L. (2018). Youth Empowerment Solutions: Evaluation of an After-School Program to Engage Middle School Students in Community Change. Health Education & Behavior: The Official Publication of the Society for Public Health Education, 45(1), 20–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198117710491

Zimmerman, M. A., Bartholow, B. N., Carter, P. M., Cunningham, R. M., Gorman-Smith, D., Heinze, J. E., Hohl, B., Kingston, B. E., Sigel, E. J., Sullivan, T. N., Vagi, K. J., Bowen, D. A., & Wendel, M. L. (2021). Youth Firearm Injury Prevention: Applications from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Funded Youth Violence Prevention Centers. American Journal of Public Health, 111(S1), S32–S34. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306311

Zimmerman, M. A., & Eisman, A. B. (2017). Empowering interventions: Strategies for addressing health inequities across levels of analysis. In M. A. Bond, I. Serrano-García, C. B. Keys, M. Shinn, M. A. Bond (Ed), I. Serrano-García (Ed), C. B. Keys (Ed), & M. Shinn (Ed) (Eds.), APA handbook of community psychology: Methods for community research and action for diverse groups and issues. (2016-09984-011; pp. 173–191). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14954-011

Zimmerman, M. A., & Astor, R. A. (2021). Racism Obstructs the Path to School Safety and Educational Equity: The Need for an Anti-Racism Focus in School Violence Prevention. The Journal of School Health, 91(6), 443–446. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.13018

Whiteside, L. K., Ranney, M. L., Chermack, S. T., Zimmerman, M. A., Cunningham, R. M., & Walton, M. A. (2013). The overlap of youth violence among aggressive adolescents with past-year alcohol use-a latent class analysis: aggression and victimization in peer and dating violence in an inner city emergency department sample. J Stud Alcohol Drugs, 74(1), 125–135.

Weitzman, A., Barber, J. S., Heinze, J., & Zimmerman, M. (2021). How Nearby Homicides Affect Young Women’s Pregnancy Desires: Evidence From a Quasi-Experiment. Demography, 58(3), 927–950. https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-9160045

Walton, M. A., Chermack, S. T., Shope, J. T., Bingham, C. R., Zimmerman, M. A., Blow, F. C., & Cunningham, R. M. (2010). Effects of a Brief Intervention for Reducing Violence and Alcohol Misuse Among Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial. JAMA, 304(5), 527–535. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2010.1066

Walton, M. A., Resko, S., Whiteside, L., Chermack, S. T., Zimmerman, M., & Cunningham, R. M. (2013). Sexual risk behaviors among teens at an urban emergency department: relationship with violent behaviors and substance use. J Adolesc Health, 48(3), 303–305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.07.005

Varela, J. J., Zimmerman, M. A., Ryan, A. M., Stoddard, S. A., & Heinze, J. E. (2021). School Attachment and Violent Attitudes Preventing Future Violent Behavior Among Youth. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(9–10), NP5407–NP5426. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260518800314

Varela, J. J., Zimmerman, M. A., Ryan, A. M., Stoddard, S. A., Heinze, J. E., & Alfaro, J. (2017). Life Satisfaction, School Satisfaction, and School Violence: A Mediation Analysis for Chilean Adolescent Victims and Perpetrators. Child Indicators Research, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-016-9442-7

Thulin, E. J., Heinze, J. E., Kusunoki, Y., Hsieh, H.-F., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2020). Perceived Neighborhood Characteristics and Experiences of Intimate Partner Violence: A Multilevel Analysis. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 886260520906183. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520906183

Thulin, E. J., Zimmerman, M. A., Kusunoki, Y., Kernsmith, P., Smith-Darden, J., & Heinze, J. E. (2021). Electronic Teen Dating Violence Curves by Age. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01517-w

Thulin, E. J., Heinze, J. E., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2021). Evaluating Community Factors Associated With Individually Held Intimate Partner Violence Beliefs Across 51 Countries. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 8862605211050104. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211050104

Stoddard, S. A., Zimmerman, M. A., & Bauermeister, J. A. (2011). Thinking about the future as a way to succeed in the present: a longitudinal study of future orientation and violent behaviors among African American youth. Am J Community Psychol, 48(3–4), 238–246. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9383-0

Stoddard, S. A., Varela, J. J., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2015). Future Expectations, Attitude Toward Violence, and Bullying Perpetration During Early Adolescence: A Mediation Evaluation. Nursing Research, 64(6), 422–433. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNR.0000000000000127

Stoddard, S. A., Meier-Austic, E., Epstein-Ngo, Q., Walton, M., Carter, P. M., Heinze, J. E., Zimmerman, M. A., & Cunningham, R. (2020). Substance use and mental health predictors of patterns of non-partner youth violence among high-risk urban youth. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 213, 108117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108117

Stoddard, S. A., Heinze, J. E., Choe, D. E., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2015). Predicting violent behavior: The role of violence exposure and future educational aspirations during adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 44, 191–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2015.07.017

Stoddard, S. A., Epstein-Ngo, Q., Walton, M. A., Zimmerman, M. A., Chermack, S. T., Blow, F. C., Booth, B. M., & Cunningham, R. M. (2015). Substance use and violence among youth: a daily calendar analysis. Substance Use & Misuse, 50(3), 328–339. https://doi.org/10.3109/10826084.2014.980953

Stoddard, S. A., Whiteside, L., Zimmerman, M. A., Cunningham, R. M., Chermack, S. T., & Walton, M. A. (2013). The relationship between cumulative risk and promotive factors and violent behavior among urban adolescents. Am J Community Psychol, 51(1–2), 57–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-012-9541-7

Stoddard, S. A., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2011). Association of interpersonal violence with self-reported history of head injury. Pediatrics, 127(6), 1074–1079. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2010-2453

Sokol, R. L., Zimmerman, M. A., Rupp, L., Heinze, J. E., Cunningham, R. M., & Carter, P. M. (2021). Firearm purchasing during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in households with teens: a national study. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 44(6), 874–882. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-021-00242-w

Sokol, R. L., Bushman, G., Gong, C. H., Rupp, L., Ryan, J. P., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2022). Associations Between Micro-neighborhood Greening and Child Maltreatment. International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42448-021-00109-2

Sokol, R. L., Marineau, L., Zimmerman, M. A., Rupp, L. A., Cunningham, R. M., & Carter, P. M. (2021). Why some parents made firearms more accessible during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic: results from a national study. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 44(6), 867–873. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-021-00243-9

Sokol, R. L., Kumodzi, T., Cunningham, R. M., Resnicow, K., Steiger, M., Walton, M., Zimmerman, M. A., & Carter, P. M. (2022). The association between perceived community violence, police bias, race, and firearm carriage among urban adolescents and young adults. Preventive Medicine, 154, 106897. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106897

Sokol, R. L., Heinze, J., Doan, J., Normand, M., Grodzinski, A., Pomerantz, N., Scott, B. A., Gaswirth, M., & Zimmerman, M. (2021). Crisis Interventions in Schools: A Systematic Review. Journal of School Violence, 20(2), 241–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2021.1879098

Sokol, R. L., Goldstick, J., Zimmerman, M. A., Muzik, M., Rosenblum, K. L., & Miller, A. L. (2020). Transitions into and out of post-traumatic stress among children involved in the child welfare system. Children and Youth Services Review, 118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105384

Sokol, R. L., Carter, P. M., Goldstick, J., Miller, A. L., Walton, M. A., Zimmerman, M. A., & Cunningham, R. M. (2020). Within-Person Variability in Firearm Carriage Among High-Risk Youth. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 59(3), 386–393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2020.03.005

Sharp, A. L., Prosser, L. A., Walton, M., Blow, F. C., Chermack, S. T., Zimmerman, M. A., & Cunningham, R. (2014). Cost analysis of youth violence prevention. Pediatrics, 133(3), 448–453. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2013-1615

Seewald, L. A., Myers, M., Zimmerman, M. A., Walton, M. A., Cunningham, R. M., Rupp, L. A., Haasz, M., & Carter, P. M. (2022). Firearm safety counseling among caregivers of high-school age teens: Results from a National Survey. Preventive Medicine, 107285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107285

Schmidt, C. J., Zimmerman, M. A., & Stoddard, S. A. (2018). A Longitudinal Analysis of the Indirect Effect of Violence Exposure on Future Orientation Through Perceived Stress and the Buffering Effect of Family Participation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62(1–2), 62–74. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12254

Schmidt, C. J., Rupp, L., Pizarro, J. M., Lee, D. B., Branas, C. C., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2019). Risk and protective factors related to youth firearm violence: a scoping review and directions for future research. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 42(4), 706–723. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-019-00076-7

Rupp, L. A., Zimmerman, M. A., Sly, K. W., Reischl, T. M., Thulin, E. J., Wyatt, T. A., & Stock, J. J. P. (2020). Community-Engaged Neighborhood Revitalization and Empowerment: Busy Streets Theory in Action. American Journal of Community Psychology, 65(1–2), 90–106. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12358

Rupp, L. A., Kondo, M. C., Hohl, B. C., Sing, E. K., Grodzinski, A. R., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2022). The effects of organizations engaging residents in greening vacant lots: Insights from a United States national survey. Cities, 125, 103669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.103669

Roche, J. S., Carter, P. M., Zeoli, A. M., Cunningham, R. M., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2023). Challenges, Successes, and the Future of Firearm Injury Prevention. The Milbank Quarterly, 101(S1), 579–612. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0009.12621

Resko, S. M., Reddock, E. C., Ranney, M. L., Epstein-Ngo, Q., Mountain, S. K., Zimmerman, M. A., Cunningham, R. M., & Walton, M. A. (2016). Reasons for Fighting among Violent Female Adolescents: A Qualitative Investigation from an Urban, Midwestern Community. Social Work in Public Health, 31(3), 99–112. https://doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2015.1087914

Resko, S. M., Walton, M. A., Bingham, C. R., Shope, J. T., Zimmerman, M., Chermack, S. T., Blow, F. C., & Cunningham, R. M. (2010). Alcohol availability and violence among inner-city adolescents: A multi-level analysis of the role of alcohol outlet density. Am J Community Psychol, 46(3–4), 253–262. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9353-6

Reischl, T. M., Zimmerman, M. A., Morrel-Samuels, S., Franzen, S. P., Faulk, M., Eisman, A. B., & Roberts, E. (2011). Youth empowerment solutions for violence prevention. Adolesc Med State Art Rev, 22(3), 581–600, xiii.

Reischl, T. M., Krusky, A. M., Zimmerman, M. A., Aiyer, S. M., Kruger, D. J., Franzen, S. P., & Lipton, R. (2016). Assessing Physical Disorder in Urban Neighborhoods: Reliability and Validity of the Parcel Maintenance Observation Tool. Journal of Community Psychology, 44(1), 7–21. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.21730

Reeping, P. M., Klarevas, L., Rajan, S., Rowhani-Rahbar, A., Heinze, J., Zeoli, A. M., Goyal, M. K., Zimmerman, M. A., & Branas, C. C. (2022). State Firearm Laws, Gun Ownership, and K-12 School Shootings: Implications for School Safety. Journal of School Violence, 21(2), 132–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2021.2018332

Rauk, L., Rupp, L., Hohl, B. C., Kondo, M. C., Ornelas, L., Carter, P. M., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2023). Lessons learned from local vacant land management organizations for engaging youth in greening. American Journal of Community Psychology, ajcp.12688. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12688

Ranney, M. L., Whiteside, L., Walton, M. A., Chermack, S. T., Zimmerman, M. A., & Cunningham, R. M. (2013). Sex differences in characteristics of adolescents presenting to the emergency department with acute assault-related injury. Acad Emerg Med, 18(10), 1027–1035. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1553-2712.2011.01165.x

Pelletier, K. R., Schmidt, C. J., Seewald, L., Cunningham, R. M., Zimmerman, M. A., Walton, M. A., Resnicow, K., & Carter, P. M. (2022). Understanding factors associated with firearm possession: Examining differences between male and female adolescents and emerging adults seeking emergency department care. Preventive Medicine, 107286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107286

Patton, R. A., Cunningham, R. M., Blow, F. C., Zimmerman, M. A., Booth, B. M., & Walton, M. A. (2014). Transactional sex involvement: exploring risk and promotive factors among substance-using youth in an urban emergency department. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 75(4), 573–579.

Oliphant, S. N., Mouch, C. A., Rowhani-Rahbar, A., Hargarten, S., Jay, J., Hemenway, D., Zimmerman, M., Carter, P. M., & FACTS Consortium. (2019). A scoping review of patterns, motives, and risk and protective factors for adolescent firearm carriage. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 42(4), 763–810. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-019-00048-x

Morrel-Samuels, S., Zimmerman, M. A., & Reischl, T. M. (2013). Creating Safe and Healthy Futures: Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 22(3), 31–36.

Morrel-Samuels, S., Rupp, L. A., Eisman, A. B., Miller, A. L., Stoddard, S. A., Franzen, S. P., Hutchison, P., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2018). Measuring the Implementation of Youth Empowerment Solutions. Health Promotion Practice, 19(4), 581–589. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839917736511

Morrel-Samuels, S., Bacallao, M., Brown, S., Bower, M., & Zimmerman, M. (2016). Community Engagement in Youth Violence Prevention: Crafting Methods to Context. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-016-0428-5

Loh, K., Walton, M. A., Harrison, S. R., Zimmerman, M., Stanley, R., Chermack, S. T., & Cunningham, R. M. (2013). Prevalence and correlates of handgun access among adolescents seeking care in an urban emergency department. Accid Anal Prev, 42(2), 347–353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2009.11.012

Lee, D. B., Hsieh, H.-F., Stoddard, S. A., Heinze, J. E., Carter, P. M., Goldstick, J. E., Cunningham, M. C., Cunningham, R. M., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2020). Longitudinal pathway from violence exposure to firearm carriage among adolescents: The role of future expectation. Journal of Adolescence, 81, 101–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.03.009