JIN Lei
金蕾
Associate Professor
Lei Jin received an MS in Statistics and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago. Before joining CUHK she was a post-doctoral fellow at the Robert Wood Johnson Scholars in Health Policy Program at Harvard University.
Jin’s overarching research interest lies in the interplay of health, medicine and social systems. Her work spans two major areas: health disparities and the social organization of health care. In the first area, she has contributed to understanding how relative social status, status inconsistency, and social mobility shape health and well-being. She has also assessed how different dimensions of structural inequality affected health behaviors and outcomes. In the second area, she has studied patient-doctor interaction in the US and professional autonomy among physicians in China’s public hospitals. Her research has been published in leading journals such as Demography, Social Science & Medicine and Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
Her on-going projects explore how institutional contexts produce and moderate health disparities and how social relationships and health interact across the life course.
Current Research & Teaching Interests
- Medical Sociology
- Social Epidemiology
- Health Services Research
- Demography
- Sociology of Professions
- Quantitative Methods
Selected Publications
| Forthcoming | Jin, Lei, Lin Tao. “Pathways to Autonomy: Chinese Physicians’ Responses to Clinical Pathways amid Institutional Complexity.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior |
| 2025 | Lan, Yaxin, and Lei Jin. “Assessing Health Lifestyles in Contemporary China: Patterns, Transitions, and Socioeconomic Antecedents.” Global Public Health. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17441692.2024.2447792. (corresponding author) |
| 2025 | Lan, Yaxin, and Lei Jin. “Emptying Villages, Overflowing Glasses: Out-Migration and Drinking Patterns in Rural China.” Journal of Migration and Health 11:100311. doi:10.1016/j.jmh.2025.100311. (corresponding author) |
| 2025 | Lan, Yaxin, and Lei Jin. “Exploring the Intricacies of Social Mobility Trajectories and Perceived Stress in Post-Reform China.” Stress and Health 41(1):e70010. doi:10.1002/smi.70010. (corresponding author) |
| 2025 | Lan, Yaxin, and Lei Jin. “Liquor and Loyalty: Ownership Structure, Market Institutionalization, Authoritative Hierarchy, and Chinese Occupational Drinking.” Critical Public Health. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09581596.2025.2483466. (corresponding author) |
| 2024 | Kong, Dexia, Yaxin Lan, Peiyi Lu, and Lei Jin. “Dietary Knowledge and Preference Among Middle-Aged and Older Chinese Couples.” Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health 36(5): 493–99. https://doi.org/10.1177/10105395241254879 |
| 2024 | Zhao, Xiaohang, Lei Jin, and Skylar Biyang Sun. “Bidirectional Association Between Internet Use and Episodic Memory Among Older Adults: A Longitudinal Mediation Study.” Journal of Applied Gerontology 43(7):829–40. doi:10.1177/07334648231214944. |
| 2023 | Olivos, Francisco, and Lei Jin. “Institutional Context and Life Satisfaction: Does the Rule of Law Moderate Well-Being Inequalities?” European Societies 25(5):721–52. doi:10.1080/14616696.2023.2185651. (corresponding author) |
| 2023 | Sun, Skylar Biyang, and Lei Jin. “Which Hierarchy Matters? Subjective Social Status, Status Incongruence and Well-Being among High-Skilled Mainland Chinese Migrants in Hong Kong.” Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 32(1):33–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/01171968231173751. (corresponding author) |
| 2023 | Wen, Ming, Weidong Wang, Zobayer Ahmmad, and Lei Jin. “Parental Migration and Self-Efficacy among Rural-Origin Adolescents in China: Patterns and Mechanisms.” Journal of Community Psychology 51(2):626–47. doi:10.1002/jcop.22976. (corresponding author) |
| 2022 | Jin, Lei, Xi Chen, Fen Lin, Yuchun Zou, and Haiyan Gao. “Does Education Matter for Psychological Recovery amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic? Evidence from a Panel Survey in Hubei, China.” Anxiety, Stress, & Coping 35(1):101–10. doi:10.1080/10615806.2021.1978431. |
| 2022 | Jin, Lei, Xiaohang Zhao, and Yuying Tong. “A Female Advantage? Gender Patterning of Psychological Well-Being Among Migrants and Returnees in China.” Journal of Social Issues 78(3):645–68. doi:10.1111/josi.12467. |
| 2022 | Zhao, Xiaohang, Lei Jin, and Skylar Biyang Sun. “‘Gone with the Land’: Effects of Land Expropriation on Health and Subjective Well-Being in Rural China.” Health & Place 73: 102614. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102614. |
| 2021 | Zhao, Xiaohang, Lei Jin, and Skylar Biyang Sun. “The Bidirectional Association Between Physical and Cognitive Function Among Chinese Older Adults: A Mediation Analysis.” The International Journal of Aging and Human Development 92(2): 240–63. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091415020940214. |
| 2021 | Jin, Lei, and Chenyu Ye. “The Chinese Health Care System.” In The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology, edited by William C. Cockerham. Wiley-Blackwell. |
| 2020 | Zhao, Xiaohang, Lei Jin, and Skylar Biyang Sun. “The Bidirectional Association Between Physical and Cognitive Function Among Chinese Older Adults: A Mediation Analysis.” The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, July 17, 2020, 0091415020940214. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091415020940214. |
| 2019 | Jin, Lei, Chenyu Ye, and Eric Fong. “Chapter 20. Sociology.” In Urban Health, edited by Sandro Galea, Catherine K Ettman, and David Vlahov. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. |
| 2019 | Jin, Lei, Tony Tam, and Lin Tao. “Well-off but Powerless? Status Incongruence and Psychological Well-Being in Contemporary China.” Social Science & Medicine 235 (August 1, 2019): 112345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.05.050. |
| 2017 | Jin, Lei. “Physician Autonomy and the Paradox of Rationalization: Clinical Pathways in China’s Public Hospitals.” Sociology of Development 3, no. 3 (September 1, 2017): 295–322. https://doi.org/10.1525/sod.2017.3.3.295. |
| 2016 | Jin, Lei. “Migration, Relative Deprivation, and Psychological Well-Being in China.” American Behavioral Scientist 60, no. 5–6 (February 26, 2016): 750–70. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764216632826. |
| 2015 | Jin, Lei, and Tony Tam. “Investigating the Effects of Temporal and Interpersonal Relative Deprivation on Health in China.” Social Science & Medicine 143 (October 2015): 26–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.08.014. |
| 2014 | Menchik, Daniel A., and Lei Jin. “When Do Doctors Follow Patients’ Orders? Organizational Mechanisms of Physician Influence.” Social Science Research 48, no. 0 (2014): 171–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.05.012. |
| 2014 | “China: Healthcare Delivery System” in The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior, and Society, edited by William C. Cockerham, Robert Dingwall and Stella Quah London: Wiley-Blackwell. |
| 2013 | Fan, JessieX, Ming Wen, Lei Jin, and Guixin Wang. “Disparities in Healthcare Utilization in China: Do Gender and Migration Status Matter?” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 34, no. 1 (2013): 52–63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-012-9296-1. |
| 2012 | Jin, Lei, Ming Wen, Jessie X. Fan, and Guixin Wang. “Trans-Local Ties, Local Ties and Psychological Well-Being among Rural-to-Urban Migrants in Shanghai.” Social Science & Medicine 75, no. 2 (2012): 288–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.03.014. |
| 2010 | Jin, Lei. “From Mainstream to Marginal? Trends in the Use of Chinese Medicine in China from 1991 to 2004.” Social Science & Medicine 71, no. 6 (2010): 1063–67. |
| 2010 | Wen, Ming, Jessie Fan, Lei Jin, and Guixin Wang. “Neighborhood Effects on Health among Migrants and Natives in Shanghai, China.” Health & Place 16, no. 3 (2010): 452–60. |
| 2010 | Jin, Lei, Felix Elwert, Jeremy Freese, and Nicholas Christakis. “Preliminary Evidence Regarding the Hypothesis That the Sex Ratio at Sexual Maturity May Affect Longevity in Men.” Demography 47, no. 3 (2010): 579–86. |
| 2009 | Jin, Lei, and Nicholas A. Chrisatakis. “Investigating the Mechanism of Marital Mortality Reduction: The Transition to Widowhood and Quality of Health Care.” Demography 46, no. 3 (2009): 605–25. |
| 2008 | Clever, Sarah L., Lei Jin, Wendy Levinson, and David O. Meltzer. “Does Doctor-Patient Communication Affect Patient Satisfaction with Hospital Care? Results of an Analysis with a Novel Instrumental Variable.” Health Services Research 43, no. 5, Part I (2008): 1505–19. |
| 2008 | Lei, Jin, Chin, Marshall H, Melinda L Drum, Morgan E. Shook, Elbert S. Huang, and David O Meltzer. “Variation in Treatment Preferences and Care Goals Among Older Patients With Diabetes and Their Physicians.” Medical Care 46:275-286. |
Courses
- SOCI 2004 Social Statistics
- SOCI 3237 Medical Sociology
- SOCI 6003 Advanced Statistical Analysis
- SOCI 6010 Guided Studies I
- SOCI 6020 Guided Studies II
Internal Services
Department
- Elected Member, Executive Committee
- Director, MA Programme
- Member, Graduate Studies Committee
- Executive Director & Leader of the Migration Cluster, Centre for Population Research
- Member, Department Academic Personnel Committee (DAPC)
Faculty
- Member, Research Committee
College
- Member, Student Wellness Working Group, Chung Chi College
- Member, Language Enhancement Task Group, Chung Chi College
University
- Adjunct Associate Professor, Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care
Professional/Community Services
- Editorial Board Member, Society and Mental Health
- Member, Women’s Health Research Taskforce
- External examiner, General Education Areas: Area C Society and Culture for our School of Humanities and Social Science, CUHK Shenzhen
last updated on 7 Nov 2025