Dr Courtney Helfrecht

Profile

I am a biocultural anthropologist, broadly investigating how ecocultural contexts affect child development and health. My work in Ethiopia centers on stressors from the physical and social environments and the ways these impact nutritional status, biomarker patterning, and sociocultural development among Sidama agropastoralist children. In Alabama, my collaborative research centers on brain health and the impacts of participation in athletics on holistic measures of child health and well-being among adolescents attending Title 1 high schools around the state. I am also conducting research that investigates the effects of water pollutants (specifically, PFAS) on child health and development.

Research

Publications

• Helfrecht, C., & Dira, S.J. (2023). The Sidama model of human development. Human Nature, 34(2), 202-228.
• Helfrecht, C., Wang, H., Dira, S. J., DeAvila, D., & Meehan, C. L. (2023). DHEAS and nutritional status among Sidama, Ngandu, and Aka children: Effects of cortisol and implications for adrenarche. American Journal of Human Biology, 35(7), e23881. 
• Gall, B., Wang, H., Dira, S., & Helfrecht, C. (2022). Effects of family demographics and household economics on Sidama children’s nutritional status. Human Nature, 33(3), 304–328.
• Helfrecht, C., Roulette, J. W., Lane, A., Sintayehu, B., & Meehan, C. L. (2020). Life history and socioecology of infancy. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 173(4), 619–629. 
• Helfrecht, C., Hagen, E. H., DeAvila, D., Bernstein, R. M., Dira, S. J., & Meehan, C. L. (2018). DHEAS patterning across childhood in three sub-Saharan populations: Associations with age, sex, ethnicity, and cortisol. American Journal of Human Biology, 30(2), e23090. 
• Helfrecht, C., & Meehan, C. L. (2016). Sibling effects on nutritional status: Intersections of cooperation and competition across development. American Journal of Human Biology, 28(2). 
• Meehan, C. L., Helfrecht, C., & Quinlan, R. J. (2014). Cooperative breeding and Aka children’s nutritional status: Is flexibility key? American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 153(4), 513–525. 

Expertise