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Maxwell School News and Commentary

Filtered by: Aging

Childhood Speech Impairment and Dementia Risks Among US Older Adults

Haowei Wang, Shu Xu, Yalian Pei

In this study, Assistant Professor of Sociology Haowei Wang and co-authors investigate how the experience of speech problems before age 16 are associated with the risk of dementia among older adults aged 50 and older. Published in Innovation in Aging.

January 24, 2025

Intergenerational Relationships and Family Support: Implications for Health and Wellbeing

Merril Silverstein, Karen L Fingerman, J Jill Suitor

In this review, Professor and Chair of Sociology Merril Silverstein and co-authors summarize research projects supported by the National Institute on Aging that have contributed scholarship on intergenerational relationships and support provided to older adults that frequently precedes, and is often complementary to, intensive caregiving. Published in The Gerontologist.

January 13, 2025

Religious Change and Continuity Across Generations

Merril Silverstein, Christel Gärtner, Maria T. Brown
Merril Silverstein, Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor of Aging Studies and chair of sociology, has edited and contributed chapters to “Religious Change and Continuity Across Generations: Passing on Faith in Families of Six European and North American Nations” (Lexington Books, 2024).
December 19, 2024

Older Adults’ Descendants and Family Networks in the Context of Global Educational Expansion

Rachel Margolis, Mara Getz Sheftel, Haowei Wang, Raeven Faye Chandler, Lauren Newmyer, Ashton M. Verdery

In this paper, Haowei Wang and co-authors examine the socioeconomic bifurcation of adults in midlife and beyond in terms of the existence of descendants and other kin. Published in Population and Development Review.

November 27, 2024

See related: Aging, Child & Elder Care

Silverstein Talks to NPR About China’s Economy Adapting to Serve the Aging Population

Professor of Sociology Merril Silverstein, who studies how infrastructure development is increasingly geared towards an older society in China, says, “Those in more developed villages have less aging anxiety about whether their needs will be met, whether they'll be, you know, happy or not as they get older.”

November 19, 2024

See related: Aging, China, Economic Policy

Estimated Pulse Wave Velocity Associated With Higher Risk of Dementia in Health and Retirement Study

Kevin S. Heffernan, Janet M. Wilmoth, Andrew S. London

In this study, co-authors sociologists Janet Wilmoth and Andrew London, find that ePWV may be a novel research tool and biomarker of vascular aging that can be used in large, population-representative studies to examine cognitive aging and dementia risk. Published in the American Journal of Hypertension.

October 24, 2024

See related: Aging

NIA Awards $3.8 Million for Maxwell Sociologists’ Health and Longevity Research Networks

Research networks led by Jennifer Karas Montez and Shannon Monnat will use two five-year grant renewals to study adult health and aging trends in the United States.

September 11, 2024

Silverstein Discusses Elder Care and Stepfamilies in New York Times Article

As parents age, “there’s a lot of negotiation and uncertainties,” says Merril Silverstein, Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor in Aging. “Who has the right to make decisions for stepparents becomes murky.” Such families can experience what’s called “role ambiguity,” he says, creating doubts about “what the social expectations are.”

August 12, 2024

Paid Leave Mandates and Care for Older Parents

Kanika Arora, Douglas A. Wolf

“Paid Leave Mandates and Care for Older Parents,” co-authored by Douglass Wolf, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs, was published in The Milbank Quarterly.

July 12, 2024

McFate Weighs In on the US Military’s Recruiting Problems in Boston Globe Article

“There was a time when people felt that the military didn’t need women, or certain racial minorities. I think we need to be a lot more open-minded about our approach to age as a number,” says Sean McFate, adjunct professor in Maxwell's Washington programs.

July 9, 2024

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