Maxwell School News and Commentary
Filtered by: Aging
Childhood Speech Impairment and Dementia Risks Among US Older Adults
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.
See related: Aging, Health Policy, Mental Health, United States
Intergenerational Relationships and Family Support: Implications for Health and Wellbeing
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.
See related: Aging, Gender and Sex, Longevity, Parenting & Family, Race & Ethnicity, United States
Religious Change and Continuity Across Generations
See related: Aging, Canada, Europe, Parenting & Family, Religion, United States
Older Adults’ Descendants and Family Networks in the Context of Global Educational Expansion
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.
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.”
See related: Aging, China, Economic Policy
Estimated Pulse Wave Velocity Associated With Higher Risk of Dementia in Health and Retirement Study
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.
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.
See related: Aging, Child & Elder Care, Grant Awards, Longevity, Rural Issues, U.S. Health Policy, United States
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.”
See related: Aging, Child & Elder Care, Longevity, United States
Paid Leave Mandates and Care for Older Parents
“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.
See related: Aging, Child & Elder Care, U.S. Health Policy, United States
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.
See related: Aging, U.S. National Security, United States