The following application details a program of research and training designed to provide the candidate with the knowledge, experience and skills necessary to meet her long-term goal of becoming an independent aging researcher. The candidate's short-term goal is to pursue the proposed program of training and research which will allow her to apply her training in social/health psychology and psychoneuroimmunology to address questions of how the social environment affects functioning and health in older adults. Proposed research will examine whether older adults' perceptions of usefulness and of making valued contributions to others affects cognitive and physical functioning and health outcomes, and the psychosocial, behavioral and biological mediators that may underlie such relationships. In addition, the psychosocial and sociodemographic factors that affect perceptions of social usefulness/value will be examined. These relationships will be examined over time in a nationally-representative, longitudinal study of adults and in a randomized trial of a volunteer intervention in older adults. Training and research activities will occur at the candidate's home institution (UCLA) and at collaborative research sites (University of Wisconsin-Madison, John Hopkins University). The proposed training program, including coursework and supervised tutorials, will provide the candidate with the theoretical, empirical and methodological knowledge and skills needed to carry out proposed research activities and to become an independent aging researcher. Together, proposed training and research activities will help the candidate develop into an aging researcher who will address how the social environment affects older adults' health, and who will examine the psychosocial, behavioral and biological pathways through which social factors affect functioning, morbidity and mortality outcomes in older adults. A greater understanding of the factors that affect older adults' perceptions of their social usefulness/value and the effects of these perceptions on their functioning and health may provide important knowledge as to factors which can have an impact on the health and healthcare spending of this sizable group in the US population. Knowledge derived from this research will also aid in the development of social interventions designed to capitalize on the wisdom, talent and time that older adults can draw on to serve, others, and the health benefits that older adults can derive from such service in return.
| Friedman, Esther M; Karlamangla, Arun S; Gruenewald, Tara L et al. (2015) Early life adversity and adult biological risk profiles. Psychosom Med 77:176-85 |
| Varma, Vijay R; Carlson, Michelle C; Parisi, Jeanine M et al. (2015) Experience Corps Baltimore: Exploring the Stressors and Rewards of High-intensity Civic Engagement. Gerontologist 55:1038-49 |
| Brooks, Kathryn P; Gruenewald, Tara; Karlamangla, Arun et al. (2014) Social relationships and allostatic load in the MIDUS study. Health Psychol 33:1373-81 |
| Gruenewald, Tara L; Karlamangla, Arun S; Hu, Perry et al. (2012) History of socioeconomic disadvantage and allostatic load in later life. Soc Sci Med 74:75-83 |
| Gruenewald, Tara L; Liao, Diana H; Seeman, Teresa E (2012) Contributing to others, contributing to oneself: perceptions of generativity and health in later life. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 67:660-5 |
| Seeman, Teresa; Gruenewald, Tara; Karlamangla, Arun et al. (2010) Modeling multisystem biological risk in young adults: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study. Am J Hum Biol 22:463-72 |
| Jung, Yunkyung; Gruenewald, Tara L; Seeman, Teresa E et al. (2010) Productive activities and development of frailty in older adults. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 65B:256-61 |
| Gruenewald, Tara L; Karlamangla, Arun S; Greendale, Gail A et al. (2009) Increased mortality risk in older adults with persistently low or declining feelings of usefulness to others. J Aging Health 21:398-425 |
| Gruenewald, Tara L; Seeman, Teresa E; Karlamangla, Arun S et al. (2009) Allostatic load and frailty in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 57:1525-31 |
| Gruenewald, Tara L; Mroczek, Daniel K; Ryff, Carol D et al. (2008) Diverse pathways to positive and negative affect in adulthood and later life: an integrative approach using recursive partitioning. Dev Psychol 44:330-43 |
