Current Pilot Projects

Gender and Social Relations Across the Life Course in a Middle Eastern Cultural Context (Antonucci)
This study explores gender and social relations across the life course in the Middle Eastern context. The long-term goal is an R21 proposal to study social disparities in health in the U.S., Japan and Lebanon.

Historical Cause of Death Archive (Gutmann)
This project addresses establishing a publicly available archive of historical data on causes of death among the elderly.

Demographic Change and Living Arrangements of the Elderly: the Case of Brazil (Marteleto)
This project analyzes household data from 1976-2005 for changes in living arrangements in Brazil, a country with limited non-familial resources for the elderly.

HIV Testing and Care Among the Elderly (60+) in South Africa and Botswana (Snow)
This project has two separate components, with distinct budgets, that explore various factors associated with AIDS testing in Africa.

Subjective Life-Expectancy, Beliefs about HIV Transmission, and Long-term Planning (Thornton)
This is a project in Malawi to develop measures of subjective life expectancy comparable to those in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), and to study how randomized information about HIV transmission probabilities affects subjective life expectancy and subsequent savings and investment behavior.

Activities in Mid- and Late-Life: A New Lens on Disability (Verbrugge)
This project analyzes data from HRS CAMS (Consumption and Activities Mail Survey) data for 2001, 2003, and 2005 to understand the process of accommodating to disability over time.

The Impact of Depression and Cognitive Impairment on Enrollment in Medicare Part D (Zivin)
This project analyzes HRS data for planned and actual enrollment in Medicare D by potential beneficiaries, including those with cognitive and/or emotional impairments. Findings will help identify barriers that vulnerable older persons face in accessing prescription drug coverage.