The @popassocamerica.bsky.social deadline is coming up on Sunday 📆 I welcome submissions to Session 708: Older Workers, Longer Working Lives, and Health. I look forward to reading your work in this area!

This is pretty crazy, study models millions of indirect hurricane deaths potentially driving/contributing to the life expectancy disparity in the US: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

COMMUNITY: All the other reasons flow from this reason. And, I think we all could use a bit more community these days.

This is a story of what happens when you have a weak social safety net, and years of failing to rein in housing costs and medical costs.

Socioeconomic Differences Among High Schools Drive Gap in College Outcomes About a quarter of graduates from high-poverty high schools earn a college degree within six years. Their peers at low-poverty schools complete at more than double that rate. https://bit.ly/4ntn0FC #EDUSky #AcademicSky

I'm always incredibly grateful when colleagues provide alternative suggestions for reviewers when they decline, but I cannot help but to think about this meme.

Workshop Alert! Creating an NIH Data Management and Sharing Plan with ICPSR Virtual Workshop – October 30, 2025, 10am-1pm EST Join ICPSR for a practical virtual workshop designed to help you navigate the requirements of the NIH’s DMS Policy. myumi.ch/y1NM1

I'm fairly obsessed with this new publication from Fingerman, Birditt, Fiori et al. on "fringeships" and the importance of weak ties. The full spectrum of friendship has been under-theorized, especially in social gerontology, and I'm happy to see work. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Caring for an older adult with dementia is a family and community affair - read more about our study here:

Can anyone tell me why every university talk takes place Tues. afternoon? As someone who has taught during that slot for more than a decade, it feels like I'm doomed to miss all the good stuff. Or, is this just a case of confirmation bias? Either way, event planners please sprinkle in a few Weds.

From 2019 to 2025, #Medicare Part D increased deductibles and coinsurance for brand-name drugs, potentially risking higher costs for beneficiaries spending less than the $2000 out-of-pocket limit in 2025. ja.ma/41Iz9OD#Medicare via @jamainternalmed.com

Okay let me avoid my deadlines by making a thread of the recommendations you all made to this verbal hiccup I made this morning:

We have a great set of @asadisability.bsky.social sessions this morning including this one! Make sure to stop by before you say goodbye to the Windy City #ASA2025

I really appreciated all of the presenters' insights and thoughts, but I really loved @jessicacalarco.com's comments about organizing around care work. Disability scholars and advocates have long pushed for a similar reframing.

Forty percent of Americans plan to get a Covid shot this fall -- of that, two-thirds are worried they won't be able to and/or that insurance won't cover it. Vaccine uptake is already low. Recent policy changes will only discourage vaccination more, and it will cost lives. www.kff.org/health-infor...

I've been collecting examples of when AI goes wrong so that I can inform students of its shortcomings and explain why I am not allowing it in my courses. Here's another one to add to the pile.

As if doing peer-reviews isn't already time consuming, now, I need to be a mind reader. Any guesses whether "5" or "1" indicates high importance?

Pumping Iron Is Their Secret to Aging Well via NYT Greysteel, a gym outside Detroit, teaches barbell lifting for older people. Some are well into their 80s and 90s. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/26/w...

The reality is that the only thing that can reduce homelessness, mental illness, and addiction is more housing, more investment in shelters, and building more mental health infrastructure. That’s it. You can’t address homelessness without houses and you can’t address illness without healthcare.

As a kid, I was on SNAP (aka food stamps, I remember when they still looked like Monopoly money) and Medicaid. I ate free lunch all through school. I believe that these programs are morally imperative, but, regardless of one's own values, they are simply good social, health, and economic policy.

Only 16% of US adults think that federal funding for scientific research done by universities should be decreased. The public wants and values scientific advancements.

Affecting 1 in 5 people, transportation insecurity is America's overlooked hardship. New research from Alexandra Murphy and @natashap.bsky.social uses the Transportation Security Index to provide insights on this prevalent challenge. #EconSky #PolicySky psc.isr.umich.edu/news/transpo...

🫂 #FamilyRelationship shape #RacialIdentity among #AfroCaribbean individuals. New #Socius study by Drs. Irby-Shasanmi, Hairston & Erving finds closeness builds solidarity; conflict divides U.S.-born and foreign-born. Read: doi.org/10.1177/2378...

An update to show the seismic crash in NIH funding. The left side shows NIH has issued almost no "new" awards since Trump took office. Even renewals (you receive a 5 year award, but each year they renew it), which should be mushed into the lines above it, is shockingly low.

We did an activity in my #Sociology of Aging & the Life Course class, where students had to use social media to analyze generational identities among cohorts. It was a fun activity, and the #GenX responses were just too good not to share. "Raised on hose water and neglect" belongs on a t-shirt

Hot off the press! Using data from the Health & Retirement study, we find that older adults with incarceration histories experience more social vulnerability (e.g., smaller social networks/more social isolation, less community integration, and more loneliness). doi.org/10.1093/gero...

Birth rates are falling in the U.S. and CPC Director Karen Benjamin Guzzo says most people wants kids but lack societal support to meet their ideal parenting vision. www.npr.org/2025/04/07/1...

As a sociology professor, this hits hard. I still sometimes use it.

Just as a friendly reminder, over 40% of Americans 65+ rely on Social Security for the majority of their income (SSA, 2025) Disabled workers also account for 11% of Social Security benefits (SSA, 2025) Social Security lifts more people out of poverty than any other program (Romig, CBPP, 2025)

I'm going to take a second to brag about my #Sociology capstone students. I created an assignment called "Structural Solutions for Structural Problems," where I asked them to share a successful, recent example of social change through claimsmaking. It was such an inspirational assignment to grade.

Self-promotion feels odd with so much chaos in the world, but I worked with two terrific students who deserve recognition. We find that educational polygenic scores are predictive of physical limitations among older adults with European ancestry, but not among those with African ancestry.

1/ I am seeing a lot of comments on the slashing of NIH support along the lines of “universities should just spend their huge endowments.” I’m the last person to cheer on the institutional stratification rising endowments have contributed to. But let me explain why this is not a solution.

I just added some new folks. Let's keep the momentum going. Please let me know if you would like to be added. #gerosky #gerontology #socialgerontology go.bsky.app/KnsmUGh

I know there is a lot happening in the world right now, but for those of you planning to attend #ASA2025, please consider your submitting your work to our @asadisability.bsky.social sessions. We need to highlight our work & find community now more than ever. Deadline 02/26. #Sociology #Disability

As Disability in Society section chair, I’m pleased to announce our call for awards! Please submit!

3️⃣ Incarceration & Cognitive Aging 🚔🧠 Prior incarceration predicts cognitive decline in later life. HRS data reveals lasting consequences. #Cognition #CriminalJustice #AgingHealth 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gero...

The International Sociological Association (ISA) deeply mourns the tragic passing of Michael Burawoy, a leading sociologist, Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley, and the 17th President of ISA. Michael was fatally struck in a hit-and-run accident on February 3rd. His loss is immeasurable.

Can any of my #sociology colleagues help me find some data/resources regarding vocational educ and declines in men enrolling in 4-yr universities? This is outside my area, but came up in class when we were discussing college enrollments? Does vocational education account for the gender differences?

I feel like there's been another uptick in folks joining. If you're someone who studies/is interested in social gerontology then this starter pack is for you! If you want to be added, then please let me know!! #gerontology #aging #socialgerontology

I really appreciate the recommendation of creating PA promoting living environments. People know they should move more, but environmental conditions make that incredibly challenging--especially in car-centric environments like the US.

🙌 Happy New Year, #JGSS community! 2025 = Volume 80 for our journal...representing 30 years of scholarship since 1995 as #JGSS. We're opening this year with our 1st issue featuring 4 research articles using U.S. & international-based datasets. #Gerontology 🔗 academic.oup.com/psychsocgero...

The times they are a-changin': Word's Grammar Check is trying to correct "data are" to "data is." I always liked "data is," but that habit was quickly dropped once I started submitting articles for peer review. Suffice it to say, reviewers were not a fan.

Excited to see the @asanews.bsky.social Section on Disability in Society has joined! Make sure to give them a follow.

“Staying alive is a lot of work for a disabled person in an ableist society” @sfdirewolf.bsky.social

Here's my attempt to start building up our social gerontology community. I *know* that I am missing folks, so please comment, and I'll add you. go.bsky.app/KnsmUGh

I would add create environments that enable older adults to 'move' We need to consider both individual and environmental determinants when assessing physical activity among older adults

In case anyone wants a masterclass in subheadings, look no further than Krieger's 2010 publication on asthma & housing SH1: Single-trigger interventions generally ineffective SH2: Single-component interventions also not very effective SH3: Multi-trigger, multi-component approaches more effective

🚨 New paper forthcoming in Demography 🚨 Drawing on the weathering hypothesis, we document staggering racialized gaps across 3 measures of biological aging, showing that these gaps are linked to inequities in life course social & economic exposures, inc wealth. read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...