Selected Funded Research by Theme
CDE’s overarching objective is to support and facilitate innovative and influential research and rigorous training in population science. Demographic research at CDE provides foundational information about the health and well-being of individuals, families, and groups, and the changing composition of the broader populations that they comprise. A selection of current and recently funded projects is below.
Families & Family Change
Funder: NIH/NICHD
Grant Number: R21HD118539
Principal Investigators: Martin Eiermann, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Christopher Wildman, Duke University
Summary: Addressing the health consequences of childhood maltreatment requires a deep and nuanced understanding of such consequences. Our research informs family-focused policy and targeted public health interventions by documenting the long-term health trajectories of formerly maltreated children and by disaggregating the health effects of maltreatment and foster care placement, each of which are regrettably common among American children.
Funder: MENTAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Principal Investigators: Allison Daminger, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Jessica Calarco, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Summary: Contemporary marriage ideals have moved in the direction of equality (Gerson 2011; Wong and Daminger 2024), yet different-gender relationships remain characterized by labor and power imbalances that favor men (England, Levine, and Mishel 2020; Perry, Jenkins and Gerstel 2020). Building on prior research showing that jokes can normalize racial and gender inequalities at the societal level (Ford, Wentzel, and Lorion 2001; Pérez 2017) and individual level (Ford 2000; Ford et al. 2008; Mallett, Ford, and Woodzicka 2016), we hypothesize that humor plays a key role in justifying and maintaining—but also, potentially, undermining—such inequalities within romantic relationships. We propose an interview study of approximately 100 different-gender couples to investigate three research questions: 1) How do couples use humor in their relationship to allocate resources, resolve conflicts, and solve problems? 2) How are couples’ various approaches to humor related to (in)equality and relationship satisfaction? 3) How do humor patterns vary by gender, race/ethnicity, and social class? Results from this research will provide novel insights regarding the mechanisms by which gendered status hierarchies are maintained in individual relationships and in society more broadly.
Funder: NIH
Grant Number: R21AG086923
Principal Investigators: Nick Martin, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Michel Guillot, University of Pennsylvania
Lawrence Wu, University of Pennsylvania
Summary: This proposed R21 will provide an innovative examination of the causal impact of the Covid-19 mortality shock in France and the United States by combining important developments in the formal demography of cohort survivorship with a novel cohort discontinuity causal identification strategy. Findings from this study will break new ground by providing evidence on the impact of Covid-19 on cohort mortality and the degree to which Covid-19 may have offset or reversed pre-pandemic improvements in cohort survival. Our proposed analyses of data for France and the United States will provide credible causal evidence relevant to ongoing mortality research and debates on racial disparities, health systems, pension schemes, and population dynamics.
Funder: NIH
Grant Number: R01HD112371
Principal Investigators: Marcy Carlson, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Paula Fomby, University of Pennsylvania
Peter Fallesen, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Summary: Changing fertility and mortality patterns influence the extent of generational overlap (i.e., shared lifetimes among family members). This is important because both children and elders benefit from intergenerational kin relationships and resource sharing, which may offset the need for public resources and potentially reduce inequality. In this project, we provide new data on generational overlap between grandparents and grandchildren, comparing the U.S. and Denmark and considering variation by socioeconomic status and across demographic sub-groups.
Health & Biodemography
Funder: NIH
Grant Number: R01AG078533
Principal Investigators: Eric Grodsky, University of Wisconsin–Madison
John Robert Warren, University of Minnesota
Chandra Muller, University of Texas, Austin
Summary: This project will transform our understanding of how, why, and for whom education shapes risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (AD/ADRD). Using new survey, biological, and MRI data collected from a uniquely valuable ongoing cohort study (The National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972), we will answer questions about (a) how and why education affects AD/ADRD risk; (b) the extent to which adult socioeconomic attainments mediate those effects; and (c) the extent to which racial and ethnic differences in the quality of and returns to education account for disparities in AD/ADRD risk. Our findings—as well as the data that we will disseminate widely—will inform efforts to use educational interventions to reduce AD/ADRD risk and narrow racial and ethnic disparities in cognitive functioning of future cohorts of older Americans.
Funder: NIH
Grant Number: U01AG058719
Principal Investigators: Eric Grodsky, University of Wisconsin–Madison
John Robert Warren, University of Minnesota
Chandra Muller, University of Texas, Austin
Summary: This project will transform our understanding of the implications of education for cognitive functioning, cognitive impairment, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD) and cognitive aging later in life. Using a unique prospective longitudinal data source (High School and Beyond), it will allow us to answer questions about (a) whether social and educational disparities by race/ethnicity in adolescence shape racial/ethnic disparities in cognitive impairment at midlife; (b) whether biological and social factors moderate the effects of education on cognitive functioning and impairment; and (c) the social and economic pathways through which those effects operate over the life course. Quantifying the magnitude of the effects of education on cognitive functioning and impairment will inform efforts to use educational and other interventions to improve the midlife cognitive functioning of future cohorts of Americans.
Economic Demography
Funder: UW-Madison, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.
Principal Investigators: Nick Martin, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Max Besbris, University of Wisconsin–Madison
This UW-Madison cross-campus team is developing a novel framework to better measure the immediate economic impact of flood events on households. By merging high-resolution satellite and meteorological data with real-time consumer spending metrics, the project will map out precisely how climate disasters disrupt daily economic life. Ultimately, the team aims to build advanced economic risk models that will help the insurance industry accurately price climate risks and enable governments to design more effective, targeted post-disaster aid. The I3 award, worth $249,917, is funded by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.
Team members include:
Nick Mark, Department of Sociology; Max Besbris, Department of Sociology; Megan Bea, School of Human Ecology; Beth Tellman, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies; Jonathan Sullivan; Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment; Philip Molder, Wisconsin School of Business.
Funder: NSF
Principal Investigators: Theodore Gerber, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Summary: The project investigates how war-induced relocation affects the professional, social, and civic life of physicians. Through a case study approach, this research examines the factors that facilitate or hinder their continuation of medical practice, integration into the host region, and participation in civic life when physicians are relocated. By understanding these dynamics, the study aims to enhance scientific understanding of how highly-skilled professionals displaced by war can contribute to their host regions and whether shared professional or civic identities help overcome war-induced divisions.
Spatial Demography
Funder: NIH
Grant Number: 5P30AG059301-08
Principal Investigators: Weidi Qin, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Department of Sociology
Summary: Older Mexican Americans face distinct cognitive health challenges, experiencing a higher prevalence of cognitive decline (11.4%) compared to non-Hispanic White individuals (9.3%). As this population is projected to grow rapidly from 54 million in 2019 to 94.7 million by 2060, understanding the connection between cognitive decline and functional disability is critical. This innovative study aims to fill an important knowledge gap by examining the long-term, dual trajectories of both functional disability and cognitive decline in this community. Ultimately, by uncovering these complex relationships through robust statistical modeling, this project aims to inform culturally responsive, community-level interventions that promote healthy aging in place.
Funder: USDA
Grant Number: 2023-67023-40054
Principal Investigators: Katherine Curtis, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Summary: The economies of rural America continue to lag those in metropolitan areas with many experiencing significant hardship. Identifying the attributes of rural economies that explain why they lag their urban counterparts, and the characteristics that cause some rural areas to flourish while others flounder are critically important areas of research. The economic performance of a rural area is intimately connected to economic activity in the upstream and downstream sectors linked to businesses located there. Although some may be located in rural places, many will be in urban areas. Thus, rural economic development policy that ignores urban areas is incomplete. This project seeks to use federal administrative microdata through an approved FSRDC program to construct a new place typology based on supply-chain connectedness. This approach will overcome recognized shortcomings in existing typologies that define rural as the residual, non-urban category, or apply geographic aggregations that combine define rural areas within urban counties as urban. We will measure the economic isolation of rural areas, evaluate how isolation affects economic performance, and how the economic activity in urban cores is related to economic performance in their hinterlands. We will also examine spatial heterogeneity in these relationships based on the demographic profiles of both rural units and urban cores.
Reproductive Health
Funder: NIH
Grant Number: R01HD102207
Principal Investigators: Christine Durrance, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Jenna Nobles, University of California, Berkeley
Summary: Conception failure and miscarriage affect millions of U.S. couples each year. This research uses new georeferenced data on pre-pregnancy and early pregnancy for 4 million U.S. women to provide the first evidence on individual, family, ecological, and policy factors that reduce the risk of early pregnancy failure.