Jeffrey E. Stokes, PhD

I am an interdisciplinary social and behavioral scientist specializing in aging, families, and health. I received my PhD in Sociology from Boston College, and am currently Department Head and Associate Professor of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut. Prior to this, I served as an Assistant / Associate Professor of Gerontology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and as Assistant Professor of Sociology at Illinois State University. I am also Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed academic journal Research on Aging.

My research program has received NIH/NIA funding, and focuses on the ramifications of intergenerational, marital, and social relationships for adults’ health and well-being in mid- and later-life. This includes analysis of dyadic associations between intimate partners’ perceptions of marital quality and mental health in later life, as well as effects of neighborhood age composition on adults’ well-being. I take a biopsychosocial approach to studying health, and have a particular interest in loneliness as a psychosocial mechanism linking social context, relationships, and structure to health and health disparities.

Current research topics of mine include: intimate partners’ loneliness as a risk factor for divorce/separation, widowhood, and mortality over time; recent cancer diagnosis and psychological resilience among older patients and their intimate partners; rural/urban disparities in loneliness and social isolation among the aging population; environmental and social determinants of cognitive decline and impairment; and experiences of discrimination and cardiovascular health among older couples.

To date I have published more than 70 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as The Gerontologist, Social Science Research, Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Social Sciences, Journal of Aging & Health, Aging & Mental Health, and Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. My forthcoming book The Cambridge Handbook of Relationships in Later Life (Cambridge University Press; Advances in Person Relationships Series) focuses on the diverse array of intimate, intergenerational, and social relationships older adults maintain, and the ways in which these vary across the globe.

For more information, see my CV. Find me on LinkedIn here.
Email: jeffrey.stokes@uconn.edu