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Wolfpack Writers: Rebecca Colby

Wolfpack Writers: Threa Almontaser

Wolfpack Writers: Danielle Fuentes Morgan

Ready, Set, Action!

Game On!

Area(s) of Expertise

I am currently an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at North Carolina State University. My research focuses on aging and the life course, family demography, medical sociology, and social stratification and inequality. Leveraging national representative surveys, administrative records, and spatial data, I apply advanced quantitative methods to address theoretically driven questions from life-course, intersectional, and comparative perspectives.

My ongoing projects explore two interconnected lines. The first line examines how family experiences, particularly kinlessness and bereavement, shape health and well-being across the life course. My second line investigates how environmental contexts, such as community violence and place-based social institutions, shape family formation and population health. Both lines draw on data from the United States, China, and Mexico and aim to advance our understanding of health disparities across social contexts.

Publications

• “Kinlessness”, friend and family support, and cognitive function by region and urbanicity in the United States , Health & Place (2026)
• An epidemic of social isolation? Age and cohort trends of social connectedness among older adults, 2004–2018 , Social Science Research (2025)
• Racial-Ethnic Disparities in Dyadic Pregnancy Intentions Preceding Births in the United States , Population Research and Policy Review (2024)
• Racial/ethnic differences in living arrangements, distant relations, and later‐life mental health , Journal of Marriage and the Family (2024)
• Race/Ethnicity, Nativity, and Gender Disparities in Mental Health Trajectories from Mid- to Later-Life: A Life Course-Intersectional Approach , Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2023)
• Intergenerational Caregiving Patterns, Living Arrangements, and Life Satisfaction of Adults in Mid and Later Life in China , Research on Aging (2021)

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