Jennifer Ailshire

About

Jennifer Ailshire, PhD, is a Professor of Gerontology and Sociology at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, where she also serves as Associate Dean of Research and Associate Dean of International Programs and Global Initiatives. She holds the UPS Foundation Chair in Aging and Justice. Her research addresses questions at the intersections of social stratification, urban sociology, and the sociology of health and aging, with a focus on the importance of neighborhood environment and social relationships in determining health over the life course. Her work emphasizes gender, socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic inequality in health, and includes current projects on the links between air pollution and health in older adults, neighborhood determinants of racial and ethnic health disparities, and social factors associated with poor sleep. Dr. Ailshire is an affiliate of the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics and the USC Population Research Center, and she serves as co-director of several research centers and programs related to biodemography, aging, and health disparities. She is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and has received awards for mentoring from USC.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Psychology
• Psychiatry
• Medicine
• Political Science
• Gerontology
• Gender studies
• Developmental psychology
• Advertising
• Media studies

Selected publications

• Media trust and infection mitigating behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA

  BMJ Global Health · 2020 · 156 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented public health crisis. It is becoming increasingly clear that people's behavioural responses in the USA during this fast-changing pandemic are associated with their preferred media sources. The polarisation of US media has been reflected in politically motivated messaging around the coronavirus by some media outlets, such as Fox News. This resulted in different messaging around the risks of infection and behavioural changes necessary to miti…

  DOI

• COVID-19 Social Distancing Measures and Loneliness Among Older Adults

  The Journals of Gerontology Series B · 2021 · 74 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVES: In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, older adults are advised to follow social distancing measures to prevent infection. However, such measures may increase the risk of loneliness. The current study aimed to investigate (a) whether social distancing measures, particularly limiting close social interactions, are associated with loneliness among older adults, and (b) whether the association between social distancing measures and loneliness is moderated by so…

  DOI

• Measuring More Than Exposure: Does Stress Appraisal Matter for Black–White Differences in Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms Among Older Adults?

  Innovation in Aging · 2020-01-01 · 52 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Prior research and theory suggest that exposure to objectively stressful events contributes to mental health disparities. Yet, blacks report higher cumulative stress exposure than whites but lower levels of common psychiatric disorders. In order to understand why blacks bear disproportionate stress exposure but similar or better mental health relative to whites, we need to consider race differences in not only stress exposure, but also stress appraisal-how upsetting st…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Race Inequity in School Attendance Across the Jim Crow South and Its Implications for Black–White Disparities in Trajectories of Cognitive Function Among Older Adults

  The Journals of Gerontology Series B · 2022 · 37 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVES: Although education is a key determinant of cognitive function, its role in determining Black-White disparities in cognitive function is unclear. This may be due, in part, to data limitations that have made it difficult to account for systemic educational inequities in the Jim Crow South experienced by older cohorts, including differences in the number of days Black students attended school compared to their White counterparts or Black peers in better-funded southern states. We determ…

  DOI

• Religious Involvement and Cognitive Functioning at the Intersection of Race–Ethnicity and Gender Among Midlife and Older Adults

  The Journals of Gerontology Series B · 2021 · 35 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between religious involvement and cognitive functioning at the intersections of race-ethnicity and gender among midlife and older adults, and to determine if psychosocial factors help explain this relationship. METHOD: The sample included 14,037 adults aged 50+ from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We utilized measures from the HRS 2010 and 2012 Core interviews and Leave-Behind questionnaires and estimated our models using linear regression. RESUL…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant K99AG039528

  NIH · $176k · 2014

• Network on Life Course Health Dynamics and Disparities in 21st Century America Renewal

  NIH · $4.8M · 2014–2029

• University of Southern California Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementias (ADRD) Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (USC AD/ADRD RCMAR)

  NIH · $15.2M · 2012–2028

Frequent coauthors

• Eileen M. Crimmins

  University of Southern California

  80 shared

• Margarita Osuna

  University of Southern California

  26 shared

• Katrina M. Walsemann

  University of Maryland, College Park

  24 shared

• Jung Ki Kim

  University of Southern California

  19 shared

• Y Zhang

  Nanjing University

  18 shared

• Yeon Jin Choi

  Nongwoo Bio (South Korea)

  17 shared

• Lauren Brown

  University of Nevada, Reno

  16 shared

• Stephen Frochen

  Issues Research

  15 shared

Awards & honors

• Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America

Similar researchers at University of Southern California

• Pinchas Cohenh-104
• Sean Curranh-27