Karen Fingerman

About

Karen Fingerman is the Sonia Wilson Professor of Human Development & Family Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the Director of the Texas Aging and Longevity Consortium and the Research Director of the NIA-funded Center on Aging and Population Sciences. Her research focuses on socioemotional development across adulthood, examining social and emotional aspects of aging, and assessments in daily life. She has conducted extensive research on parents and children, in-law ties, romantic partners, grandparents and grandchildren, friends, and peripheral social ties. Dr. Fingerman has contributed significantly to understanding social relationships and emotional well-being in later life, utilizing ecologically valid methodologies such as EMA surveys, tactical measurements of physical activity, and Electronically Activated Recorders. Her work has been funded by the National Institute on Aging, the Brookdale Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and others. She has published nearly 200 papers and chapters, and her research includes studies on caregivers for older adults with Lewy Body Dementia, young adults providing care to aging relatives, and the impact of technology on social connection in late life. She has received numerous awards for her research and mentorship, including the Baltes Award for Distinguished Research Achievement in Psychology and Aging from the American Psychological Association in 2022.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychology
• Political Science
• Social psychology
• Gerontology
• Social Science
• Virology
• Sociology
• Psychiatry
• Computer Science

Selected publications

• When Going Digital Becomes a Necessity: Ensuring Older Adults’ Needs for Information, Services, and Social Inclusion During COVID-19

  Journal of Aging & Social Policy · 2020 · 345 citations

  Older adults are in triple jeopardy during COVID-19: compared with younger people, older adults are (1) more likely to develop serious conditions and experience higher mortality; (2) less likely to obtain high quality information or services online; and (3) more likely to experience social isolation and loneliness. Hybrid solutions, coupling online and offline strategies, are invaluable in ensuring the inclusion of vulnerable populations. Most of these solutions require no new inventions. Findin…

  DOI

• Age Differences in Stress, Life Changes, and Social Ties During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Psychological Well-Being

  The Gerontologist · 2020 · 236 citations

  BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Experiences of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its implications for psychological well-being may vary widely across the adult life span. The present study examined age differences in pandemic-related stress and social ties, and links with psychological well-being. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Participants included 645 adults (43% women) aged 18-97 (M = 50.8; SD = 17.7) from the May 2020 nationally representative Survey of Consumers. Participants re…

  DOI

• Living Alone During COVID-19: Social Contact and Emotional Well-being Among Older Adults

  The Journals of Gerontology Series B · 2020 · 166 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVE: The COVID-19 outbreak and associated physical distancing measures altered the social world for most older adults, but people who live alone may have been disproportionately affected. The current study examined how living alone was associated with daily social contact and emotional well-being among older adults during the pandemic. METHOD: Adults (N = 226) aged 69+ completed a brief survey assessing their living situation, social contact with different social partners (in person, by ph…

  DOI

• Intergenerational Relationships and Family Support: Evidence for Health and Well-Being in Studies Supported by the National Institute on Aging

  The Gerontologist · 2025-01-09 · 7 citations

  review

  BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This review summarizes research projects supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) that have contributed scholarship on intergenerational relationships and support provided to older adults that frequently precedes, and is often complementary to, intensive caregiving. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We review NIA-supported projects that have almost exclusively focused on intergenerational relationships and involved primary data collections, and others making use o…

  PublisherDOI

• Young Adult Caregivers for Older Family Members: Setting a New Research Agenda

  Innovation in Aging · 2024-12-26 · 5 citations

  reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Young adults (approximately aged 18 to 29) are frequently involved in caring for older relatives, potentially filling gaps and playing key roles in the network of caregivers. The time is ripe to synthesize the emerging literature on this topic and propose an agenda for future research. This article identifies key questions for research that will propel the field forward, including: (a) why young adult caregiving warrants distinct consideration from caregiving in midlife or later life, (b) young…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R03AG014484

  NIH · $67k · 1999

• NIH Grant R01AG017916

  NIH · $1.3M · 2006

• Communication and Dissemination Core

  NIH · $7.4M · 2020–2027

Frequent coauthors

• Bob G. Knight

  University of Southern Queensland

  196 shared

• Zachary Gassoumis

  University of Southern California

  190 shared

• Judy Howe

  National Institute on Aging

  186 shared

• Robert Hudson

  184 shared

• Brian Carpenter

  Washington University in St. Louis

  181 shared

• Amy Fiske

  West Virginia University

  180 shared

• Rachel Pruchno

  Rowan University

  160 shared

• Stephen B. Kritchevsky

  Wake Forest University

  158 shared

Awards & honors

• Baltes Award for Distinguished Research Achievement in Psych…
• BSS Distinguished Mentorship in Gerontology Award from the G…
• CNS Teaching Excellence Award (2020)
• Faculty Teaching Award from the Diversity and Inclusion comm…

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