About

Mark D. Hayward is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, holding the Centennial Commission Professorship in the Liberal Arts. His research focuses on the life course origins of health disparities, morbidity, and mortality, with a particular emphasis on biodemography. His work explores how various social, biological, and environmental factors across the lifespan influence health outcomes and contribute to disparities.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Demography
• Medicine
• Political Science
• Economics
• Environmental health
• Computer Science
• Demographic economics
• Geography
• Data Mining
• Economic growth
• Regional science
• Cartography
• Development economics
• Law
• Public economics
• Pediatrics
• Social psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Gerontology
• Psychology
• Family medicine
• Nursing

Selected publications

• How Does the Risk of Dementia Change With Each Additional Year of Education?

  Demography · 2025-09-23

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The risk of dementia is considerably lower among persons with a high educational attainment level than among less educated persons. This association has been documented across countries, cohorts, and populations. However, several questions remain unanswered. What is the rate of decline in dementia risk associated with additional education? Does the rate of decline with additional education differ across the education distribution? Are there key points in the education distribution that demark changes in the association, such as completing high school? Using the 2000-2018 Health and Retirement Study, we use a functional form approach to evaluate how dementia risk changes with each year of education among non-Hispanic White and Black older adults. We observe a linear decline in dementia incidence with increasing years of educational attainment, both before and after 12 years of education. This pattern is consistent across population subgroups. Additionally, dementia risk displays a step-change decline at 12 years of education, but this reduction is observed primarily among men and White adults. These findings underscore the significance of educational exposure in understanding population differences in dementia risk and future changes in the burden of dementia in the population.

  PublisherDOI

• Offspring education and parents’ cognitive health: nativity differences among older Hispanic adults

  The Gerontologist · 2025-09-13 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Studies that examine the correlates of cognitive health among U.S. Hispanic older adults have not sufficiently explored the role of offspring resources. Given recent evidence of the importance of offspring education for older parents' cognitive health, this study assesses whether the relationship between offspring education and Hispanic parents' cognitive trajectories varies by nativity status. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Data come from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (2000-2018). Multilevel models are used to evaluate the relationship between adult children's college education and parents' cognitive trajectories for Hispanic parents over age 50. We also determine whether the link between offspring schooling and parents' cognitive trajectories differs in magnitude for foreign- versus native-born parents. RESULTS: The results show that offspring college completion is associated with Hispanic parents' initial cognitive scores, but not parents' cognitive score trajectories. Moreover, the cognitive health of native-born parents is more sensitive to children's college completion than that of foreign-born parents. These results are robust to controls for certain explanatory pathways, including offspring social support to parents, parents' depressive symptoms, and parents' health behaviors. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Children's educational resources remain a hidden source of health disparities among older parents. Although our findings confirm this general relationship for older Hispanic adults' cognitive health, significant diversity within the Hispanic community also suggests that children's resources may play different roles for native- versus foreign-born parents. Future research is needed to clarify how nativity status and ethnicity jointly shape the relationship between family members' resources and older adult cognitive health.

  PublisherDOI

• Offspring Educational Disadvantage and Parents’ Dementia Onset: Does the Educational Success of One Child Moderate the Educational Disadvantage of Another?

  The Journals of Gerontology Series B · 2025-02-22 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  OBJECTIVES: A growing body of research examines how adult children's education influences older parents' cognitive health. Whereas prior studies tend to focus on educational advantage, this study seeks to understand how various measures of educational disadvantage are associated with parents' dementia likelihood. In addition, we ask how the risks associated with one child's educational disadvantage are shaped by a sibling's educational success. METHODS: Using data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (2000-2018) and event history analyses, comparisons are made between measures of offspring educational disadvantage and their relationships with parents' risk of dementia onset. In addition, analyses are conducted to understand whether the link between one child's educational disadvantage and parental dementia onset is influenced by a sibling's educational advantage. RESULTS: Educational disadvantage is associated with an increased risk of parental dementia onset, with a threshold measure for whether a parent had at least one child without a high school education providing the best model fit for the data. Moreover, the heightened risks associated with one child's educational disadvantage are not offset by another sibling's educational success. DISCUSSION: Children's educational deficits are a hidden source of health disparities among older parents. Although scholars in recent years have rightly focused on the importance of offspring education, more attention should be paid to conceptualizing how educational disadvantage matters for parents and how the educational attainment of each child shapes parents' cognitive health.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Impacts of COVID-19-era economic policies on consumer debt in the United Kingdom

  Journal of Economics and Business · 2024-02-28 · 2 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• The importance of education for understanding variability of dementia onset in the United States

  Demographic Research · 2024-04-08 · 10 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  BACKGROUND: Greater levels of education are associated with lower risk of dementia, but less is known about how education is also associated with the compression of dementia incidence. OBJECTIVE: We extend the literature on morbidity compression by evaluating whether increased levels of education are associated with greater dementia compression. We evaluate these patterns across race and gender groups. METHODS: We use the Health and Retirement Study (2000-2016), a nationally representative longitudinal study of older adults in the United States. To evaluate the onset and compression of dementia across education groups, we examine the age-specific distribution of dementia events, identifying the modal age of onset and the standard deviation above the mode (a measure of compression). RESULTS: While the modal age of onset is around 85 years among adults with a college degree, the modal age for adults with less than a high school education occurs before age 65 - at least a 20-year difference. The standard deviation of dementia onset is about three times greater for adults with less than a high school education compared to adults with a college degree. Patterns were consistent across race and gender groups. CONCLUSION: This research highlights the variability of dementia experiences in the older population by documenting differences in longevity without dementia and compression of dementia onset among more educated adults and less educated adults. CONTRIBUTION: We incorporate conceptual insights from the life span variability and compression literature to better understand education-dementia disparities in both the postponement and uncertainty of dementia onset in the US population.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Racial/Ethnic differences in inflammation levels among older adults 56+: an examination of sociodemographic differences across inflammation measure

  Biodemography and Social Biology · 2024-04-02 · 10 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  OBJECTIVE: Chronic inflammation is a key biological risk factor for many widespread adult health conditions. This study examines racial/ethnic differences in inflammation across several inflammatory markers, including selected cytokines that are identified as important for aging and age-related health outcomes. METHODS: Data came from the 2016 Venous Blood Collection Subsample of the Health and Retirement Study. Using logistic regression models, we compared high-risk categories of C-reactive protein and cytokine markers (IL-6, IL-10, IL-1RA, TNFR1, and TGF-Beta), across race/ethnicity and whether these differences persisted among men and women. RESULTS: The findings provided evidence of significant race/ethnic differences in inflammatory measures, but the patterns differed across marker types. CONCLUSIONS: These findings emphasize that race/ethnic differences are not consistently captured across markers of inflammation and that researchers should proceed with caution when using individual markers of inflammation in an effort to not overlook potential racial/ethnic differences in biological risk.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• EXAMINING THE ROLE OF SOUTHERN CONTEXT FOR DEMENTIA, DISABILITY, AND MORTALITY AMONG OLDER US BLACKS AND WHITES

  Innovation in Aging · 2024-12-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Racial inequalities in older adult health are well-documented. Compared to Whites, Blacks have greater risks of disability, dementia, multimorbidity and mortality. These differences in age-related health are paralleled by race differences in context. In particular, approximately 80% of older Blacks were born in Jim Crow South no matter where they currently live compared to 30% percent of older Whites. In the United States, the U.S. South has historically structured the life course experiences of Black and White older adults differently through legalized racial segregation. As a result, the role of association of Southern context with later life health risks is expected to differ substantially across the groups. We focus on three critical dimensions of population health to better understand the role of context for race difference in health – cognitive and physical functioning as well as mortality. Drawing on the Health and Retirement study from 2000-2016, we estimate a series of hazard models for each of the health outcomes separately for each race group. This approach promises new insights into the role of context for within-group variation in the health outcomes as well as for potential between-group differences for each specific outcome. Whereas for Whites Southern birth regardless of residence was associated with increased risk across all three conditions, for Black older adults we found more heterogeneity. Those who were born and lived in the South had the highest risk of dementia. Southern residence was associated with an increased risk of mortality, but its effect was ambiguous for risk of disability.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Barriers and facilitators to perinatal care of women with disabilities in lower- and middle-income countries: a study protocol for scoping review of qualitative studies

  BMJ Open · 2024-06-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: The Sustainable Development Goals have put emphasis on equitable healthcare access for marginalised groups and communities. The number of women with disabilities (WWD) to marry and have children is rapidly increasing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, these women experience multifaceted challenges to seeking perinatal care in LMICs. The objective of this scoping review is to document key facilitators and barriers to seeking perinatal care by WWD. We also will propose strategies for inclusive perinatal healthcare services for women with disabilities in LMICs. METHODS: We will conduct a scoping review of peer-reviewed and grey literature (published reports) of qualitative and mixed-methods studies on facilitators and barriers to seeking perinatal care for women with functional disabilities from 2010 to 2023 in LMICs. An electronic search will be conducted on Medline/PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar databases. Two researchers will independently assess whether studies meet the eligibility criteria for inclusion based on the title, abstract and a full-text review. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This scoping review is based on published literature and does not require ethics approval. Findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at conferences related to reproductive health, disability and inclusive health forums.

  PublisherDOI

• The role of Southern context in shaping life course exposures linked to dementia incidence for Black and White older adults in the United States

  BMC Geriatrics · 2024-11-11 · 7 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  While racial inequities in dementia risk are well-documented in the United States, research has paid less attention to role of US Southern context in shaping dementia risk through life course exposures. In this study, we examine how Southern birth and Southern residence in adulthood are linked to dementia incidence for Black and White older adults in the United States. Using the Health and Retirement Study (N = 15,613), we estimate a series of hazard models to evaluate how life course risk factors such as childhood health and social disadvantage, education, adult socioeconomic status, health behaviors, and cardiometabolic conditions impact the association between Southern life course residency and dementia risk. We find different patterns in how Southern life course context shapes dementia risk among Black and White adults, with dementia risk among Blacks especially sensitive to combinations of Southern life course context. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering potential heterogenous life course pathways to cognitive aging and health that may be shaped by larger socio-historical experiences.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Interview with Leslie Mezei

  McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks · 2023-11-15

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01AG004915

  NIH · $502k · 1989

• Center for Advancing Sociodemographic and Economic Study of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (CeASES-ADRD)

  NIH · $8.8M · 2020–2026

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

  NIH · $4.8M · 2014–2029

• NIH Grant P30HD028263

  NIH · $6.4M · 2001

• Population Research Center

  NIH · $11.5M · 2002–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Eileen M. Crimmins

  University of Southern California

  30 shared

• Carlos F. Mendes de Leon

  Georgetown University

  25 shared

• Susan A. Everson‐Rose

  University of Minnesota

  25 shared

• Lisa L. Barnes

  Rush University Medical Center

  25 shared

• Robert S. Wilson

  Rush University Medical Center

  25 shared

• Denis A. Evans

  25 shared

• Jennifer Karas Montez

  Syracuse University

  23 shared

• Anna Zajacova

  16 shared

Labs

• Immigration StudiesPI