Elaine Wethington Associate Professor / Co-Director BLCC/Director of Undergraduate Studies 2009 HD
Web Bio Page
Current Activities
Current Professional Activities Co-Principal Investigator and Pilot Study Director, Cornell University Edward R. Roybal Center (Weill-Ithaca collaboration) Co-Principal Investigator, Center for Behavioral Interventions to Prevent Obesity (Weill-Ithaca collaboration) Member, American Sociological Association, Gerontological Society of America, and American Public Health Association
Current Research Activities
Wethington collaborates with colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie-Mellon University to develop new technologies for measuring psychosocial stress exposure. The project is funded by the Exposure Biology program of the Genes, Environment and Health Initiative, National Institutes of Mental Health. Wethington also maintains ongoing projects that relate to the important question of how the accumulation of stressors over time affects mental and physical health; the National Experiences in Midlife project, funded by the MacArthur Research Network on Successful Midlife Development, developed new instruments to assess daily stressor exposure. Wethington also is collaborating with faculty in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, Applied Economics and Management, and Weill Cornell Medical College on interventions to reduce obesity among low income working adults.
Biography
Biographical Statement Wethington is a medical sociologist, jointly appointed in the Departments of Human Development and of Sociology. Her research interests are in the areas of stress, protective mechanisms of social support, and translational research methods. Three current interests frame her work: 1) developing measures for longitudinal studies of the impacts of life events, chronic difficulties, and their accumulation on changes in mental and physical health: 2) the health impacts of work and family demands during adulthood; 3) translating basic research on social isolation and social integration to improve the health and well-being of older people.
Education A.B. 1972 - Indiana University, Bloomington, History
M.A. 1975 - University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, History
Ph.D. 1987 - University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Sociology
Administrative Responsibilities Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Human Development
Keywords Medical sociology, Adulthood and aging, Gerontology, Sociology of mental health, Translational research
Courses, Websites, Pubs
Courses Taught HD/SOC 2510, Introduction to Social Gerontology HD3570/SOC3670, Social Inequalities in Physical and Mental Health HD/SOC 4570, Health and Social Behavior HD 6510, Seminar on Interdisciplinary Community-Based Scientific Research in Health Disparities
Selected Publications Wethington, Elaine and Wendy L. Johnson-Askew.2009.“Contributions of the Life Course Perspective to Research on Food
Decision-making.”Annals of Behavioral Medicine 38(Suppl. 1):S74-S80.
Sutin, Angelina R., Paul T.
Costa, Elaine Wethington, and William W. Eaton.Forthcoming. “Turning Points and Lessons Learned: Stressful Life Events
and Personality Trait Development across Middle Adulthood.” Psychology and Aging.
Ganzel, Barbara, Pamela Morris,
and Elaine Wethington.2010.“Allostasis and the Human Brain:Integrating Models of Stress from the Social
and Life Sciences.”Psychological Review 117:134-174.
Sabir, Myra, Elaine Wethington, Risa Breckman, Rhoda
Meador, M. Carrington Reid, and Karl Pillemer.2009.“A Community-Based
Participatory Critique of Social Isolation Intervention Research for
Community-Dwelling Older Adults.”Journal of Applied Gerontology 28:218-234.
Evans, Gary W., Elaine Wethington, Meredith Coleman, Margo Worms, and
Edward A. Frongillo. 2008. “Income Health Inequalities among Older
Persons: The Mediating Role of Multiple Risk Exposures.” Journal of
Aging and Health 20:107-25.
Wethington, Elaine, Risa Breckman, Rhoda Meador, Mark S. Lachs, M. Carrington Reid, Myra Sabir, and Karl A. Pillemer. 2007. “The CITRA Pilot Studies Program: Mentoring Translational Research.” The Gerontologist 47:845-50.
Wethington, Elaine and Karl A. Pillemer. 2007. “Translating Basic Research into Community Practice: The Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging (CITRA).” Forum on Public Policy Online. (http://www.forumonpublicpolicy.com Winter 2007).
Sabir, Myra, Risa Breckman, Rhoda Meador, Elaine Wethington, M. Carrington Reid, and Karl A. Pillemer. 2006. “The CITRA Research-Practice Consensus Workshop Model: Exploring a New Method of Research Translation in Aging.” The Gerontologist 46:833-39.
Devine, Carol M., Margaret Jastran, Jennifer A. Jabs, Elaine Wethington, Tracy J. Farrell, and Carole A. Bisogni. 2006. “ 'A Lot of Sacrifices:' Work-Family Spillover and the Food Choice Coping Strategies of Low Wage Employed Parents.” Social Science and Medicine 63:2591-603.
Wethington, Elaine. 2005. “The Life Course Perspective on Health: Implications for Health and Nutrition.” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 37:115-120.
Almeida, D., Wethington, E., & Kessler, R. C. (2002). The Daily Inventory of Stressful Events (DISE): An Investigator-Based Approach for Measuring Daily Stressors. Assessment, 9: 41-55
Wethington, E. (2002). The Relationship of Work Turning Points to Perceptions of Psychological Growth and Change. Advances in Life Course Research: New Frontiers in Socialization 7: 111-131