Sponsored by the National Institute on Aging                                                                                                           November 24, 2009
Main page for MIDUS website
Information on MIDUS I
Information on MIDUS II
Products using the MIDUS Data
MIDUS Data
MIDUS Pilot Program
Findings From MIDUS Study
Other links of interest

Deborah S Carr

Deborah S Carr

Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
University of Wisconsin-Madison
carr@ssc.wisc.edu

Carr studies the impact of social roles, relationships, and contexts on psychological well-being among midlife and older adults. One strand of her research focuses on how work and family roles affect psychological well-being among members of different birth cohorts. A second strand of her research focuses on bereavement among older adults. She is particularly interested in how demographic, technological, and social/political changes affect end-of-life experiences of the dying and their families. She recently received a three-year grant from NIA to study end-of-life planning among older adults, and its implications for the well-being of dying patients and their families; this study uses data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. A third strand of her research focuses on the interpersonal consequences of stigma; using MIDUS data, she has explored the psychological consequences of stigmas including obesity, and singlehood.



Representative Publications
Jaffe, K.J., & Carr, D. (In Review)Body weight and perceived risk of chronic illness among American adults. Journal of Health & Social Behavior.

Pudrovska, T., & Carr, D. (2009). Age at first birth and fathers' subsequent health: Evidence from sibling and twin models. American Journal of Men's Health, 3(2), 104-115.

Carr, D.S., Jaffe, K., Friedman, M. (2008). Perceived Interpersonal Mistreatment Among Obese Americans: Do Race, Class,and Gender Matter? Obesity: Volume 2 Supplement 16, November 2008.
Click here to download this publication.

Carr, Deborah and Michael Friedman (2006). Body Weight and Interpersonal Relationships Social Psychology Quarterly, 69(2), 127-149..

Byrne, A., Carr, D. (2005). Caught in the Cultural Lag: The Stigma of Singlehood. Psychological Inquiry 16: 84-91.
Click here to download this publication.

Carr, Deborah and Michael Friedman (2005). Is Obesity Stigmatizing? Body Weight, Perceived Discrimination and Psychological Well-Being in the United States. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 46: 244-259.
Click here to download this publication.

Carr, Deborah, Randolph, Nesse, Camille, B. (2005). Spousal Bereavement in Late Life. Wortman (Eds.). New York: Springer Publishing.

Carr, Deborah. (2005). The Psychological Consequences of Midlife Men’s Social Comparisons with their Young Adult Sons. Journal of Marriage and Family 67: 240-50.

Carr, D. S. (2004). Psychological well-being across three cohorts: A response to shifting work-family opportunities and expectations? Work and well-being across three cohorts. In O.G. Brim, C.D. Ryff, & R.C. Kessler (Eds.), How healthy are we?: A national study of well-being at midlife (pp. 452-484). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Click here to download this publication.

Carr, Deborah (2004). Black/White Differences in Psychological Adjustment to Spousal Loss among Older Adults. Research on Aging 26(6): 591-622.

Carr, Deborah. (2004). The Desire to Date and Remarry Among Older Widows and Widowers. Journal of Marriage and Family 66: 1051-68.

Carr, Deborah. (2004). My Daughter Has a Career - I Just Raised Babies’: Women’s Intergenerational Social Comparisons. Social Psychology Quarterly 67(2): 132-54.

Carr, Deborah. (2004). Gender, Pre-Loss Marital Dependence and Older Adults’ Adjustment to Widowhood. Journal of Marriage and Family 66: 220-35.

Carr, Deborah. (2003). A ‘Good Death’ for Whom? Quality of Spouse’s Death and Psychological Distress among Older Widowed Persons. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 44(2): 215-32.

Carr, D. S. (2002). The psychological consequences of work-family tradeoffs for three cohorts of women and men. Social Psychology Quarterly, 65(2), 103-124.
Click here to download this publication.

Singer, B., Ryff, C. D., Carr, D., & Magee, W. J. (1998). Life histories and mental health: A person-centered strategy. In A. Raftery (Ed.), Sociological Methodology, 1998 (pp.1-51). Washington, D.C.: American Sociological Association.