Research Snapshots
These are research highlights taken from our newsletter, the Life Course Ledger. Sign up to receive the LCC's monthly newsletter by emailing [email protected].
Former LCC Director Phyllis Moen recognized for a career studying work, life course, and occupational impacts on health
Former Life Course Center Director, Phyllis Moen, was recently awarded the 2026 American Sociological Association Section on Organizations, Occupation, and Work’s Rosabeth Moss Kanter Distinguished Career Award.
Sarah Flood recognized for advancing public data access and “demystifying” time diary data
LCC Director Sarah Flood and her collaborators Melissa Milkie and Liana Sayer received the 2026 Ellen Galinsky Generative Researcher Award at the Work Family Research Network Conference in Montreal, Canada. This award recognizes a work-family researcher or research team who have/has contributed break-through thinking to the work-family field via theory, measures, and/or data sets that led to expansive application, innovation, and diffusion, including the sharing of research opportunity in the spirit of open science.
New Research Highlights the Mental Health Impact of Anti-Asian Discrimination on Older Adults
A new study by LCC pilot grant awardees Jeonjung Jane Lee and Cindy Vang entitled "A Time of Heightened Anti-Asian Racism: Discrimination, Resilience, and Mental Health Among Asian and Asian American Older Adults" examines how experiences of discrimination and resilience shape the mental health of Asian and Asian American older adults in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on survey data from 126 adults age 50 and older representing diverse Asian backgrounds, the study explored the relationships among discrimination, resilience, depression, anxiety, loneliness, and self-rated mental health.
New study finds that teens are getting less sleep than ever
A new study by Rachel Widome found that while teenagers at every age reported less sleep in recent decades, Black and Latino teens are now less likely than white peers to get adequate sleep, and disparities have increased since the mid-2000s.
Fluoride in drinking water does not harm children’s IQ
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that has been shown to strengthen teeth and reduce cavities. Many municipalities add fluoride to their drinking water — called community water fluoridation — as a public health measure to support dental health. In recent years, however, some have claimed that ingesting fluoride can harm children’s IQ.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota led a team that investigated the connection between fluoride in drinking water and children’s IQ to see if these claims had merit.
Housing Assistance and Healthcare Access
Among Older Adults with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias: Evidence from Multisource Linked Survey-Administrative Data
The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry | LCC Member: Andrew Fenelon
Thriving in place
Multidimensional neighborhood typologies and cognitive function among U.S. older adults in the Health and Retirement Study
New publication by LCC pilot grant awardee Jiao Yu
LCC pilot grant awardee Jiao Yu has published a new study on perceived neighborhood disorder, health behaviors, and inflammation among older adults in the Journal of Aging and Health.
LCC member Elizabeth Wrigley-Field is Awarded a Mid-Career Faculty Research Award
Elizabeth Wrigley-Field has been awarded a MidCareer Faculty Research Award from the College of Liberal Arts at UMN. The MidCareer Faculty Research Awards represent a critical investment in the future of the College of Liberal Arts. With this fund, the College recognizes and invests in the next generation of faculty who are poised to lead CLA as it pursues greater heights of excellence and who are engaging in new lines of research and creative activity that will shape their fields and the intersection of fields.
Pandemic boosted wages for the lowest-earning workers in the healthcare sector
A new study of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on workers in the healthcare industry found that aides, assistants, and workers without a high school degree had the largest percentage growth in earnings following the pandemic