Sarah Patterson
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spattersearch.bsky.social
Sarah Patterson
@spattersearch.bsky.social
Demographer & Sociologist: families, caregiving, dementia, gender, work. ❤s 🍩 & gardening 🌻. She/her. Let us build each other up.
#Aging scholars and others interested in all things aging #research:

Be sure to follow Michigan Center on the Demography of Aging @micda-umisr.bsky.social for new studies from our affiliates.

Also follow @nhats-nsoc.bsky.social for new studies using #NHATS and #NSOC data.
January 28, 2026 at 5:45 PM
The program provides mentorship to early career scholars interested in behavioral & social aspects of aging related to MiCDA’s themes. Fellows receive funding for a pilot project, are mentored by a MiCDA affiliate, & attend workshops in manuscript development, grant preparation & science comms.
MiCDA is excited to announce that our call for Research Fellow proposals is now open! Early career faculty are invited to submit proposals for pilot research related to the demography of aging. Visit myumi.ch/P34p4 for details. We look forward to your submissions by March 2.
Programs - Michigan Center on the Demography of Aging
MiCDA spurs new research on the demography of aging through pilot project and early career development opportunities.
myumi.ch
January 27, 2026 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
New research using #NHATS / #NSOC by Xu, Clare, and Sun:
doi.org/10.1001/jama...

“Nearly half of #older adults with severe #vision loss or blindness #fell in the prior year compared with 28% of those without such impairments.”
January 6, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
Ready to work with #NHATS data? Here's how you can get started!
January 15, 2026 at 7:49 PM
Expectations for Families to Care for Older Adults in the United States: Rapid Scoping Review 2011–2023

Open Access:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

This scoping review was a labor of love and I get into the main results over at LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/posts/sarah-...
Journal of Family Theory & Review | NCFR Family Science Journal | Wiley Online Library
As the population ages and families become increasingly diverse, more work is needed to understand expectations for families to care for older adults. In this review, we discuss the theoretical frame....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 26, 2026 at 5:13 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
Here's a secret: "Generations" only exist in families -- not in populations.

Some people become grandparents at age 30, and some become grandparents at age 100.

Example: Many children born in the Baby Boom had parents who were also born in Baby Boom, but they weren't in the same generation.
Now you know: In 1970 there were a million children born in the years 1960-1964 -- BABY BOOMERS -- whose parents were also Baby Boomers (born in 1946 or later)! The Baby Boom was 18 years. A lot of people had kids younger than that. Amazing when parents and their children are in the same generation!
January 17, 2026 at 4:07 AM
It's funny that I have to use the old authentication app to sign up for the new authentication app.
a cartoon of spider-man fighting another spider-man in front of a nypd truck
ALT: a cartoon of spider-man fighting another spider-man in front of a nypd truck
media.tenor.com
January 15, 2026 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
Family books published in 2024 and 2025 sought for the ASA Family Section William J. Goode Book Award. www.asanet.org/communities-...
Section Award Nomination Calls | American Sociological Association
Many ASA Sections offer awards to recognize achievement in their respective areas of academic interest.  Following are the most recent calls for nominations
www.asanet.org
January 6, 2026 at 2:10 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
This bit is so important:
January 4, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
Now on my substack, Gender Gap: 5 notable gaps discussed in 2025.

1. leaving the U.S.
2. marriage aspirations
3. social media use
4. loneliness
5. college plans

I picked these bc they signal how men/women structure their social lives and are imagining their futures.

substack.com/home/post/p-...
December 23, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
🚨 #Hiring! 3yr #postdoc w/survey methodology experience to join the ERC-project SINGLE for its next stage of designing & launching a comparative multidisciplinary singlehood #survey in EU. Research area is open!

Application deadline: 12-Jan-2026 (12PM CET). Barcelona-based.
👉🏻 shorturl.at/CmY0F
November 12, 2025 at 9:08 AM
“Does Changing Late-Life Activity Impact Older Adults’ Help to Their Adult Children?”: Siren & Amilon used Danish Longitudinal Study of Ageing data & found that a shift to more active aging & extended working “does not weaken social connectedness btw generations.” read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...
December 18, 2025 at 9:03 PM
January 2026 me is absolutely going to hate December 2025 me.

Happy "circle back next year" season!
a little girl is sitting on top of an orange slide and says `` bye bye weird lady '' .
ALT: a little girl is sitting on top of an orange slide and says `` bye bye weird lady '' .
media.tenor.com
December 18, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
What a year it has been for our community of 800+ health services researchers at @umich.edu!

Despite the turmoil, we have much to celebrate. See highlights in our new Annual Review: ihpi.umich.edu/ihpi-2025-ye...
IHPI 2025 Year in Review
ihpi.umich.edu
December 16, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
December 15, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
What started out at the Minerva-funded workshop on „Social Networks and Health Inequalities in Ageing Societies“, has now resulted in a published paper: „When Parents Grieve: Adult Child Support and Depressive Symptoms Among Men and Women After Widowhood“
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
December 9, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
1/ A nice summary of the current trends in cohort fertility and how period measures may be overstating recent drops. #demography #birthrates #fertility
New post: The Eldest Millennials Had the Same Fertility as the Youngest Baby Boomers.

I did not have a strong take digging into 'fertility crisis' debates, but was genuinely surprised as how different the data is from the panic of that Discourse.
mikekonczal.substack.com/p/the-eldest...
The Eldest Millennials Had the Same Fertility as the Youngest Baby Boomers
How U.S. fertility is happening later, not less.
mikekonczal.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
New work from MiCDA @umisr.bsky.social @um-src.bsky.social affiliate @spattersearch.bsky.social in American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease & Other Dementias

Traditional and Non-traditional Caregivers Define "Family" and Caregiving Obligations

myumi.ch/y1x18
Traditional and Non-traditional Caregivers Define “Family” and Caregiving Obligations - Sarah E. Patterson, Kelsi Caywood, Samantha M. Pantelic, Olivia Morreale, 2025
Narrow definitions of family can constrain survey items about obligations regarding who should care for older adults. Current measurement often does not account...
myumi.ch
December 3, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
Looking forward to participating in this Congressional Briefing on U.S. birth rates with @econmsk.bsky.social & @prbdata.bsky.social's Jennifer Sciubba next week, sponsored by @popassocamerica.bsky.social.

If you're in the DC area, join us! RSVP here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
December 1, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
What happened?
December 1, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
In light of record submission rates and a large volume of AI-generated slop, SocArXiv recently implemented a policy requiring ORCIDs linked in the OSF profile of submitting authors, and narrowing our focus to social science subjects. Today we are taking two more steps:
/1
November 27, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
Every person I know who is roughly my age is dealing with something like this right now www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
Opinion | ‘We Had No Idea What Was Coming’: Caring for My Aging Father
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
New work from MiCDA @umisr.bsky.social umichsph.bsky.social affiliate Lindsay Kobayashi

Do self-reported and objective hearing measures similarly relate to general and domain-­specific cognition? Observational cohort study of older adults in England
University of Michigan School of Public Health (@umichsph.bsky.social)
Pursuing a healthier, more equitable world through education, research and action. #GoBlue
umichsph.bsky.social
November 19, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Sarah Patterson
I don't want AI generated art, I want AI emptied dishwasher
November 17, 2025 at 4:36 AM