Division of Behavioral and Social Research
The Division of Behavioral and Social Research (DBSR) supports basic social and behavioral research and research training on the processes of aging at both the individual and societal level. It focuses on how people change over the adult life course, on the interrelationships between older people and social institutions, and on the societal impact of the changing age-composition of the population. Emphasis is placed upon the dynamic interplay between the aging of individuals and their changing biomedical, social and physical environments and on multi-level interactions among psychological, physiological, genetic, social and cultural levels. Research and training on disparities in health and well being, and interventions designed to reduce disparities, are supported across disciplines and topic areas.
The DBSR is administratively organized into two branches: (1) Individual Behavioral Processes and (2) Population and Social Processes, with substantial interactions between them. A section devoted to Research Resources and Development is housed within the Office of the Director of the DBSR.
Individual Behavioral Processes Branch
The Individual Behavioral Processes Branch supports research and training on biopsychosocial processes linking health and behavior, cognitive functioning, human factors, and integrative approaches to the study of social, psychological, and physiological influences on health and well-being during the lifespan. Personality and social/interpersonal relationships are investigated as causal variables and as mediators or moderators of the relationships between social/structural characteristics and health outcomes.
Program Contacts
Behavioral Medicine and Interventions
This unit examines the dynamic interrelationships among aging, health, and behavior processes. It expands traditional studies in behavioral medicine by adding an aging perspective and an emphasis on the influence of the sociocultural environment on the development and maintenance of a wide range of health and illness behaviors (e.g., healthy lifestyle practices, medical self-management, and coping with chronic illnesses and disabilities).
Major research topics include: (1) disease recognition, coping and management, including physiological consequences of life stresses and burdens; and (2) social, behavioral, and environmental interventions for health promotion, disease prevention, and disability postponement.
Cognitive Aging
This unit supports research on changes in cognitive functioning during the lifespan. Studies that: (1) examine the influence of contexts (behavioral, social, cultural, and technological) on the cognitive functioning and life performance of aging persons; (2) investigate the effects of age-related changes in cognition on activities of daily living, social relationships, and health status; and (3) develop strategies for improving everyday functioning through cognitive interventions are encouraged.
Major research topics include: higher order cognitive processes (e.g., problemsolving, decisionmaking), social cognition, memory strategies, perceptual skills, and reading and speech comprehension. Research that explores the role of individual difference factors in cognitive functioning (e.g., motivation, self-efficacy, beliefs about aging, emotions, sensory limitations, experience and expertise) also is encouraged. This unit collaborates with NIA's Neuroscience and Neuropsychology of Aging program to encourage research at the intersection of behavior and neurocognition.
Psychological Development and Integrative Science
This unit promotes research that applies an integrative approach to the study of health, behavior, stress and coping, and well-being during the lifespan. Studies that combine diverse levels of analysis and examine reciprocal interactions among these levels are encouraged. Examples include the effects of sociocultural, psychological (social, personality), biological, and genetic processes on behavioral and functional aging. In addition, research exploring factors at a single level that influence aging is welcomed.
Population and Social Processes Branch
This branch supports research and training on the antecedents and impact of changing social, demographic, economic, and health characteristics of the older population. Research on the consequences of particular health care organizations and settings and studies of the effects of other social institutions on the health, well-being, and functioning of people in the middle and later years is supported. Comparative research often is appropriate, and interconnections with individual behavioral processes are encouraged.
Program Contacts
Demography and Epidemiology
This unit embraces topics including: (1) medical and biodemography; (2) changes in the age structure of populations; (3) studies on the prevalence and incidence of disease and disability and age trajectories of health; (4) life expectancy and active life expectancy; (5) forecasting functioning, disability, morbidity, and mortality; (6) migration and geographic concentrations of older people; (7) rural-urban comparisons; (8) distributions of health services and the long-term care system; (9) racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic variations; and (10) genetic epidemiology and population genetics.
Health and Retirement Economics
This unit concentrates on the economics of aging—including but not limited to—economic and health antecedents and consequences of work and retirement; pensions and savings; health insurance and health care expenditures; Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security; interrelationships between health and economic status, including issues related to wealth, poverty, productivity, human capital development, and economic development; the economic costs of disability; cost-effectiveness of interventions; taxation policies on older people; and cross-national comparisons.
Health and Social Institutions
This unit encourages research on the impact of a wide range of formal health care and related services, with particular emphasis on long-term care systems and settings and on the health and well-being of older persons. It also examines how social institutions (e.g., work, family, religion, community, living arrangements) influence health outcomes in the later years and the ways in which people influence and are influenced by the network of cultural and social institutions surrounding them.
The Office of Research Resources and Development (ORRD)
The ORRD replaced the Office of Demography of Aging, which was established in 1991. It coordinates and implements initiatives related to research data and resources. The ORRD manages the Health and Retirement Study, the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging, and all Interagency Agreements. ORRD also serves as the administrative site for the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, which encourages cooperation among Federal agencies responsible for the collection, analysis, and data development and dissemination on the aging population.
