Carol Ryff Professor
Ph.D. 1978, Penn State
Email:
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My research is strongly multidisciplinary and focuses on how various aspects of psychological well-being are contoured by broad social structural influences such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and culture as well as how psychological well-being is linked with biological factors (e.g., neuroendocrine regulation, inflammatory processes, cardiovascular risk). The latter work addresses the mechanisms and pathways through which well-being may confer protection against illness and disease. Resilience is an overarching theme in putting these many levels of analysis (social structural, psychosocial, neurobiological) together. I currently direct the MIDUS (Midlife in the U.S.) national study of Americans (www.midus.wisc.edu), which has become a major forum for integrative, multidisciplinary studies of health and well-being, as well as a parallel study in Japan known as MIDJA (Midlife in Japan).
Representative Publications
Charles, S.T., Luong, G., Almeida, D.M., Ryff, C.D., Sturm, M., & Love, G. (2010). Fewer ups and downs: Daily stressors mediate age differences in negative affect. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 65B, 279-286.
Manderscheid, R., Ryff, C.D., Freeman, E., Dhingra, S. McKnight-Eily L., Strine, T. (2010). Evolving definitions of mental illness and wellness. Preventing Chronic Disease, 7,1-6.
Friedman, E.M., Williams, D.R., Singer, B.H., & Ryff, C.D. (2009). Chronic discrimination predicts higher circulating levels of E-selectin in a national sample: the MIDUS study. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 23, 684-692.
SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 Costanzo, E.S., Ryff, C.D., & Singer, B.H. (2009). Psychosocial adjustment among cancer survivors: Findings from a national survey of health and well-being. Health Psychology, 28, 147-156.
Ryff, C.D., & Singer, B.H. (2008). Understanding healthy aging: Key components and their integration. In V. Bengtson, D. Gans, N.M. Putney, & M. Silverstein (Eds.), Handbook of theories of aging, 2nd Edition (pp. 117-144). New York: Springer.
Tsenkova, V., Love, G.D., Singer, B., & Ryff, C.D. (2008). Coping and positive affect predict longitudinal change in glycosylated hemoglobin. Health Psychology, 27, S163-S171.
Gruenewald, T.L., Mroczek, D.K., Ryff, C.D., & Singer, B.H. (2008). Diverse pathways to positive and negative affect in adulthood and later life: An integrative approach using recursive partitioning. Developmental Psychology, 44, 330-343.
Tsenkova, V., Love, G.D., Singer, B.H., & Ryff, C. D. (2007). Socioeconomic status and psychological well-being predict cross-time change in glycosylated hemoglobin in older women without diabetes. Psychosomatic Medicine, 69, 777-784.
Friedman, E.M., Love, G.D., Rosenkranz, M.A., Urry, H.L., Davidson, R.J., Singer, B.H., & Ryff, C.D. (2007). Socioeconomic status predicts objective and subjective sleep quality in aging women. Psychosomatic Medicine, 69, 682-691.
Friedman, E.M., Hayney, M., Love, G.D., Singer, B., & Ryff, C.D. (2007). Plasma interleukin-6 and soluble IL-6 receptors are associated with psychological well-being in aging women. Health Psychology, 26, 305-313.
Keyes, C.L. M., Shmotkin, D., & Ryff, C.D. (2002).Optimizing well-being: The empirical encounter of two traditions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 1007-1022.
