Adam Shapiro

Associate Professor of Sociology
& Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology
(Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin)
Family, Aging and the Life Course, Medical sociology, Social Policy, Quantitative Methods.

I am a family gerontologist with methodological background in quantitative methods and large-scale longitudinal data analysis. My scholarship in general is oriented around understanding the contributions of family life in the context of aging to individual well-being. One focus of my current scholarship centers on expanding the research on the relationship between marriage and health by reconceptualizing how we measure this relationship. I examine how transitions in and out of unions (both marital and non-marital) influence subjective and objective well-being. Moreover, I am also examining individual union histories to determine if marriages and/or unions in and of themselves are health-promotive, selective of healthy persons, or are modified by our individual marital/union histories.

Another focus of my current scholarship is on how union transitions and complex union histories influence intergenerational family relationships in mid- to later life. My concern has been that recent demographic changes in the industrialized world, such as high divorce rates, population aging, and declining rates of remarriage, have placed significant challenges on the institution of the family to provide for its members’ well-being. Some of my recent work, for example, examines how divorce in later life influences the patterns of exchanges between older parents and their adult children.

A final focus of my current work is on improving long-term care services to seniors. As part of this work, I have conducted program evaluations of home and community-based care programs as alternatives to institutional care. I am currently engaged in a project with the State of Florida which gauges the cost effectiveness and cost savings of home and community-based services for seniors.

I regularly teach courses in Medical Sociology, Sociology of the Family, Sociology of Aging, and Quantitative Research Methods.

Recent Publications:

Shapiro, Adam and Corey Lee M. Keyes. (In Press). “Marriage and Social Well-Being: Are the  Married Always Better Off?”  Social Indicators Research.

Shapiro, Adam and Raijah Yarborough-Hayes. (Forthcoming). “Older Men’s Retirement and Health.”  Generations.

Shapiro, Adam and Teresa M. Cooney. (2007).  “Divorce and Parent-Child Relations  Across the Life Course.”  Pp. 191-219 in J. Jill Suitor and Timothy Owens (Eds.), Advances in the Life Course, Volume 12: Interpersonal Relations across the Life Course. Elsevier.

Hansen, Thomas, Torbjørn Moum, & Adam Shapiro. (2007). “Relational and individual well-being among cohabitors and married individuals in midlife: Recent trends from Norway.”  Journal of Family Issues, 28, 910-933.

Shapiro, Adam.  (2004).  “Revisiting the ‘Generation Gap’: Exploring Solidarity Among Parent- Adult Child Dyads.”  International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 58, 127-146.

Shapiro, Adam. (2003). "Later Life Divorce and Parent-Adult Child Contact and Proximity."  Journal of Family Issues, 24, 264-285.

Contact information:
Office: 51/2237
Phone: 904-620-1653
Email: ashapiro@unf.edu

Links:
Curriculum Vitae