Social Biology of Stress, Health, and Aging

This line of research aims to address two fundamental questions in the quest of diminishing health inequalities: 

I approach these questions through an integrative theoretical and empirical framework that jointly examines social and biological factors shaping health and aging. Combining a consortium of data from population-based surveys, clinical patient cohort studies, and blood-based biomarkers of established biophysiological predictors of health and survival, I have conducted studies in two areas summarized below.

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1. Social Stress and Biophysiological Functioning

I interrogate the connections between chronic life stressors (e.g., socioeconomic disadvantages, wealth loss, and poor social relationships) and biological stress response (e.g. immune, metabolic, and neuropsychological dysregulation) as pre-disease pathways leading to illnesses. 

Representative Publications:

Yang, Y. C., McClintock, M. K., Kozloski, M., & Li, T. (2013). Social isolation and adult mortality: The role of chronic inflammation and sex differences. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 54(2), 183–203. 

Yang, Y. C., Boen, C. E., Gerken, K., Li, T., Schorpp, K. M., & Harris, K. M. (2016). Social relationships and physiological determinants of longevity across the human life span. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(3), 578–583.

Boen, C. E., & Yang, Y. C. (2016). The physiological impacts of wealth shocks in late life: Evidence from the Great Recession. Social Science & Medicine, 150, 221–230. 

Snyder-Mackler, N., Burger, J. R., Gaydosh, L., Belsky, D. W., Noppert, G. A., Campos, F. A., Bartolomucci, A., Yang, Y. C., Aiello, A. E., O’Rand, A., Harris, K. M., Shively, C. A., Alberts, S. C., & Tung, J. (2020). Social determinants of health and survival in humans and other animals. Science, 368(6493), eaax9553.

Boen, C. E., Yang, Y. C., Aiello, A. E., Dennis, A. C., Harris, K. M., Kwon, D., & Belsky, D. W. (2023). Patterns and life course determinants of Black-White disparities in biological age acceleration: A decomposition analysis. Demography, 60(6), 1815–1841. 

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2. Aging Trajectories and Early-life Impacts on Later Life Health

I leverage extensive life course research designs and novel data linkage methodologies that combine existing large datasets on population health to model life-long trajectories of aging and health, life course variations in the biosocial connections, and the influences of early-life conditions on health in old age.

Representative Publications

Yang, Y., & Kozloski, M. (2011). Sex differences in age trajectories of physiological dysregulation: Inflammation, metabolic syndrome, and allostatic load. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, 66A(5), 493–500. 

Yang, Y. C., Boen, C., Schorpp, K., Gerken, K., & Harris, K. M. (2017). Early life socioeconomic status and adult physiological functioning: A life course examination of biosocial mechanisms. Biodemography and Social Biology, 63(2), 87–103. 

Yang, Y. C., Boen, C. E., Schorpp, K. M., Johnson, M., & Harris, K. M. (2020). Socioeconomic status and biological risks for health and illness across the life course. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 75(3), 613–624. 

Yang, Y. C., Walsh, C. E., Shartle, K., Stebbins, R. C., Aiello, A. E., Belsky, D. W., Harris, K. M., Chanti-Ketterl, M., & Plassman, B. L. (2024). An early and unequal decline: Life course trajectories of cognitive aging in the United States. Journal of Aging and Health, 36(3–4), 230–245. 

Yang, Y. C., Zhang, M., Shartle, K., Aiello, A. E., & Harris, K. M. (Forthcoming). Social disconnection and cognitive aging across the life course: Coordinated longitudinal analysis of three national cohort studies. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B. 

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