Chicago Health Aging and
Social Relations Study (CHASRS)
Overview
The purpose of the National Institute of Aging Program Project Grant No. PO1 AG18911 ("Social isolation, loneliness, health, and the aging process") is to bring together sociological, psychological, and biological levels of analyses to bear on the relationships among, and mechanisms underlying, social isolation, feelings of loneliness, health, and the aging process. Social relationships are fundamental to emotional fulfillment, behavioral adjustment, and cognitive function. Recent research has shown that emotional closeness in relationships increases with age. Yet the number of social relationships decreases and social events triggering loneliness continue in older adults. Moreover, they are physically aging and tend to be less resilient so these psychosocial challenges could potentially leave them vulnerable to feelings of loneliness, dysphoria, elevated and prolonged neuroendocrine stress responses, and ill health. Feelings of social isolation and loneliness predict morbidity and mortality from broad based causes in later life even after controlling for health behaviors and biological risk factors. Understanding the antecedents of feelings of loneliness and their consequences for mental and physical health can thus be studied effectively in older adults and is particularly important because life expectancy has increased in the U.S., increasing dramatically the number of older adults.
The Program Project Grant from the National Institute of Aging has made it possible to study these issues in an interdisciplinary manner. Medical scientists, social scientists, behavioral scientists, and medical practitioners (e.g., geriatricians) work collaboratively under the auspices of the program project grant. The Program Project Grant has also contributed to the development of new investigators (both M.D.s and Ph.D.s) in whose hands the future of the field rests. We, therefore, gratefully acknowledge the early funding by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the ongoing support by the National Institute of Aging, and the ancillary funding by the John Templeton Foundation.
Illustrative Publications
Where available, click on the PDF to download the corresponding article. All articles are the sole copyright of the respective publishers. Materials are provided for educational purposes only.
In Press
Berntson, G. G., Norman, G. J., Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (in press). Cardiac autonomic balance vs. cardiac regulatory capacity. Psychophysiology.
Cacioppo, J. T. Berntson, G. G., Bechara, A., Tranel, D., & Hawkley, L. C. (in press). Could an aging brain contribute to subjective well being? The value added by a social neuroscience perspective. In A. Tadorov, S. T. Fiske, & D. Prentice (Eds), Social Neuroscience: Toward Understanding the Underpinnings of the Social Mind. New York: Oxford University Press. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., & Hawkley, L. C. Loneliness. In M. R. Leary & R. H. Hoyle (Eds.), Handbook of individual differences in social behavior. New York: Guilford. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., Norris, C. J., Decety, J., Monteleone, G., & Nusbaum, H. (in press). In the eye of the beholder: Individual differences in perceived social isolation predict regional brain activation to social stimuli. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. PDF
Engeland, C. G., Bosch, J. A., Cacioppo, J. T., & Marucha. P. T. (in press). Mucosal wound healing is delays in women and in the aged. Archives of Surgery.
Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (in press). Loneliness. In H. Reis & S. Sprecher (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Human Relationships. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Press. PDF
Hawkley, L. C., Hughes, M. E., Waite, L. J., Masi, C. M., Thisted, R. A., & Cacioppo, J. T. (in press). From social structural factors to perceptions of relationship quality and loneliness: The Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences. PDF
Hawkley, L. C., Thisted, R. A., & Cacioppo, J. T. (in press). Loneliness predicts reduced physical activity: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Health Psychology. PDF
Hughes, M. E. & Waite, L. J. (in press). "Marital Biography and Health at Midlife." Journal of Health and Social Behavior. PDF
Hughes, M.E., Waite, L.J., LaPierre, T. A., & Luo, L. (in press). All in the family: The impact of caring for grandchildren on grandparents' health. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences. PDF
Hughes, M.E., & Waite, L.J. (in press). The aging of the second demographic transition. In K.W Schaie, P. Uhlenberg (Eds.), Social Structures: The Impact of Demographic Changes on the Well-being of Older Persons, eds. K.W Schaie, P. Uhlenberg. New York: Springer. PDF
Larsen, J. T., Norris, C. J., McGraw, A. P., Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (in press). The evaluative space grid: A single-item measure of positivity and negativity. Cognition and Emotion. PDF
Masi, C. M., Hawkley, L. C., Rickett, E. M., & Cacioppo, J. T. (in press). Respiratory sinus arrhythmia and diseases of aging: Obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Biological Psychology.
Monteleone, G. T., Phan, K. L., Nusbaum, H. C., Fitsgerald, D., Hawkley, L. C., Irick, J. S., Fienberg, S. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (in press). Detection of deception using functional magnetic resonance imaging: Well above chance, though well below perfection. Social Neuroscience. PDF
Thisted, R. A. Baseline Adjustment: Issues for Mixed-Effect Regression Models in Clinical Trials. Proceedings of the 2006 Joint Statistical Meetings.
Bartels, M., Cacioppo, J. T., Hudziak, J. J., & Boomsma, D. I. (2008). Genetic and environmental contributions to stability in loneliness throughout childhood. American Journal of Medical Genetic Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 147B, 385-391. PDF
Berntson, G. G., Norman, G. J., Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2008). Spirituality and autonomic cardiac control. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 35, 198-208. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., Berntson, G. G., & Thisted, R. A. (2008). Multilevel investigations: Conceptual mappings and perspectives. In Weinstein, M., Vaupel, J. W., & Wachter, K. W. (Eds.), Biosocial Surveys (pp. 367-380). Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. PDF
Cacioppo, J.T., Hawkley, L.C., Kalil, A., Hughes, M.E., Waite, L., & Thisted, R.A. (2008). Happiness and the invisible threads of social connection: The Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study. In M. eid & R. Larsen (Eds.), The science of well-being (pp. 195-219) New York: Guilford. PDF
Epley, N., Akalis, S., Waytz, A., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2008). Creating social connection through inferential reproduction: Loneliness and perceived agency in gadgets, gods, and greyhounds. Psychological Science, 19, 114-120. PDFEpley, N., Waytz, A., Akalis, S., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2008). When we need a human: Motivational determinants of anthropomorphism. Social Cognition, 26, 143-155. PDF
Berntson, G. G. & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007). Integrative physiology: Homeostasis, allostasis and the orchestration of systemic physiology. In J. T. Cacioppo, L. G. Tassinary, & G. G. Berntson (Eds.), Handbook of psychophysiology, 3rd edition, (pp.433-452). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Boomsma, D. I., Cacioppo, J. T., Muthen, B., Asparouhov, T., & Clark, S. (2007). Longitudinal genetic analysis for loneliness in Dutch twins. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 10, 267-273. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., Berntson, G. G. (2007). The brain, homeostasis, and health: Balancing demands of the internal and external milieu. In H. S. Friedman & R. Cohen Silver (Eds.), Foundations of Health Psychology (pp. 73-91). New York: Oxford University Press. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., Berntson, G. G., & Thisted, R. A. (2007). Multilevel investigations: Conceptual mappings and perspectives. In Weinstein, M., Vaupel, J. W., & Wachter, K. W. (Eds.), Biosocial surveys. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.
Cacioppo, J. T., Tassinary, L. G., & Berntson, G. G. (2007). Psychophysiological science: Interdisciplinary approaches to classic questions about the mind. In J. T. Cacioppo, L. G. Tassinary, & G. G. Berntson (Eds.), Handbook of psychphysiology, 3rd edition (pp. 1-18). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Cole, S. W., Hawkley, L. C., Arevalo, J. M., Sung, C. Y., Rose, R. M., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007). Social regulation of gene expression in human leukocytes. Genome Biology, 8(9), R189. PDF
Epley, N., Waytz, A., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007). On seeing human: A three-factor theory of anthropomorphism. Psychological Review, 114, 864-886. PDF
Hawkley, L. C., Bosch, J. A., Engeland, C. G., Marucha, P. T., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007). Loneliness, dsyphoria, stress and immunity: A role of cytokines. In N. P. Plotnikoff, R. E. Faith, & A. J. Murgo (Eds)., Cytokines: Stress and immunity (2nd ed., pp. 67-86). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007). Aging and loneliness: Downhill quickly? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 187-191. PDF
Hawkley, L. C., Preacher, K. J., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007). Multilevel modeling of social interactions and mood in lonely and socially connected individuals: The MacArthur social neuroscience studies. In A. D. Ong & M. van Dulmen (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Methods in Positive Psychology (pp. 559-575). New York: Oxford University Press.
Kudielka, B.M., Hawkley, L. C., Adam, E. K., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007). Compliance with ambulatory saliva sampling in the Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study (CHASRS) and associations with social support. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 34, 209-216. PDF
Masi, C. M., Hawkley, L. C., Rickett, E. M., & J. T. Cacioppo. (2007). Respiratory sinus arrhythmia and diseases of aging: Obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Biological Psychology, 74, 212-223. PDF
2006
Adam, E. K., Hawkley, L.C., Kudielka, B. M., & Cacioppo, J.T. (2006). Day-to-day dynamics of experiencee-cortisol associations in a population-based sample of older adults. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103, 17058-17063. PDF
Berntson, G. G., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2006). Multilevel analysis: Physiological and biochemical measures. In M. Eid & E. Diener (Eds.), Handbook of multimethod measurement in psychology (pp. 157-172). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Boomsma, D. I., Cacioppo, J. T., Slagboom, P. E., & Posthuma, D. (2006). Genetic linkage and association analysis for loneliness in Dutch twin and sibling pairs points to a region on chromosome 12q23-24. Behavior Genetics. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., & Berntson, G. G. (2006). A bridge linking social psychology and the neurosciences. In Paul A. M. Van Lange (Ed.), Bridging social psychology: The benefits of transdisciplinary approaches. Hillsdale, NJ, Erlbaum. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., Ernst, J. M., Burleson, M., Berntson, G. G., Nouriani, B., & Spiegel, D. (2006). Loneliness within a nomological net: An evolutionary perspective. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 1054-1085. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., Hughes, M. E., Waite, L. J., Hawkley, L. C., & Thisted, R. A. (2006). Loneliness as a specific risk factor for depressive symptoms: Cross sectional and longitudinal analyses. Psychology and Aging, 21, 140-151. PDF
Cavigelli, S. A., Yee, J. R., & McClintock, M. K. (2006). Infant temperament predicts life span in female rats that develop spontaneous tumors. Hormones and Behavior, 50, 454-462. PDF
Hawkley, L. C., Masi, C. M., Berry, J. D., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2006). Loneliness is a unique predictor of age-related differences in systolic blood pressure. Psychology and Aging, 21, 152-164. PDF
Hermes, G. L., Rosenthal, L., Montag, A., & McClintock, M. K. (2006). Social isolation and the inflammatory response: Sex differences inthe enduring effects of a prior stressor. American Joural of Physiology - Regulatory Integrative & Comparative Physiology, 290, R273-282. PDF
Hughes, M. E., & Waite, L, J. (2006). The aging of the second demographic transition". In Social Structures: The Impact of Demographic Changes on the Well-being of Older Persons, eds K. Warner Schaie and Peter Uhlenberg. New York: Springer.
Masi, C. M., Hawkley, L. C., Berry, J. D., & Cacioppo, J. T. (in press). Estrogen metabolites and systolic blood pressure in a population-based sample of postmenopausal women. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 91, 1015-1020. PDF
McDade, T. W., Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2006). Psychological and behavioral predictors of inflammation in middle-aged and older adults: The Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study. Psychosomatic Medicine, 68, 376-381. PDF
Smith, N. K., Larsen, J. T., Chartrand, T. L., Cacioppo, J. T., Katafiasz, H. A., & Moran, K. E. (2006). Being bad isn't always good: Evaluative context moderates the attention bias toward negative information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 210-220. PDF
Waite, L. J. (2006). Population and Development Review, Vol. 30(supplement).
Wen, M., Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2006). Objective and perceived neighborhood environment, individual SES and psychosocial factors, and self-rated health: An analysis of older adults in Cook County, Illinois. Social Science & Medicine, 63, 2575-2590. PDF
2005
Boomsma, D. I., Willemse, G., Dolan, C. V., Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2005). Genetic and environmental contributions to loneliness in adults: The Netherlands Twin Register Study. Behavior Genetics, 35, 745-752. PDF
Bosch, J. A., Berntson, G. G., Cacioppo, J. T., & Marucha, P. T. (2005). Differential mobilization of functionally distinct Natural Killer subsets during acute psychological stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 67, 366-375. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., Berntson, G. G., & Semin, G. R. (2005). Scientific symbiosis: The mutual benefit of Iteratively adopting the perspective of realism and instrumentalism. American Psychologist, 60, 347-348. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., & Hawkley, L. C. (2005). People thinking about people: The vicious cycle of being a social outcast in one's own mind. In Kipling D. Williams, Joseph P. Forgas, and William von Hippel (Eds.), The social outcast: Ostracism, social exclusion, rejection, and bullying (pp. 91-108). New York: Psychology Press.
Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., Rickett, E. M., & Masi, C. M. (2005). Sociality, spirituality, and meaning-making: Chicago health, aging, and social relations study (CHASRS). Review of General Psychology, 9, 143-155. PDF
Cavigelli, S. A., Monfort, S. L., Whitney, T. K., Mechref, Y.S., Novotny, M., McClintock, M. K. (2005). Frequent serial fecal corticoid measures from rats reflect circadian and ovarian corticosterone rhythms.Journal of Endocrinology, 184, 153 - 163. PDF
Hawkley, L. C., Berntson, G. G., Engeland, C. G., Marucha, P. T., Masi, C. M., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2005). Stress, aging, and resilience: Can accrued wear and tear be slowed? Canadian Psychology, 46, 115-125. PDF
Hawkley, L. C., Browne, M. W., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2005). How can I connect with thee? Let me count the ways. Psychological Science, 16, 798-804. PDF
Hermes, G. L., Jacobs, L. F., McClintock, M.K. (2005) The sectored foraging field: a novel design to quantify spatial strategies, learning, memory, and emotion. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 84, 69-73. PDF
Luo, Y., & Waite, L. J. (2005). The impact of childhood and adult SES on physical, mental, and cognitive well-being in later life. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 60B, S93-S101. PDF
McClintock, M.K., Conzen, S.D., Gehlert, S., Masi, C., Olopade, F. (2005) Mammary cancer and social interactions: Identifying multiple environments that regulate gene expression throughout the life span.Journal of Gerontology, Series B, 60 B (Special Issue 1) 32-41. PDF
2004
Cacioppo, J. T., & Berntson, G. G. (2004). Social neuroscience. In M. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The cognitive neurosciences (3rd edition, pp. 977-986). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Cacioppo, J. T., Semin, G. R., & Berntson, G. G. (2004). Realism, instrumentalism, and scientific symbiosis: Psychological theory as a search for truth and the discovery of solutions. American Psychologist, 59, 214-223. PDF
Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2004). Stress and the aging immune system. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 18, 114-119. PDF
Hughes, M. E., & Waite, L. J. (2004). The American family as a context for healthy ageing. The Family in an Aging Society: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach, ed. S Harper. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pages 176-189. PDF
Hughes, M. E., Waite, L. J., Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2004). A short scale for measuring loneliness in large surveys: Results from two population-based studies. Research on Aging, 26, 655-672. PDF
Masi, C. M., Rickett, E. M., Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2004). Gender and ethnic differences in urinary stress hormones: The population-based Chicago health, aging, and social relations study. Journal of Applied Physiology, 97, 941-947. PDF
2003
Burleson, M. H., Poehlmann, K. M., Hawkley, L. C., Ernst, J. M., Berntson, G. G., Malarkey, W. B., Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Glaser, R., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2003). Neuroendocrine and cardiovascular reactivity to stress in mid-aged and older women: Long-term temporal consistency of individual differences. Psychophysiology, 40, 358-369. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., & Hawkley, L. C. (2003). Social isolation and health, with an emphasis on underlying mechanisms. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 46, S39-S52. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., & Berntson, G. G. (2003). The anatomy of loneliness. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12, 71-74. PDF
Cavigelli, S. A., & McClintock, M. K. (2003). Fear of novelty in infant rats predicts adult corticosterone dynamics and an early death. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100, 16131-16136. PDF
Hawkley, L. C., Burleson, M. H., Berntson, G. G., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2003). Loneliness in everyday life: Cardiovascular activity, psychosocial context, and health behaviors. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 105-120. PDF
Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2003). Loneliness and pathways to disease. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 17 (Supplement 1), S98-S105. PDF
Thisted, R. A. (2003). Are there social determinants of health and disease? Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 46, S65-S73. PDF
2002
Burleson, M. B., Poehlman, K. M., Hawkley, L. C., Ernst, J. M., Berntson, G. G., Malarkey, W. B., Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Glaser, R., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2002). Stress-related immune changes in mid-aged older women: One-year consistency of individual differences. Health Psychology, 21, 321-331. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T. (2002). Social neuroscience: Understanding the pieces fosters understanding the whole and vice versa. American Psychologist, 57, 819-830. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., & Brandon, M. E. (2002). Religious involvement and health: Complex determinism. Psychological Inquiry, 13, 204-206. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., Berntson, G. G., Ernst, J. M., Gibbs, A. C., Stickgold, R., & Hobson, J. A. (2002). Lonely days invade the nights: Social modulation of sleep efficiency. Psychological Science, 13, 384-387. PDF
Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., Crawford, L. E., Ernst, J. M., Burleson, M. H., Kowalewski, R. B., Malarkey, W. B., Van Cauter, E., & Berntson, G. G. (2002). Loneliness and health: Potential mechanisms. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64, 407-417. PDF
Hughes, M. E., & Waite, L. J. (2002). Health in household context: Living arrangements and health in late middle age. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43, 1-21. PDF
CHASRS Newsletters
2005
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2004
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2003
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2002
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