Collin Mueller, UMD Sociology

This seminar is hosted by the Southern Population Aging Research Center (SPARC) and co-organized by the Maryland Population Research Center (MPRC).

Presentation Title: Assessing Variation in the Cognitive Benefits of Education: The Role of Workplace Contexts in a Representative Cohort of Older U.S. Adults

About the Presentation

In this paper, I leverage a novel dataset linking the Health and Retirement Study with O*Net measures of occupational characteristics to examine the extent to which workplace cognitive engagement explains the relationship between educational attainment and Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) risk across racial/ethnic and gender groups of older American adults. Findings reveal that the relationship between education, workplace cognitive engagement, and ADRD risk varies widely and systematically across the population. Unequal occupational returns to education are conferred across race/ethnicity and gender, such that racial/ethnic minorities and women are less likely to work in occupations characterized by high levels of cognitive engagement than white men. Additionally, upward socioeconomic mobility among racial/ethnic minority workers is associated with higher levels of exposure to psychosocial stressors related to perceived differential treatment, which undermines some benefits related to workplace cognitive engagement. 

About the Speaker

Collin Mueller is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research focuses on identifying mechanisms that shape gendered racial/ethnic inequalities in organizational and health outcomes across the life course, and has been published in peer-reviewed sociology and interdisciplinary outlets including the American Journal of Sociology, Journal of Marriage and Family, The Gerontologist, Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, and Journal of the National Medical Association. Mueller's research has been supported by grants from funders including the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Aging, American Psychological Foundation, and American Sociological Association. He teaches courses on social inequality, aging and population health disparities, and research methods.

 

Seminar Format:

Location IN PERSON: 2208 LeFrak Hall. We are requesting advanced registration so that we can track capacity.  Please use this link to RSVP for in-person attendance.

Location ONLINE VIA ZOOM: Zoom registration link.  Upon registration, you will receive an automatically generated email with the direct link for the seminar

If accommodations are needed, please send a request to the meeting organizer (mprc-support@umd.edu) at least 72 hours prior to the event, if possible, to allow time to discuss and implement alternatives.