Sociology Faculty Directory
Sara Moorman
Professor, Department Chairperson
Sara Moorman
Ph.D.
Contact
McGuinn Hall 426C
Telephone: 617-552-4209
Email: sara.moorman@bc.edu
ORCID 0000-0002-7555-1769
Education
- Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison
Courses
SOCY1078 - Sociology of Health and Illness
SOCY1096 - Aging and Society
SOCY5516 - Survey Methodology
SOCY7704 - Topics in Multivariate Statistics
Research Interests
Aging and the Life Course, Family, Medical Sociology, Quantitative Methods, Social Psychology
Department
Biography
Sara Moorman is a social gerontologist and expert in quantitative and survey methods. She is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and member of the editorial boards of The Gerontologist, the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, Journal of Marriage and Family, and Research on Aging. Moorman has two major lines of current research:
End-of-Life Medical Decision-Making
Family relationships influence individuals’ end-of-life treatment preferences and planning. However, there is frequently a mismatch between the ways in which older people expect to involve family members in end-of-life decisions and the ways in which the law permits family members to be involved in medical decision-making. Moorman’s work investigates barriers to realizing one’s end-of-life treatment preferences.
Moorman, Sara M. 2020. Dying in Old Age: U.S. Policy and Practice. New York: Routledge. Available in hardback, paperback, or eBook.
Moorman, Sara M. and Kathrin Boerner. 2018. “How Social Network Size and Quality Affect End-of-Life Surrogate Preferences." The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 73(4): 704-12.
Early-Life Predictors of Adult Cognitive Functioning
A growing body of research indicates that socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood is associated with cognitive functioning in later life. Better understanding childhood SES as a potential risk or protective factor for later-life cognitive health is essential for furthering early detection, prevention, and treatment strategies. Moorman’s work (funded by the National Institute on Aging) examines schools as a major context in which young people experience SES, as well as the varying levels of risk low SES poses to individuals based on their genetic risk for cognitive impairment.
Moorman, Sara M., Emily A. Greenfield, and Sarah Garcia. 2019. “School Context in Adolescence and Cognitive Functioning 50 Years Later.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 60(4): 493-508.
Moorman, Sara M., Kyle Carr, and Emily A. Greenfield. 2018. “Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Genetic Risk for Poorer Cognition in Later Life.” Social Science & Medicine 212: 219-26.
Publications
Moorman, Sara M. and Sara Kobielski. Forthcoming. “Body Mass Index and Memory across 18 Years in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.” Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Science and Medical Sciences.
Moorman, Sara M., Emily A. Greenfield, and Kyle Carr. 2021. “Using Mixture Modelling to Construct Subgroups of Cognitive Aging in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.” The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 76(8): 1512-1522.
Moorman, Sara M., Emily A. Greenfield, and Connie Seo Hyun Lee. 2021. “Perceived Hearing Loss, Social Disengagement, and Declines in Memory.” Journal of Applied Gerontology 40(6): 679-683.