Kira S Birditt
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BIO
Kira Birditt earned a PhD in Human Development and Family Studies from Pennsylvania State University and B.A. and M.S. degrees in Psychology from Western Washington University. She serves as a Research Associate Professor at the Survey Research Center and the Director of the Aging and Biopsychosocial Innovations Program, both at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR).
Dr. Birditt’s program of research focuses on negative aspects of relationships, stress, and the implications of relationships and stress for health and well-being over time (using both self-reported and biological indicators of health). She is particularly interested in understanding how relationships differentially influence health and well-being depending on the context of stress. Most of her projects involve examining individuals and dyads either over time and or within families. Results from multiple projects indicate that aspects of relationships that are beneficial or harmful are often very different when individuals are under stress.
- Vicki A Freedman, Agree, Emily M, Seltzer, Judith A, Kira S Birditt, Fingerman, Karen L, Esther M Friedman, Lin, I-Fen, Margolis, Rachel, Park, Sung S, Sarah Elizabeth Patterson, Polenick, Courtney A, Reczek, Rin, Reyes, Adriana M, Truskinovsky, Yulya, Wiemers, Emily E, Wu, Huijing, Wolf, Douglas A, Wolff, Jennifer L, Zarit, Steven H. 2024. Changing Demography of Late-Life Family Caregiving: A Research Agenda to Understand Future Care Networks for An Aging U.S. Population. The Gerontologist 64(2):gnad036.
- Fingerman, Karen L, Zhou, Zexi, Huo, Meng, Luong, Gloria, Kira S Birditt. 2024. Enduring Bonds: Duration and Contact in Close Relationships in Late Life. The Gerontologist 64(4):gnad091.
- Kira S Birditt, Angela Elizabeth Turkelson, Polenick, Courtney A, Cranford, James A, Jennifer Ann Smith, Erin Bakshis Ware, Blow, Frederic C. 2024. Alcohol Use and Mortality among Older Couples in the United States: Evidence of Individual and Partner Effects. The Gerontologist 64(2)
- Vicki A Freedman, Agree, Emily M, Seltzer, Judith A, Kira S Birditt, Fingerman, Karen L, Esther M Friedman, Lin, I-Fen, Margolis, Rachel, Park, Sung S, Sarah Elizabeth Patterson, Polenick, Courtney A, Reczek, Rin, Reyes, Adriana M, Truskinovsky, Yulya, Wiemers, Emily E, Wu, Huijing, Wolf, Douglas A, Wolff, Jennifer L, Zarit, Steven H. 2024. The Changing Demography of Late-Life Family Caregiving: A Research Agenda to Understand Future Care Networks for an Aging U.S. Population. The Gerontologist 64(2):gnad036.
- Zexi Zhou, Shiyang Zhang, Yijung K. Kim, Kira S Birditt. 2024. Need to belong, daily social engagement, and transient loneliness in late life. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 41(1):115-136.
- Kira S Birditt, Newton, Nicky J, Angela Elizabeth Turkelson, Polenick, Courtney A, Zhou, Zexi, Fingerman, Karen L. 2024. Daily Rumination among Older Men and Women: The Role of Perceived Family and Non-Family Social Partner Life Stress. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B
- Megan E Patrick, Yvonne M Terry-McElrath, Sarah Peterson, Kira S Birditt. 2023. Age- and Sex-Varying Associations Between Depressive Symptoms and Substance Use from Modal Ages 35 to 55 in a National Sample of U.S. Adults. Prevention Science 24:852-862.
- Ng, Yee To, Fingerman, Karen L, Kira S Birditt. 2023. Friendships and Emotional Well-being in the Context of Race and Age. The Gerontologist 63(7):1129-1139.
- Joan K. Monin, Gail McAvay, Talha Ali, Brooke C. Feeney, Richard Marottoli, Joseph E. Gaugler, Kira S Birditt. 2023. Activities of Daily Living Needs and Support in Adult Child-Parent Dyads. GeroPsych 36(2)
- Kira S Birditt, Angela Elizabeth Turkelson, Javaid, Sarah, Richard D Gonzalez, Toni C Antonucci. 2023. Implications of Cumulative Life Event Stress for Daily Stress Exposure and Cardiovascular Reactivity Among Black and White Americans. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B 78(7):1224-1235.