Dr. Zhang’s current research projects focus on how social relationships over the life course produce health inequalities in later life in the United States and China. One NIA-funded project examines how marital biography affects the risk of dementia in later life. Another investigates the long-term health consequences of several indicators of childhood social environment (e.g., relationship with peers, parent-child relationship, and neighborhood cohesion) in China.
Zhenmei Zhang, Hui Liu, and Seung-won Choi. 2020. “Early-life Characteristics, Midlife Socioeconomic Status, and Late-life cognition: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.” Social Science & Medicine.
Yan-Liang Yu and Zhenmei Zhang. 2020. “Relationship Quality and Functional Limitations Among Older Adults with Cardiovascular Disease in the United States.” Ageing & Society, 40(8), 1694-1717.
Liu, Hui, Zhenmei Zhang, Seung-won Choi, and Kenneth M Langa. 2019. “Marital Status and Dementia: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study.” Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.
Zhang, Zhenmei., Lydia Li, Hongwei Xu, and Jinyu Liu. 2019. "Does Widowhood Affect Cognitive Function Among Chinese Older Adults?" Social Science & Medicine – Population Health, 7, 100329.
Luo, Ye, Xi Pan, and Zhenmei Zhang. 2019. “Productive Activities and Cognitive Decline Among Older Adults in China: Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.” Social Science and Medicine, 229, 96-105.
Liu, Jinyu, Lydia Li, Zhenmei Zhang, and Hongwei Xu. 2019. “Intergenerational Coresidence and Depressive Symptoms of Rural and Urban Older Adults in China.” Journal of Family Issues.
Choi, Seung-won and Zhenmei Zhang. 2018. “Grandparenting and Self-rated Health Among Korean Older Women.” Research on Aging. 40(10):911-932.
Xu, Hongwei, Zhenmei Zhang, Lydia Li, and Jinyu Liu. 2018 “Early-Life Exposure to China’s 1959-61 Famine and Midlife Cognition.” International Journal of Epidemiology. 47(1):109-120.
Zhang, Zhenmei, Jinyu Liu, Lydia Li, and Hongwei Xu. 2018. “The Long Arm of Childhood in China: Early-Life Conditions and Cognitive Function Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults.” Journal of Aging and Health. 30(8): 1319-1344.
Zhang, Zhenmei and I-Fen Lin. 2017. “Intergenerational Support Among Widowed Older Adults in China.” International Journal of Population Studies, 3(1): 94–109.
Yu, Yan-Liang and Zhenmei Zhang. 2017. “Interracial Marriage and Self-Reported Health of Whites and Blacks in the United States.” Population Research and Policy Review. 36(6): 851–870.
Zhang, Zhenmei, Mark D. Hayward, and Yan-Liang Yu. 2016. “Life Course Pathways to Racial Disparities in Cognitive Impairment Among Older Americans.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 57(2): 184-199.
Xu, Hongwei, Lydia Li, Zhenmei Zhang, and Jinyu Liu. 2016. “Is Natural Experiment a Cure? Re- examining the Long-Term Health Effects of China’s 1959-1961 Famine.” Social Science and Medicine. 148:110-122.
Luo, Ye, Zhenmei Zhang, and Danan Gu. 2015. “Education and Mortality Among Older Adults in China.” Social Science and Medicine. 127:134-42.