Anna Zajacova, Associate Professor

Biographical Information

Ph.D. Sociology and Demography, Princeton University
M.A. Sociology, Princeton University
B.A. Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York

Brief Bio

Dr. Zajacova earned a Ph.D. in Sociology and Demography from Princeton University in 2006.  Prior to her position as Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Wyoming, she was a National Institute on Aging Postdoctoral Fellow at the Population Studies Center and the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health at the University of Michigan from 2007-2009.   She was also an affiliate at the Population Research Center and a lecturer in the Mathematics Department at the University of Texas at Austin in 2006-2007.

Associations

• Population Association of America
• American Sociological Association
• Gerontological Society of America
• European Association for Population Studies

Teaching Interests

• social epidemiology
• medical sociology
• demography
• population health
• research methods
• statistics

Thesis Supervision

Supervisory Status: MA

Recent Publications (Past 5 Years)
for more see Full CV

(2019) "Marital Happiness, Marital Status, Health, and Longevity" (with Elizabeth M. Lawrence, Richard G. Rogers, Tim Wadsworth) Journal of Happiness Studies 20(5):1539-1561.

(2019) "Disability trends in Canada: 2001-2014 population estimates and correlates" (with Anthony Jehn) Canadian Journal of Public Health 110(3): 354-363.

(2019) "Educational Disparities in Adult Health: U.S. States as Institutional Actors on the Association" (Jennifer Karas Montez and Mark D. Hayward) Socius 5: 1-14.

(2019) "Educational Disparities in Adult Mortality Across U.S. States: How Do They Differ, and Have They Changed Since the Mid-1980s?" (with Jennifer Karas Montez) Demography 56(2): 621-644.

(2018) "Explaining the increasing disability prevalence among mid-life US adults, 2002 to 2016" Social Science & Medicine 211: 1-8.

(2018) "The Relationship Between Education and Health: Reducing Disparities Through a Contextual Approach" (with Elizabeth M. Lawrence) Annual Review of Public Health 39: 273-289.

(2018) "Persistent, Consistent, and Extensive: The Trend of Increasing Pain Prevalence in Older Americans" (with Zachary Zimmer) Journals of Gerontology. Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences gbx162:1-12.

(2018) "Does college major matter for women's and men's health in midlife? Examining the horizontal dimensions of educational attainment" (with Jennifer Karas Montez, Wencheng Zhang and Tod G.Hamilton) Social Science & Medicine 198: 130-138.

(2018) "Using Latent Variable Modeling for Discrete Time Survival Analysis: Examining the Links of Depression to Mortality" (with Tenko Raykov, Philip B. Gorelick and George A. Marcoulides) Structural Equation Modeling 25(2): 287-293.

(2018) "Discrete Time Survival Analysis Via Latent Variable Modeling: A Note on Lagged Depression Links to Stroke in Middle and Late Life" (Tenko Raykov, Philip B. Gorelick and George A. Marcoulides) Structural Equation Modeling 25(1): 115-120.

(2017) "Education, race/ethnicity, and multimorbidity among adults aged 30–64 in the National Health Interview Survey" (with Johnson-Lawrence and Rodlescia Sneed) SSM - Population Health 3(12): 366-372.

(2017) "Gender and the structure of self-rated health across the adult life span" (with Snehalata Huzurbazar and Megan Todd) Social Science & Medicine 187: 58-66.

(2017) "Predictive Strength of Self-Rated Health for Mortality Risk Among Older Adults in the United States: Does It Differ by Race and Ethnicity?" (with Hyeyoung Woo) Research on Aging 39(7):879-905.

(2017) "Disparities in Disability by Educational Attainment Across US States" (with Jennifer Karas Montez and Mark Hayward) American Journal of Public Health 107(7): 1101-1108.

(2017) "On the Potential of Discrete Time Survival Analysis Using Latent Variable Modeling: An Application to the Study of the Vascular Depression Hypothesis" (with Tenko Raykov, Philip B. Gorelick & George A. Marcoulides) Structural Equation Modeling 24(6): 926-935.

(2017) "Disability Rises Gradually for a Cohort of Older Americans" (Lois M. Verbrugge and Dustin C. Brown) Journals of Gerontology. Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences 72(1): 151-161.

(2017) "Macro-level perspective to reverse recent mortality increases" (with Jennifer Karas Montez) The Lancet 389(10073): 991-992.

(2017) "Physical Functioning Trends among US Women and Men Age 45–64 by Education Level" (with Jennifer Kaas Montez) Biodemography and Social Biology 63(1):21-30.

(2017) "The Health Penalty of the GED: Testing the Role of Noncognitive Skills, Health Behaviors, and Economic Factors" (with Jennifer Karas Montez) Social Science Quarterly 98(1): 1-15.

(2016) "Explaining inequalities in women's mortality between U.S. States" (with Jennifer Karas Montez and Mark D. Hayward) SSM - Population Health 2(2016): 561-571.

(2016) "Anomaly in the education-health gradient: Biomarker profiles among adults with subbaccalaureate attainment levels" (with Vicki Johnson-Lawrence) SSM - Population Health 2(2016):360-364.

(2016) "Educational Attainment and Mortality in the United States: Effects of Degrees, Years of Schooling, and Certification" (with Elizabeth M. Lawrence and Richard G. Rogers) Population Research and Policy Review 35(4): 501-525.

(2016) "Examination of Age Variations in the Predictive Validity of Self-Rated Health" (with Hyeyoung Woo) Journals of Gerontology. Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences 71(3): 551-557.

(2015) "Employment and income losses among cancer survivors: Estimates from a national longitudinal survey of American families" (with Jennifer B. Dowd, Robert F. Schoeni and Robert B. Wallace) Cancer 121(24): 4425–4432.

(2015) "Long-Term BMI Trajectories and Health in Older Adults: Hierarchical Clustering of Functional Curves" (with Snehalata Huzurbazar, Mark Greenwoodand Huong Nguyen) Journal of Aging and Health 27(8): 1-19.

(2015) "The Long Arm of Adolescent Health Among Men and Women: Does Attained Status Explain Its Association with Mid-Adulthood Health?" (with Katrina M. Walsemann, and Jennifer Beam Dowd) Population Research and Policy Review 34(1): 19-48.

(2015) "Long-term obesity and physical functioning in older Americans" (with Jennifer B. Dowd) International Journal of Obesity 39(3): 502-507.

(2015) "Accuracy of Telehealth-Administered Measures to Screen Language in Spanish-Speaking Preschoolers" (with Mark Guiberson and Barbara L. Rodríguez) Telemedicine and e-Health 21(9):714-720.

(2015) "Unpacking the ‘black box’ of total pathogen burden: is number or type of pathogens most predictive of all-cause mortality in the United States?" (with A. M. Simanek, J. B. Dowd and A. E. Aiello) Epidemiology & Infection 143(12): 2624-2634.

(2015) "Gender Differences in Hypertension and Hypertension Awareness Among Young Adults" (with Bethany Everett) Biodemography and Social Biology 61(1): 1-17.

(2015) "Predictors for Dioxin Accumulation in Residents Living in Da Nang and Bien Hoa, Vietnam, Many Years after Agent Orange Use" (with Diem T. Pham, H.M. Nguyen, T. Boivin, S. Huzurbazar and H.L. Bergman) Chemosphere 118: 277-283.

Dr. Zajacova’s research examines issues in population health, health inequalities, and social determinants of health over the adult life course. In particular, she aims to understand how educational experiences and attainment influence later-life health and longevity among adults and elderly. Some open central questions include: How do college experiences matter for health? Why is the high-school equivalency diploma (GED) associated with worse health than a standard high school graduation? Do adults who attended college but did not earn a credential benefit in terms of their health?

Additional topics Zajacova studies include

• Measurement properties of self-rated health: how do people assess their health?
• Excess body weight and its consequences over the lifecourse: under what circumstances is it detrimental?
• Health trends among US adults in 21st century: why are Americans becoming more sick?

Current Research Projects

Anomaly in the gradient: Health of U.S. adults with subbaccalaureate education

Clinical and Translational Research Infrastruc-ture Network CTR-IN IDeA CTR

Wage gains, but few health returns to some college: A role for employment histories?

Completed Research Projects
for more see Full CV

2015 "Trends in US Womens Health 1997-2014 by Education Level," Principal Investigator. $11,500 grant funded by Network on Life Course Health Dynamics and Disparities in 21st Century America.

2012-14 "Variability in long-term body weight trajectories among older adults, health, and mortality: implications for public health recommendations," Principal Investigator. $86,000 grant funded by Wyoming INBRE Pilot Project Grant.

2014 "College of Health Sciences Faculty Development in Aging Mini-Grant, Principal Investigator. $2,015 grant funded by Wyoming Geriatric Education Center.

2010-13 "Effect of Cancer on the Survivors' and their Families' Economic Well-Being," Principal Investigator. $99,300 grant funded by National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health.

2012-13 "Establishing the feasibility of functional data analysis for determining the health consequences of body weight changes among older adults, Principal Investigator. $6,800 grant funded by Institute of Translational Health Sciences, University of Washington.

2013 "College of Health Sciences Faculty Development in Aging Mini-Grant, Principal Investigator. $1,895 grant funded by Wyoming Geriatric Education Center.

2011 "The Relationship between BMI and Health Outcomes Among Older Adults," Principal Investigator. $10,000 grant funded by Northern Rockies IDeA Networks for Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) Program Research Support.

2010-11 "Shape of the Association between BMI and Biological Risk Indicators, Principal Investigator. $5,000 grant funded by University of Wyoming, Faculty Grant-in-Aid Program.

2008-11 "Understanding the role of stress and immune function in health disparities," Consultant, with Jennifer Beam Dowd.