Glen H. Elder, Jr.

Glen H. Elder, Jr., Research Professor of Sociology and Psychology and CPC fellow, has pursued a program of comparative and historical studies of the life course and aging. His Research Scientist and Spencer Senior Scholar awards from the National Institute of Mental Health, along with research grants, have supported a series of longitudinal studies that view aging and the life course in historical and ecological contexts.

Beginning in the 1980s, these studies have investigated the impact of military and wartime experiences in the life course and health of U.S. veterans, as well as the effect of rural change and dislocation on the intergenerational dynamics of aging. Elder directs the CPC's training program on the demography of aging and co-directs the Carolina Consortium on Human Development at UNC-CH. His classic book, Children of the Great Depression: Social Change in Life Experience, was reissued in 1999 by Westview Press to commemorate its 25th anniversary.