Linda K. George CV

My research falls into three broad areas: (1) social factors and the onset, course, and outcome of mental and physical illness, (2) social factors and aging, and (3) the organization and delivery of health services. I am working on funded research projects in all three areas. I have been the principal and co-principal investigator of two major epidemiologic studies. The first examines social factors and mental illness throughout adulthood. The second focuses on social factors related to both physical and mental health among older adults. I also am director of the one core of the Clinical Research Center for the study of depression in later life, funded by NIMH. The focus of my CRC project is the effects of social factors on the course of outcome of geriatric depression. In all of these studies, tje social factors examined include age, gender, race, urban vs rural residence, socioeconomic status, social stress, and social relationships. The major health services project in which I am involved is a randomized trial of outpatient commitment. This study is evaluating the extent to which outpatient commitment can increase the odds that the chronically mentally ill will be able to live in the community rather than being subjected to frequent involuntary commitments to state mental hospitals. The importance of this project is its potential to demonstrate that outpatient commitment is a less coercive and less expensive form of treatment for the chronically mentally that also improves their quality of life.

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor Emeritus · 2018 - Present Sociology, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Professor Emerita of Sociology · 2018 - Present Sociology, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Associate Director in the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development · 1984 - Present Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Institutes and Centers

Faculty Research Scholar of DuPRI's Center for Population Health & Aging · 2011 - Present Center for Population Health & Aging, Duke Population Research Institute

In the News

Published May 5, 2016

Duke Awards Distinguished Professorships, Inducts New Bass Society Members

Published April 15, 2015

Divorce could be bad for your heart in more ways than one

Published October 14, 2014

Updated: March 5 Aging and Creativity Conference Cancelled

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Recent Publications

Does Medical Expansion Improve Population Health?

Journal Article Journal of health and social behavior · March 2018 Medical expansion has become a prominent dynamic in today's societies as the biomedical model becomes increasingly dominant in the explanation of health, illness, and other human problems and behavior. Medical expansion is multidimensional and represented ... Full text Cite

Research on religion and health: Time to be born again?

Chapter · January 11, 2018 Full text Cite

Relating Sensory, Cognitive, and Neural Factors to Older Persons' Perceptions about Happiness: An Exploratory Study.

Journal Article J Aging Res · 2018 Despite increased rates of disease, disability, and social losses with aging, seniors consistently report higher levels of subjective well-being (SWB), a construct closely related to happiness, than younger adults. In this exploratory study, we utilized an ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

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Recent Grants

Social, Medical and Economic Demography of Aging

Inst. Training Prgm or CMECo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 1997 - 2017

Gene regulatory analysis of social integration and resilience during aging

ResearchMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2016 - 2017

Doctoral Dissertation Research: 'We are Not Foreigners': Immigrant Status and Mental Health Among Ethnic Haitians in the Dominican Republic

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2014 - 2015

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Education, Training & Certifications

Duke University · 1975 Ph.D.

Miami University, Hamilton · 1972 M.A.

Miami University, Hamilton · 1969 B.A.

External Links

Curriculum Vita