Within-Family Differences Study
Investigators
J. Jill Suitor
PI
J. Jill Suitor, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and a member of the Center on Aging and the Life Course at Purdue University. Her research focuses primarily on the relationship between parents and adult children. Since 2000, she has led the Within-Family Differences Study, a panel investigation of the predictors and consequences of parental favoritism in the middle and later years among more than 500 multigenerational families.
Megan Gilligan
Co-Investigator on the WFDS-III and Co-PI on the WFDS-B Feasibility Study
Megan Gilligan earned her dual-title Ph.D. in Sociology and Gerontology from Purdue in 2013. She is an Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies and a Faculty Associate of the Gerontology Program at Iowa State University. Dr. Gilligan’s research focuses on family relationships and well-being, with particular interest in parent-child and sibling relationships in the middle and later years.
Karl Pillemer
Co-PI on the WFDS-I&II
Dr. Karl Pillemer is the Hazel E. Reed Professor in the Department of Human Development and Professor of Gerontology in Medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College.WFDS Team Members
Marissa Rurka
Assistant Research and Evaluation Project Manager at The Center for Health and Research Transformation, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
Marissa Rurka earned her dual-title Ph.D. in Sociology and Gerontology from Purdue in 2021. She is a research and evaluation project manager at The Center for Health and Research Transformation (CHRT) at the University of Michigan. Her projects focus on healthy aging, family caregiving, and social determinants of health.
Siyun Peng
Assistant Research Scientist, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.
Siyun Peng earned his dual-title Ph.D. in Sociology and Gerontology from Purdue in 2019. His research focuses on health, aging, family, marriage, and social networks.
Yifei Hou
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Renmin University, Beijing, China
Yifei Hou earned her dual-title Ph.D. in Sociology and Gerontology from Purdue in 2022. Her research interest focuses on family relations and caregiving in Western and Chinese contexts, with particular interest in sibling substitution and gender roles.
ROBERT T. FRASE
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, August 2023
Robert T. Frase will recieve his Ph.D. in Sociology from Purdue and join the Department of Sociology at Southern Illinois University in August 2023. His research interests include health inequalities, education, and intergenerational relations.
Catherine Stepniak
Graduate Research Assistant
Catherine Stepniak is a dual-title Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and Gerontology, and a member of the Center on Aging and the Life Course at Purdue University. She is interested primarily in the association between family relationships and health in mid- and later-life, particularly within parent-adult child relationships.
REILLY KATE KINCAID
Graduate Research Assistant
Reilly Kincaid is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at Purdue University. Her research interests include parenting, gender, social psychology, family relationships across the life-course, and work-family issues. She uses both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Destiny Ogle
Graduate Research Assistant
rANRAN He
Graduate Research Assistant
Ranran He is a dual-title Ph.D. student in Sociology and Gerontology, and a member of the Center on Aging and the Life Course at Purdue University. Her research broadly focuses on family relationships and well-being across the life course, with a particular interest in the implications of technology-mediated interaction on intergenerational dynamics and health.