The Role of Selection in Health Production and Aging Process
Selection is prevalent and consequential in the population patterns of health and mortality. This project investigates the role of selection in health production and aging process over the life course and across birth cohorts. It encompasses four subprojects: (1) how selection may contribute to the evolving relationship between health and health determinants (e.g., marriage, education) over the life course, and the contingency in this relationship across the selection spectrum; (2) how different ages of onset of obesity, weight loss, and mortality selection effects may change the population compositions of body mass index groups across the life course and impact the aggregate observed effect of obesity on mortality over ages; (3) how mortality selection and cohort evolution mechanisms shape the rate of demographic aging, the rate of biological aging, and age-dependent mortality patterns across birth cohorts in both early and later transition countries; and (4) how changes in the level and variance of unobserved frailty over time may complicate the interpretation of cohort trends in health disparities and life expectancy and how to evaluate the bias due to this selection dynamics.
Zheng, Hui. 2020. “Unobserved Population Heterogeneity and Dynamics of Health Disparities.” Demographic Research 43: 1009-1048.
Zheng, Hui, Paola Echave, and Neil Mehta. Forthcoming. “Obesity-Mortality Link over the Life Course: The Contribution of Population Compositional Changes.” Biodemography and Social Biology.
Zheng, Hui and Siwei Cheng. 2018. “A Simulation Study of the Role of Cohort Forces in Mortality Patterns.” Biodemography and Social Biology 64 (3-4): 216-236.
Tumin, Dmitry, and Hui Zheng. 2018. “Do the Health Benefits of Marriage Depend on the Likelihood of Marriage?” Journal of Marriage and Family 80: 622-636.
Zheng, Hui. 2017. “Why Does College Education Matter? Unveiling the Contributions of Selection Factors.” Social Science Research 68: 59-73.
Zheng, Hui, and Jonathan Dirlam. 2016. “The BMI-Mortality Link across the Life Course: Two Selection Biases and Their Effects.” Plos One. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148178.
Zheng, Hui, Yang Yang and Kenneth C Land. 2016. “Age-Specific Variation in Adult Mortality Rates in Developed Countries.” Population Research and Policy Review 35: 49-71.
Zheng, Hui. 2014. “Aging in the Context of Cohort Evolution and Mortality Selection.” Demography 51(4):1295-1317. PMCID: PMC4110171.
Social and Policy Determinants of Health
Zheng, Hui, Jacob Tarrence, Vincent Roscigo, and Scott Schieman. “Workplace Financial Transparency and Stress.” Social Science Research.
Zheng, Hui and Linda K. George. 2018. “Does Medical Expansion Improve Population Health?” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 59(1): 113-132.
- Freidson Outstanding Publication Award Honorable Mention from the ASA Medical Sociology Section, 2019
Zang, Emma, and Hui Zheng. 2018. “Does the Sex Ratio at Sexual Maturity Affect Men’s Later Life Mortality Risks?” Social Science & Medicine 202: 61-69.
Tumin, Dmitry, and Hui Zheng. 2018. “Do the Health Benefits of Marriage Depend on the Likelihood of Marriage?” Journal of Marriage and Family 80: 622-636.
Zheng, Hui. 2017. “Why Does College Education Matter? Unveiling the Contributions of Selection Factors.” Social Science Research 68: 59-73.
Dirlam, Jonathan, and Hui Zheng. 2017. “Job Satisfaction Trajectories and Health: A Life Course Perspective.” Social Science & Medicine 178: 95-103.
He, Wei, and Hui Zheng. 2017. “Under the One Child Policy Regime in China: Did Having Younger Sibling(s) Increase the Risk of Overweight and Underweight?” Asian Population Studies 13: 267-291.
Zheng, Hui. 2015. “Losing Confidence in Medicine in an Era of Medical Expansion?” Social Science Research 52: 701-715.
Zheng, Hui. 2015. “Why Has Medicine Expanded? The Role of Consumers.” Social Science Research 52: 34-46.
He, Wei, Sherman James, Givonna Merli, and Hui Zheng. 2014. “An Increasing Socioeconomic Gap in Childhood Overweight and Obesity in China.” American Journal of Public Health 104(1):e14-22.
Zheng, Hui, and Patricia A. Thomas. 2013. “Marital Status, Self-Rated Health, and Mortality: Overestimation of Health or Diminishing Protection of Marriage?” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 54(1): 128-43.
Zheng, Hui, and Linda K. George. 2012. “Rising U.S. Income Inequality and the Changing Gradient of Socioeconomic Status on Physical Functioning and Activity Limitations, 1984-2007.” Social Science & Medicine 75(12): 2170-82.
Zheng, Hui. 2012. “Do People Die from Income Inequality of A Decade Ago?” Social Science & Medicine 75(1): 36-45.
Zheng, Hui. 2009. “Rising U.S. Income Inequality, Gender, and Individual’s Self-Rated Health, 1972-2004.” Social Science and Medicine 69(9): 1333-42.
Trend and Heterogeneity in Aging, Mortality and Life Span
Zheng, Hui, and Paola Echave. Forthcoming. “Are Recent Cohorts Getting Worse? Trends in U.S. Adult Physiological Status, Mental Health, and Health Behaviors across a Century of Birth Cohorts.” American Journal of Epidemiology.
Zheng, Hui. Forthcoming. “A New Look at Cohort Trend and Underlying Mechanisms in Cognitive Functioning.” The Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences.
Zheng, Hui, Jonathan Dirlam, and Paola Echave. Forthcoming. “Divergent Trends in the Effects of Early-Life Factors on Adult Health.” Population Research and Policy Review.
Zheng, Hui. 2020. “Unobserved Population Heterogeneity and Dynamics of Health Disparities.” Demographic Research 43: 1009-1048.
Zang, Emma, Hui Zheng, Yang Claire Yang, and Kenneth C Land. 2019. “Recent Trends in U.S. Mortality in Early and Middle Adulthood: Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Inter-Cohort Patterns.” International Journal of Epidemiology, dyy255, https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyy255.
Zheng, Hui and Siwei Cheng. 2018. “A Simulation Study of the Role of Cohort Forces in Mortality Patterns.” Biodemography and Social Biology 64 (3-4): 216-236.
Zheng, Hui, Yang Yang and Kenneth C Land. 2016. “Age-Specific Variation in Adult Mortality Rates in Developed Countries.” Population Research and Policy Review 35: 49-71.
Zheng, Hui. 2014. “Aging in the Context of Cohort Evolution and Mortality Selection.” Demography 51(4):1295-1317. PMCID: PMC4110171.
Zheng, Hui, Yang Yang, and Kenneth C Land. 2011. “Heterogeneity in the Strehler-Mildvan General Theory of Mortality and Aging.” Demography 48: 267-90.
Modeling Trends in Health Disparities and Life Expectancy Gap
Zheng, Hui. 2020. “Unobserved Population Heterogeneity and Dynamics of Health Disparities.” Demographic Research 43: 1009-1048.
Mehta, Neil K, Hui Zheng, and Mikko Myrskyla. 2019. “How Do Age and Major Risk Factors for Mortality Interact over the Life-Course? Implications for Health Disparities Research and Public Health Policy.” Social Science & Medicine – Population Health.
Zheng, Hui, Yang Yang and Kenneth C Land. 2016. “Age-Specific Variation in Adult Mortality Rates in Developed Countries.” Population Research and Policy Review 35: 49-71.
Reither, Eric, Ryan Masters, Y. Claire Yang, Daniel Powers, Hui Zheng, and Kenneth Land. 2015. “Should Age-Period-Cohort Studies Return to the Methodologies of the 1970s?” Social Science & Medicine 128: 356-365.
Zheng, Hui, Yang Yang, and Kenneth C. Land. 2013. “Heteroscedastic Regression Models for the Systematic Analysis of Residual Variances.” Pp. 133-152 in Handbook of Causal Analysis for Social Research, edited by S.L. Morgan. New York: Springer.
Zheng, Hui, and Kenneth C Land. 2012. “Composition and Decomposition in U.S. Gender-Specific Self-Reported Health Disparities, 1984-2007.” Social Science Research 41(2): 477-88.
Zheng, Hui, Yang Yang, and Kenneth C Land. 2011. “Variance Function Regression in Hierarchical Age-Period-Cohort Models, with Applications to the Study of Self-Reported Health.” American Sociological Review 76(6): 955-83. PMCID:PMC3419541.
Impact of Life Course Dynamics of Obesity on Mortality
Zheng, Hui, Paola Echave, Neil Mehta, and Mikko Myrskyla. “Obesity and Mortality Risk: Life-long Body Mass Index Trajectories from Two Generations.” Annals of Epidemiology.
Zheng, Hui, Paola Echave, and Neil Mehta. Forthcoming. “Obesity-Mortality Link over the Life Course: The Contribution of Population Compositional Changes.” Biodemography and Social Biology.
Zheng, Hui, and Jonathan Dirlam. 2016. “The BMI-Mortality Link across the Life Course: Two Selection Biases and Their Effects.” Plos One. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148178.
Zheng, Hui, and Dmitry Tumin (equal authorship). 2015. “Variation in the Effects of Family Background and Birth Region on Adult Obesity: Results of a Prospective Cohort Study of a Great Depression-Era American Cohort.” BMC-Public Health. doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1870-7.
Zheng, Hui, Dmitry Tumin, and Zhenchao Qian. 2013. “Obesity and Mortality Risk: New Findings from BMI Trajectories.” American Journal of Epidemiology 178(11):1591-9.
Zheng, Hui, and Yang Yang. 2012. “Population Heterogeneity in the Impact of Body Weight on Mortality.” Social Science & Medicine 75(6): 990-6.
Selection is prevalent and consequential in the population patterns of health and mortality. This project investigates the role of selection in health production and aging process over the life course and across birth cohorts. It encompasses four subprojects: (1) how selection may contribute to the evolving relationship between health and health determinants (e.g., marriage, education) over the life course, and the contingency in this relationship across the selection spectrum; (2) how different ages of onset of obesity, weight loss, and mortality selection effects may change the population compositions of body mass index groups across the life course and impact the aggregate observed effect of obesity on mortality over ages; (3) how mortality selection and cohort evolution mechanisms shape the rate of demographic aging, the rate of biological aging, and age-dependent mortality patterns across birth cohorts in both early and later transition countries; and (4) how changes in the level and variance of unobserved frailty over time may complicate the interpretation of cohort trends in health disparities and life expectancy and how to evaluate the bias due to this selection dynamics.
Zheng, Hui. 2020. “Unobserved Population Heterogeneity and Dynamics of Health Disparities.” Demographic Research 43: 1009-1048.
Zheng, Hui, Paola Echave, and Neil Mehta. Forthcoming. “Obesity-Mortality Link over the Life Course: The Contribution of Population Compositional Changes.” Biodemography and Social Biology.
Zheng, Hui and Siwei Cheng. 2018. “A Simulation Study of the Role of Cohort Forces in Mortality Patterns.” Biodemography and Social Biology 64 (3-4): 216-236.
Tumin, Dmitry, and Hui Zheng. 2018. “Do the Health Benefits of Marriage Depend on the Likelihood of Marriage?” Journal of Marriage and Family 80: 622-636.
Zheng, Hui. 2017. “Why Does College Education Matter? Unveiling the Contributions of Selection Factors.” Social Science Research 68: 59-73.
Zheng, Hui, and Jonathan Dirlam. 2016. “The BMI-Mortality Link across the Life Course: Two Selection Biases and Their Effects.” Plos One. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148178.
Zheng, Hui, Yang Yang and Kenneth C Land. 2016. “Age-Specific Variation in Adult Mortality Rates in Developed Countries.” Population Research and Policy Review 35: 49-71.
Zheng, Hui. 2014. “Aging in the Context of Cohort Evolution and Mortality Selection.” Demography 51(4):1295-1317. PMCID: PMC4110171.
Social and Policy Determinants of Health
Zheng, Hui, Jacob Tarrence, Vincent Roscigo, and Scott Schieman. “Workplace Financial Transparency and Stress.” Social Science Research.
Zheng, Hui and Linda K. George. 2018. “Does Medical Expansion Improve Population Health?” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 59(1): 113-132.
- Freidson Outstanding Publication Award Honorable Mention from the ASA Medical Sociology Section, 2019
Zang, Emma, and Hui Zheng. 2018. “Does the Sex Ratio at Sexual Maturity Affect Men’s Later Life Mortality Risks?” Social Science & Medicine 202: 61-69.
Tumin, Dmitry, and Hui Zheng. 2018. “Do the Health Benefits of Marriage Depend on the Likelihood of Marriage?” Journal of Marriage and Family 80: 622-636.
Zheng, Hui. 2017. “Why Does College Education Matter? Unveiling the Contributions of Selection Factors.” Social Science Research 68: 59-73.
Dirlam, Jonathan, and Hui Zheng. 2017. “Job Satisfaction Trajectories and Health: A Life Course Perspective.” Social Science & Medicine 178: 95-103.
He, Wei, and Hui Zheng. 2017. “Under the One Child Policy Regime in China: Did Having Younger Sibling(s) Increase the Risk of Overweight and Underweight?” Asian Population Studies 13: 267-291.
Zheng, Hui. 2015. “Losing Confidence in Medicine in an Era of Medical Expansion?” Social Science Research 52: 701-715.
Zheng, Hui. 2015. “Why Has Medicine Expanded? The Role of Consumers.” Social Science Research 52: 34-46.
He, Wei, Sherman James, Givonna Merli, and Hui Zheng. 2014. “An Increasing Socioeconomic Gap in Childhood Overweight and Obesity in China.” American Journal of Public Health 104(1):e14-22.
Zheng, Hui, and Patricia A. Thomas. 2013. “Marital Status, Self-Rated Health, and Mortality: Overestimation of Health or Diminishing Protection of Marriage?” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 54(1): 128-43.
Zheng, Hui, and Linda K. George. 2012. “Rising U.S. Income Inequality and the Changing Gradient of Socioeconomic Status on Physical Functioning and Activity Limitations, 1984-2007.” Social Science & Medicine 75(12): 2170-82.
Zheng, Hui. 2012. “Do People Die from Income Inequality of A Decade Ago?” Social Science & Medicine 75(1): 36-45.
Zheng, Hui. 2009. “Rising U.S. Income Inequality, Gender, and Individual’s Self-Rated Health, 1972-2004.” Social Science and Medicine 69(9): 1333-42.
Trend and Heterogeneity in Aging, Mortality and Life Span
Zheng, Hui, and Paola Echave. Forthcoming. “Are Recent Cohorts Getting Worse? Trends in U.S. Adult Physiological Status, Mental Health, and Health Behaviors across a Century of Birth Cohorts.” American Journal of Epidemiology.
Zheng, Hui. Forthcoming. “A New Look at Cohort Trend and Underlying Mechanisms in Cognitive Functioning.” The Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences.
Zheng, Hui, Jonathan Dirlam, and Paola Echave. Forthcoming. “Divergent Trends in the Effects of Early-Life Factors on Adult Health.” Population Research and Policy Review.
Zheng, Hui. 2020. “Unobserved Population Heterogeneity and Dynamics of Health Disparities.” Demographic Research 43: 1009-1048.
Zang, Emma, Hui Zheng, Yang Claire Yang, and Kenneth C Land. 2019. “Recent Trends in U.S. Mortality in Early and Middle Adulthood: Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Inter-Cohort Patterns.” International Journal of Epidemiology, dyy255, https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyy255.
Zheng, Hui and Siwei Cheng. 2018. “A Simulation Study of the Role of Cohort Forces in Mortality Patterns.” Biodemography and Social Biology 64 (3-4): 216-236.
Zheng, Hui, Yang Yang and Kenneth C Land. 2016. “Age-Specific Variation in Adult Mortality Rates in Developed Countries.” Population Research and Policy Review 35: 49-71.
Zheng, Hui. 2014. “Aging in the Context of Cohort Evolution and Mortality Selection.” Demography 51(4):1295-1317. PMCID: PMC4110171.
Zheng, Hui, Yang Yang, and Kenneth C Land. 2011. “Heterogeneity in the Strehler-Mildvan General Theory of Mortality and Aging.” Demography 48: 267-90.
Modeling Trends in Health Disparities and Life Expectancy Gap
Zheng, Hui. 2020. “Unobserved Population Heterogeneity and Dynamics of Health Disparities.” Demographic Research 43: 1009-1048.
Mehta, Neil K, Hui Zheng, and Mikko Myrskyla. 2019. “How Do Age and Major Risk Factors for Mortality Interact over the Life-Course? Implications for Health Disparities Research and Public Health Policy.” Social Science & Medicine – Population Health.
Zheng, Hui, Yang Yang and Kenneth C Land. 2016. “Age-Specific Variation in Adult Mortality Rates in Developed Countries.” Population Research and Policy Review 35: 49-71.
Reither, Eric, Ryan Masters, Y. Claire Yang, Daniel Powers, Hui Zheng, and Kenneth Land. 2015. “Should Age-Period-Cohort Studies Return to the Methodologies of the 1970s?” Social Science & Medicine 128: 356-365.
Zheng, Hui, Yang Yang, and Kenneth C. Land. 2013. “Heteroscedastic Regression Models for the Systematic Analysis of Residual Variances.” Pp. 133-152 in Handbook of Causal Analysis for Social Research, edited by S.L. Morgan. New York: Springer.
Zheng, Hui, and Kenneth C Land. 2012. “Composition and Decomposition in U.S. Gender-Specific Self-Reported Health Disparities, 1984-2007.” Social Science Research 41(2): 477-88.
Zheng, Hui, Yang Yang, and Kenneth C Land. 2011. “Variance Function Regression in Hierarchical Age-Period-Cohort Models, with Applications to the Study of Self-Reported Health.” American Sociological Review 76(6): 955-83. PMCID:PMC3419541.
Impact of Life Course Dynamics of Obesity on Mortality
Zheng, Hui, Paola Echave, Neil Mehta, and Mikko Myrskyla. “Obesity and Mortality Risk: Life-long Body Mass Index Trajectories from Two Generations.” Annals of Epidemiology.
Zheng, Hui, Paola Echave, and Neil Mehta. Forthcoming. “Obesity-Mortality Link over the Life Course: The Contribution of Population Compositional Changes.” Biodemography and Social Biology.
Zheng, Hui, and Jonathan Dirlam. 2016. “The BMI-Mortality Link across the Life Course: Two Selection Biases and Their Effects.” Plos One. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148178.
Zheng, Hui, and Dmitry Tumin (equal authorship). 2015. “Variation in the Effects of Family Background and Birth Region on Adult Obesity: Results of a Prospective Cohort Study of a Great Depression-Era American Cohort.” BMC-Public Health. doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1870-7.
Zheng, Hui, Dmitry Tumin, and Zhenchao Qian. 2013. “Obesity and Mortality Risk: New Findings from BMI Trajectories.” American Journal of Epidemiology 178(11):1591-9.
Zheng, Hui, and Yang Yang. 2012. “Population Heterogeneity in the Impact of Body Weight on Mortality.” Social Science & Medicine 75(6): 990-6.