Division of Behavioral and Social Research

BSR has commissioned a number of National Academies reports on topics such as global aging trends; data confidentiality and accessibility; health care cost growth and output measurement; and the psychology of aging. BSR has produced a CD which contains PDFs of these reports. For a copy, or for more information, please contact BSRQuery@nia.nih.gov.

Assessing the Impact of Severe Economic Recession on the Elderly

The economic crisis and recession that began in 2008 has had a significant impact on the well-being of certain segments of the population, and its disruptive effects can be expected to last well into the future. NIA, concerned with this issue as it affects the older population in the United States, asked the Committee on Population to review existing and ongoing research and to delineate the nature and dimensions of potential scientific inquiry in this area. Under NIA’s sponsorship, CPOP convened a meeting of experts to discuss these issues. A workshop report is available.

Preparing for the Challenges of Population Aging in Asia

As part of an ongoing project to review the data needs to meet the new and emerging challenges posed by an aging Asia, The Committee on Population at the National Research Council has convened a series of meetings to provide an opportunity for Asian policymakers from several countries to interact with leading scientists from a variety of disciplines to review the existing evidence on economic security, health, and living conditions of older people and the ways in which critical changes are affecting their well-being. The members of the Panel, in conjunction with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy, the Indonesian Academy of Sciences and the Science Council of Japan, issued a report in advance of the meeting.

Panel on Understanding Divergent Trends in Longevity in High-Income Countries

The Committee on Population of the National Research Council (NRC) established a Panel on Understanding Divergent Trends in Longevity in High-Income Countries to examine trends in life expectancy at older ages, to identify possible lessons about modifiable risk factors, and to discern implications for the future trajectory of mortality at advanced ages. The Panel commissioned a series of papers and issued a Panel Report.

Accounting for Health and Healthcare: Approaches to Measuring the Costs and Sources of Their Improvement

The Panel to Advance a Research Program on the Design of National Health Accounts was established by the Committee on National Statistics to study and make recommendations about targeting research to improve and expand the knowledge base necessary for measuring changes in the population's health within an accouting framework. The Panel issued a Final Report describing the state of research and accounting methodologies, and on approaches for tracking productivity in the healthcare sector.

Conducting Biosocial Surveys—Collecting, Storing, Accessing and Protecting Biospecimens and Biodata

This report from an Panel convened by the Committee on Population, offers findings and recommendations concerning the best approaches to the collection, storage, use, and sharing of biospecimens gathered in social science surveys and the digital representations of biological data derived therefrom. It is aimed at researchers interested in carrying out such surveys, their institutions, and their funding agencies.

Grand Challenges of Aging

The National Academies organized a symposium called “The Grand Challenges of Our Aging Society,” held in Washington, DC, on May 28-29, 2009. Presentations in the fields of biology, public health, medicine, informatics, macroeconomics, finance, urban planning, and engineering approached the challenges of aging from many different angles. A Workshop Report is available.

Improving Health Care Cost Projections for the Medicare Population

A workshop was convened in January 2010 by the Committee on National Statistics to consider the current state and use of projections and simulation models and available data sources for the construction of cost projections for Medicare. A workshop report is available.

Improving the Measurement of Late-Life Disability in Population Surveys: Beyond ADLs and IADLs, Summary of a Workshop

The Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT), in collaboration with the Committee on Population (CPOP), convened a public workshop to review a number of methodological advances with an eye towards improving measurement of physical and cognitive limitations in population surveys of older adults. The workshop focused on disability measures suitable for population surveys and that are most relevant for monitoring trends and policy-oriented research and evaluation. A final report is available.

Biosocial Surveys

This report is the culmination of work undertaken by a Panel convened by the Committee on Population. The project emerged from a series of discussions and interchanges that started in 2005 and ended in mid-2007. A workshop, held in June 2006, considered (and the contributions to the book reflect) a few fundamental questions: What has been learned from what has already been done? What is the place of genetic information in social research? What new concepts and methods are being developed or need to be developed?

Aging in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recommendations for Furthering Research

Under the auspices of the Committee on Population, a Panel was organized to develop a series of workshops on advancing aging research in sub-Saharan Africa. The emphasis was on exploring ways in which to promote U.S. research interests and to augment sub-Saharan African governments’ capacity to address the many challenges posed by population aging. A final report is available.

Social Determinants of Health Among Older People

July 12-13, 2006, open meeting held in Washington DC - The US National Research Council's Committee on Population convened a panel of leading social and behavioral researchers with expertise in population aging and adult health to review the initial analytical and strategic documents of the Commission's nine "knowledge networks." The panel was specifically asked to identify additional recent studies on adult health at older ages that might bear on the Commission's deliberations and identify potential areas of interventions aimed at moderating the effects of the social determinants of health among older people. A report is available.

When I’m 64

To further advance understanding of how social and individual factors can improve the health and functioning of older adults, the National Research Council tasked the Committee on Aging Frontiers in Social Psychology, Personality, and Adult Developmental Psychology with exploring research opportunities in social, personality, and adult developmental psychology. A final report is available.

Health and Safety Needs of Older Workers

Health and Safety Needs of Older Workers provides an image of what is currently known about the health and safety needs of older workers and the research needed to encourage social policies that guarantee older workers a meaningful share of the nation’s work opportunities. A final report is available.

Technology for Adaptive Aging

Technology for Adaptive Aging is the product of a workshop that brought together distinguished experts in aging research and in technology to discuss applications of technology to communication, education and learning, employment, health, living environments, and transportation for older adults. It includes all of the workshop papers and the report of the committee that organized the workshop. The committee report synthesizes and evaluates the points made in the workshop papers and recommends priorities for federal support of translational research in technology for older adults.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life

A panel under the direction of the Committee on Population held a series of meetings to discuss current research on disparities in health in let life and to make recommendations on a research agenda and set of priorities for further study and interventions. A series of commissioned papers and a final report are available

Elder Mistreatment

The National Research Council, through the Committee on National Statistics, established a panel of experts to assess the current state of knowledge in the area of elder mistreatment and to formulate a set of recommendations for a research agenda in that field. The panel issued a report which notes research and data needs.

Preparing for an Aging World

The Committee on Population, a body within the National Research Council, was asked to convene a panel to review new research and demographic trend data to describe and provide recommendations for an international research agenda and for the types of data needed to implement that agenda in the context of rapid demographic change. A final report is available.

The Aging Mind—Opportunities in Cognitive Research

The National Research Council was asked to identify areas of opportunity in which additional research support would substantially improve understanding of cognitive functioning in aging. The Committee on Future Directions for Cognitive Research on Aging was formed to identify highly promising opportunities in behavioral science, cognitive science, and neuroscience and at the conjunctions of these fields. A report is available.

Between Zeus and the Salmon: The Biodemography of Longevity

The product of a 1997 Committee on Population Panel commissioned by NIA, this volume deals with such diverse topics as the role of the elderly in other species and among human societies past and present, the contribution of evolutionary theory to our understanding of human longevity and intergenerational transfers, mathematical models for survival, and the potential for collecting genetic material in household surveys. Full text of this report is available

Improving Data on America’s Aging Population

The Committee on National Statistics and the Committee on Population convened a workshop in March 1996 to discuss data on the aging population that address the emerging and important social, economic, and health conditions of the older population. The purposes of the workshop were to identify how the population at older ages in the next few decades will differ from the older population today, to understand the underlying causes of those changes, to anticipate future problems and policy issues, and to suggest future needs for data for research in these areas. A report is available.

Demography of Aging

The Committee on Population, under the auspices of the National Research Council was tasked to review the current state of research and data on emerging trends in population aging and make recommendations on new and fruitful areas of research in the field of Demography and Aging. A final report is available.