Research

My research meets at the intersection of aging, well-being, and health. Within these broad themes, a major focus of my work is on the construct sense of purpose (i.e., the extent to which individuals feel that they personally meaningful goals and direction guiding them through life). 

In particular, some of my main interests are:

• how to best measure sense of purpose in the short- and long-term

• the implications of purpose for lifespan development and cognitive aging, health, and well-being outcomes

• what co-occurs and predicts how purpose fluctuates in individuals' daily lives 

Though sense of purpose is often at the center of my research, I have some non-purpose related interests as well. For example, some of my other aging work has explored how the frequency of positive and negative emotions change as people age. Additionally, beyond the aging literature, I have explored the implications of video chat usage (and its related features) for body image.