Jingwen Liu
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
North Carolina State University
1911 Bldg, Room 344
jingwen.liu@ncsu.edu
My research focuses on aging and the life course, family demography, medical sociology, and social stratification and inequality. Leveraging national representative surveys, administrative records, and spatial data, I apply advanced quantitative methods to address theoretically driven questions from life-course, intersectional, and comparative perspectives.
My ongoing projects explore two interconnected lines. The first line examines how family experiences, particularly kinlessness and bereavement, shape health and well-being across the life course. My second line investigates how environmental contexts, such as community violence and place-based social institutions, shape family formation and population health. Both lines draw on data from the United States, China, and Mexico and aim to advance our understanding of health disparities across social contexts.
My sole-authored papers have been published in the Journal of Marriage and Family and Social Science Research. My 2024 Journal of Marriage and Family paper received the ASA Best Student Paper Award from the Sociology of Mental Health Section in 2025.
Email / CV / Google Scholar / ResearchGate / NC State Profile
I plan to attend the 2026 GSA Annual Scientific Meeting in Annapolis in November and look forward to connecting with collaborators, friends, and colleagues.
NIA Demography & Economics of Aging Coordinating Center (DECC) Cross-Center Collaborative Pilot Grant
“Exposure to Community Violence and Cognitive Health among Older Adults in Mexico.” Mónica L. Caudillo, Jingwen Liu, Jennifer Ailshire, & Miguel Arce Rentería.
Mair, Christine A., Jingwen Liu, and Rosie Anderson. 2026. “Family Structure, ‘Kinlessness,’ and Cognitive Function by Region and Urbanicity.” Health and Place. Forthcoming.
Liu, Jingwen. 2025. “An Epidemic of Social Isolation? Age and Cohort Trends of Social Connectedness among Older Adults, 2004-2018” . Social Science Research. 131, 103212.
Liu, Jingwen. 2024. “Racial/Ethnic Differences in Living Arrangement, Distant Relations, and Later-Life Mental Health” . Journal of Marriage and Family. 86(2), 309-330.
Caudillo, Monica, Seungwan Kim, Jaein Lee, and Jingwen Liu. 2024. “Racial-Ethnic Disparities in Dyadic Pregnancy Intentions Preceding Births in the United States” . Population Research and Policy Review.
Liu, Jingwen and Zhiyong Lin. 2023. “Race/Ethnicity, Nativity, and Gender Disparities in Mental Health Trajectories from Mid- to Later-Life: A Life Course-Intersectional Approach” . Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
Liu, Jingwen and Feinian Chen. 2021. “Intergenerational Caregiving Patterns, Living Arrangements, and Life Satisfaction of Adults in Mid and Later Life in China” . Research on Aging. 44(7-8), 545-559.
In 2026, I serve as instructor of record for SOC 300: Social Research Methods at NC State (Fall) and SOCI 377: Health Disparities in the United States at Rice University (Spring).
I have extensive experience teaching and mentoring students across diverse disciplines and academic levels, including serving as a lab instructor for graduate-level statistics courses at the University of Maryland.
