BIOGRAPHY

Jingwen Liu is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociology at Rice University. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2024. Her 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, she applies advanced quantitative methods to address theoretically driven questions, particularly from life-course, intersectional, and comparative perspectives. Her sole-authored papers have been published in the Journal of Marriage and Family and Social Science Research. Her JMF paper received the ASA Best Student Paper Award from the Sociology of Mental Health Section in 2025.

She has three interrelated research lines. First, she examines family, kinlessness, and later-life health disparities in the United States. Her dissertation reveals substantial gender and racial/ethnic heterogeneities in older adults’ vulnerability and resilience in the face of increased risks of aging alone. Second, she studies how unequal, cumulative exposure to kin loss magnifies later-life health disparities in China. Third, she investigates how contextual forces, such as crime violence and social institutions (e.g., colleges/universities, military bases, and prisons/jails), shape family formation, fertility, and health in the U.S. and Mexico.

In Spring 2026, she serves as the instructor of record for SOCI 377: Health Disparities in the United States. She has 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.

UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS & PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

She will be attending the 2026 Population Association of America (PAA) Annual Meeting in St. Louis, MO, and looks forward to opportunities to connect with colleagues and collaborators.

Presenter, “Stratified Safety Nets: Race/Ethnicity in the Dynamic Bidirectional Relationship between Multigenerational Coresidence and Parenting Stress”
Paper Session: Parenthood & Wellbeing
Friday, May 8, 2026 • 9:30 AM–10:45 AM
Room 240 (subject to change)

Presenter, “Unequal Loss: Bereavement Trajectories and Later-Life Health Disparities in China”
Paper Session: Demographic Change and Family Inequality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Saturday, May 9, 2026 • 8:30 AM–9:45 AM
Room 280 (subject to change)

Session Chair, Flash Session: Life Course Health and Aging in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Thursday, May 7, 2026 • 9:30 AM–10:45 AM
Room 102 (subject to change)

NEWS

• Jan. 2026: Instructor of record for SOCI 377: Health Disparities in the United States
• Dec. 2025: Two papers accepted for presentation in PAA 2026
• Nov. 2025: Paper presented at GSA
• Aug. 2025: Paper presented at ASA
• Jul. 2025: Sole-authored paper published in Social Science Research
• Jun. 2025: Paper accepted for presentation at GSA 2025
• May 2025: Recipient of the ASA Best Student Paper Award from the Sociology of Mental Health Section
• Apr. 2025: Recipient of the PAA Best Poster Award
• Apr. 2025: Paper accepted for presentation in ASA 2025

RECENT PUBLICATIONS 

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.