Office:
242 McNeil Building
3718 Locust Walk
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Phone:
(215) 898-1535

Fax:
(215) 898-2124

E-mail:
bsoldo@pop.upenn.edu

CV (PDF)

Director, Population Aging Research Center
Distinguished Senior Scholar, Sociology
Research Associate, Population Studies Center

Ph.D.: Duke University, 1977, Sociology/Demography
M.A.: Duke University, 1973, Sociology/Demography
B.A.: Fordham University, 1970, Sociology (honors)


Beth J. Soldo is the Director of the Population Aging Research Center (PARC), an important component of Penn’s Population Studies Center.

Soldo is continuing her research on older families, education, and aging in Mexico and the utility of biomarkers for summarizing prospective disease risk and retrospective exposures in the past. Her proposal on “Family Culture and Intergenerational Allocations” (in parallel with John Henretta) was a response to a joint RFP from NICHD/NIA. The overall goal of this project is to establish family context for research on intergenerational transfers to both the offspring and parents of middle-aged adults.

Her work on the pathways by which education affects health outcomes in mid-and late-life makes use of the HRS and parallel data collected by Soldo in her 2001 and 2003 Mexican Health and Education Study (MHAS).

Soldo also is continuing her work on the HRS. During the past year she joined with Penn colleagues Hans-Peter Kohler and Jere Behrman to develop an HRS experimental module on life-cycle motives for inter-vivos transfers.

Current Projects:

A Comparative Approach to the SES Gradient: Aging and Selection (NIA)

Family Culture and Intergenerational Allocations (NIA)

Health and Retirement Study "HRS" (NIA)

Mexican Health and Aging Study "MHAS" (NIA)

Population Aging Research Center "PARC" (NIA)

Recent Publications

Books

Panel on Research Agenda for an Aging World. 2001. Preparing for an Aging World. Washington D.C.: National Academy of Science Press.

Linda G. Martin and Beth J. Soldo (eds.) 1997. Racial and Ethnic Differences in Late Life Health in the United States. Washington D.C.: National Academy of Science Press.

Journal Articles

R. Wong, K.E. Kitayama and B.J. Soldo. 1999. "Ethnic Differences in Time Transfers from Adult Children to Elderly Parents: Unobserved Heterogeneity across Families?" Research on Aging, 21(4): 144-175.

R. Wong, C.Capoferro, and B.J. Soldo. 1999. "Financial Assistance from Middle-aged Couples to Parents and Children: Racial and Ethnic Differences." Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences 54B(3): S145-S153.

Working Papers

B.J. Soldo and J.C. Henretta. 2005. "Dynamics of Nursing Home Admission Among the Elderly." Manuscript, prepared for the J. Of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

J. Pagan, A. Puig, and B. J. Soldo. 2005."Health insurance coverage and the use of preventive services." Revise and resubmit, March 2005, Health Economics

B.J. Soldo and R. Tafily. 2005. "Dynamics of Residential Arrangements of Older Women in Mexico." Manuscript prepared for Demography.

I. Kohler B.J Soldo. 2005. "Childhood predictors of Type 2 Diabetes in late life – Evidence from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS)."

Presented Papers

Crimmins, E., B.J. Soldo, and J.K. Kim. 2005. "Explaining the Hispanic Paradox in the United States using biomarkers for Mexicans in the United States and Mexico." Paper prepared for presentation at the meeting of the IUSSP, Tours, France

Soldo, B.J and R. Tfaily. 2005. "Dynamics of Residential Arrangements of Older Women in Mexico." Paper prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, Philadelphia, PA

Henretta, J.C. and B.J. Soldo. 2005. "Family Intergenerational Transfers to provide Long-term Care: Why do Families Differ from Each Other?" Paper prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, Philadelphia, PA