Profile

Yan Zhang, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Sociology

Department of Sociology, Texas State University

I study how family structure and family relationships influence older adults’ health and well-being, with a focus on risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. My work blends family demography, medical sociology, and gerontology from a life course perspective. Before joining Texas State, I served as an Assistant Professor at East Carolina University and a postdoctoral research scientist at the Center for Demography of Health and Aging at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I earned a Ph.D. in sociology at Michigan State University, an M.A. in sociology at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and a B.A. in sociology at China Agricultural University.

Family demographyPopulation healthAging & life courseQuantitative methodsComputational methods

Email & links Download CV

Research

Focus Areas

Family structures & care needs

How family structures and relationships shape older adults’ health and care needs, using nationally representative longitudinal datasets.

Care needs Longitudinal data Family structure

Parenthood, fertility, and dementia risk

Parenthood experience and fertility history linked to later-life dementia risk through a gendered life course perspective.

Dementia risk Fertility history Gendered life course

Computational methods for caregiving

Exploring computational approaches to study caregiving burden, especially among dementia caregivers.

Computational methods LLM Caregiving burden Dementia caregivers

Scholarship

Publications

Y Zhang, M Zhang. (2026). Large Language Model-Assisted Measurement of ADRD Caregiver Burden on Reddit. JMIR Aging. Forthcoming. https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.103305

Y Zhang. (2026). Family Structure and Transitions Into and Out of Homeboundness: Evidence from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, 2011–2024. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B. Forthcoming.

Y Zhang, I Kolam, D Tumin. (2025). Preinjury functional status is associated with functional status after hip fracture in older adults without preinjury perceived social support. International Journal of Rehabilitation Research.

Y Zhang. (2025). Parenthood and Health. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior, and Society.

Y Zhang*, J Fletcher. (2024). Research Note: The Association between Parity and Odds of Alzheimer's Disease and Dementias Status. Demography.

Y Zhang*, H Liu. (2024). Parent-Child Relationship Quality and Older Parents' Cognitive Trajectories. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

Y Zhang*, Y Yuan, M Roche-dean, R Gonzalez, I Vega. (2024). A Visualization Tool to Study Dyadic Caregiving Health Profiles. Journal of Aging and Health.

Y Zhang*, J Fletcher, QS Lu, J Song. (2023). Gender Difference in the Association between Parity and Cognitive Function: Evidence from the UK Biobank. Social Science & Medicine.

J Kong, S Easton, Y Zhang. (2022). Sexual and Marital Satisfaction in Older Adulthood: Effects of Childhood and Adulthood Violence Exposure. The Gerontologist.

Y Zhang*. (2022). Fertility History and Risk of Cognitive Impairment Among Older Parents in The United States. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B.

Z Zhang, H Liu, Y Zhang. (2022). Marital Loss and Cognitive Function: Does Timing Matter?. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B.

Y Zhang*, J Fletcher. (2021). Parental Status in Later Life and Parents’ Risk of Cognitive Impairment. SSM - Population Health.

H Liu, Z Zhang, Y Zhang. (2021). A National Longitudinal Study of Marital Quality and Cognitive Decline among Older Men and Women. Social Science & Medicine.

Y Zhang*, H Liu. (2021). Individual’s Gender Ideology and Happiness in China. Chinese Sociological Review.

H Liu, N Hsieh, Z Zhang, Y Zhang, KM Langa. (2021). Same-sex Couples and Cognitive Impairment: Evidence From the Health and Retirement Study. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B.

Y Zhang, H Liu. (2020). A National Longitudinal Study of Partnered Sex, Relationship Quality, and Mental Health among Older Adults. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B.

H Liu, Y Zhang, SA Burgard, BL Needham. (2019). Marital Status and Cognitive Impairment in the United States: Evidence From the National Health and Aging Trends Study. Annals of Epidemiology.

H Liu, IC Chen, L Wilkinson, J Pearson, Y Zhang. (2019). Sexual Orientation and Diabetes During the Transition to Adulthood. LGBT Health.

Research funding

Funded Grants

2026

Emerging Scholar Pilot Project

Center on Aging and Population Sciences, University of Texas–Austin

$33,655 PI: Yan Zhang

2024

Rapid Pilot Grant

Center for Demography of Health and Aging, University of Wisconsin–Madison

$10,733 PI: Yan Zhang

Open science

Preprints

Boyan Zheng, Yan Zhang & Jason Fletcher. (2023). Estimating Causal Effects between Number of Children and Older Parents’ Cognitive Function Using HRS Data and IV Approach. Social ArXiv.

Yan Zhang, Zhiyong Lin, Hui Liu. (2022). Rely on Your Spouse or Your Kid(s)?: Marital Status, Parental Status, and Unmet Care Needs of Older Adults with and without Dementia. Social ArXiv.

Pipeline

Under review

Yan Zhang, Zhiyong Lin. Parental Status, Family Complexity, and Unmet Care Needs in Later Life.

Yan Zhang, Mingfei Zhang. Mapping Fertility Narratives at Scale Using Large Language Models.

Yan Zhang, Jada Morris, Dmitry Tumin. Health Insurance Coverage Gaps and Preventive Healthcare Use after Medicare Eligibility.

Haowei Wang, Catherine Garcia, Yan Zhang, Jeung Hyun Kim, Marc A Garcia. State Policy, Immigrant Status, and Disability among Midlife Asian Americans.

Haowei Wang, Catherine Garcia, Yan Zhang, Jeung Hyun Kim, Marc A Garcia. Beyond Aggregated Advantage: Heterogeneous Age Patterns of Disability Across Pan-ethnic Asian Americans.

Michael Kovasala, Em Long-Mills, Yan Zhang, Dmitry Tumin. Bidirectional relationship between cognitive function and pain in a longitudinal study of older adults.

Contact

Let’s collaborate

Email Yan

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Based in San Marcos, TX.