Distinguished Professor, Department of Sociology

Email: g.spitze@albany.edu
Phone: (518) 442-4667
Office: Arts & Sciences 329

Curriculum Vitae | Publications | Grant Activity | Personal Website

Recent Scientific Accomplishments

Dr. Spitze, a prominent scholar of family relations, especially among the elderly, is currently involved in multiple collaborative projects with CSDA associates. With Mary Gallant of Public Health, she has been studying how family and friends influence self-management for older adults with chronic illnesses. Their article in Research on Aging, which draws on their previous NIA-funded focus-group research, demonstrates the ambivalence felt by older adults, who are often torn between feeling independent and feeling connected and cared for by their children. Another article reporting the major patterns of help and hindrance by friends and family is in a revise-and-resubmit status with Research on Aging, and a third focusing on older adults with diabetes is under review.
With sociologist Russell Ward, she has analyzed the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) data to examine patterns and consequences of adult children’s co-residence with parents. One paper, examining how such co-residence affects parents’ marriages, has appeared in the Journal of Gerontology (2004). There Spitze and Ward show that co-residence does not appear to disrupt marital quality, but rather is experienced as part of on-going and expected parent-child exchange. A companion piece (Research on Aging, in press) investigates predictors of co-residence and implications for parent-child and marital relations as children move from adolescence to young adulthood. There are again indications that co-residence is largely experienced as part of on-going parent-child exchanges. Collaborating with sociologist Katherine Trent, Spitze has been analyzing the NSFH data on relationships between adult siblings, and an article on this topic recently appeared in Journal of Marriage and Family. In it, they examine affective closeness, contact, and helping among adult siblings and find that most sibling relationships involve frequent contact and positive feelings. Sister pairs phone and exchange advice more often than do other sibling pairs; and women are more likely than men to report feeling close to or getting along with their siblings. Patterns for giving and receiving help appear to reflect gendered forms of intimacy and of household labor.

Funded Research

Spitze was Co-PI with Mary Gallant on the pilot project, “Social Networks, Culture, and Chronic Illness Management,” part of the NIH-funded Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities. This support, along with the results of the NIA-funded study mentioned above, is resulting in a proposal (targeted submission date: Spring, 2007) for a larger investigation of self-care among African-Americans, Latinos, and white older adults with chronic illnesses. 

Future Plans

Funding is expected to be awarded shortly for the NICHD proposal, “Sibling Influences on Parent-Adult Child Relations,” which received a priority score of 129 (2.5 percentile). In this project, Spitze, Ward and Glenn Deane will analyze longitudinal data on intergenerational relations, studying how characteristics of and relations with one adult child affect relations with other children. Spitze also expects to continue her work with Gallant, including the submission of the proposal noted above.