Mateo Farina
- Assistant Professor
- Human Development & Family Sciences
- Human Ecology
I am recruiting graduate students for Fall 2025 (application deadline is Dec. 1).
Contact Information
Biography
Since 2023, Farina has served on the faculty in the University of Texas at Austin Department of Human Development and as a Faculty Research Associate in the Population Research Center and the Center on Aging and Population Sciences.
Research
Farina’s research investigates the life course origins of biological, physical, and cognitive aging in older adulthood, how life course pathways differ across populations, and the role of biosocial mechanisms in leading to health and health disparities. His encompassing both individual and population level data. He uses both demographic and statistical methods, with an expertise in longitudinal research methods. His work has been supported by the National Institute of Aging (K99/R00) to investigate how epigenetics can be used to understand cognitive aging in the older adulthood and how it may be tied to social and environmental exposures found throughout the life course. He is also in the process of collecting biomarker and cognitive functioning data on populations that have been excluded from extant datasets.
Fields of Interest
- Adult Development and Aging
- Biobehavioral Processes and Health
- Contexts of Human Development
- Diversity and Culture
Centers and Institutes
- Population Research Center
- Center on Aging and Population Sciences
Education
- Postdoctoral, University of Southern California, Leonard Davis School of Gerontology B.A.
- Ph.D.University of Texas at Austin, Sociology (Demography Specialization)
- M.A. University of California, Berkeley, Latin American Studies
- B.A. Vanderbilt University, Sociology, Latin American Studies, and Spanish & Portuguese
Publications
*Denotes Graduate Student Coauthor
Farina, Mateo P., Zhe Zhang*, and Rachel Donnelly. “Anticipatory Stress, State Policy Contexts, and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic” (Social Science and Medicine – Population Health)
Farina, Mateo P.,Jung Ki Kim, and Eileen Crimmins. “Racial/Ethnic Differences in Biological Aging and Their Life Course Socioeconomic Determinants: The 2016 Health and Retirement Study” (Journal of Aging and Health)
Farina, Mateo P, Yuan Zhang, Jung Ki Kim, Mark D Hayward, and Eileen M Crimmins. “Trends in Dementia Prevalence, Incidence and Mortality in the United States (2000-2014): The Health and Retirement Study” (Journal of Aging and Health)https://doi.org/10.1177/08982643211029716
Farina, Mateo P., Mark D Hayward, Jung Ki Kim, and Eileen M Crimmins. “Racial and Educational Disparities in Dementia and Dementia-Free Life Expectancy” (Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences)https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbz046
Choi, Young Eun*, Mateo P Farina, Qiao Wu*, and Jennifer Ailshire. “COVID-19 Distancing Measures and Loneliness Among Older Adults” (Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences)https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbab009
Donnelly, Rachel and Mateo P Farina. “How Do State Policies Shape Experiences of Household Job Loss and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic? (Social Science & Medicine) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113557