Mara Getz Sheftel
she/her
Mara Getz Sheftel is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Population Research Institute at Pennsylvania State University. She works in the Crossnational Aging Research Lab (CARL) with PIs Ashton Verdery and Rachel Margolis (Western University) and is a Visiting Research Collaborator at the Office of Population Research at Princeton University.
Mara is a sociologist and demographer who uses a life course perspective to study new drivers of stratification for aging adults. Her research has been published in Demography, Demographic Research, and Population Review.
With a background in mentorship and service-learning, Mara is an experienced and enthusiastic educator.
Research
Mara's research investigates drivers of older adult stratification across the life course in three domains: (1) distinct structural and social determinants of health for older Latinos, (2) rising socioeconomic stratification and occupational segregation, and (3) changing family structure and intergenerational support.
She comes to this field with an interdisciplinary background spanning Sociology, Demography, Public Policy and International Studies. Mara's research is aimed at informing policies and services to improve population health and functioning for older adults.
Mara's research has been published in Demography, Demographic Research, and Population Review and presented at the Population Association of America (PAA), American Sociological Association (ASA), and the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) Annual Meetings.
Structural & social determinants of health for older Latinos
Mara uses large scale survey data to document prevalence of disability and cognition within Latino subgroups in the US and explores sources of heterogeneity in health trajectories including selection mechanisms, early life conditions, and immigrant documentation status.
Rising socioeconomic stratification & occupational segregation
Mara looks at the consequences of socioeconomic stratification and occupational segregation across the life course for the health and well-being of older adults, investigating sources of wealth stratification among immigrant population in the US and the long term impact of labor market segregation on older age cognitive disparities by race/ethnicity and nativity.
Changing family structure and intergenerational support
Mara looks at the role of family structures and intergenerational support in older adult health outcomes within the US and through a crossnational comparative framework.
Select Publications
Sheftel, Mara Getz. Forthcoming. “Immigrant wealth stratification and return migration: The case of Mexican immigrants in the US during the 20th Century.” Demography.
Sheftel, Mara Getz, Rachel Margolis and Ashton Verdery. "Health across borders: A crossnational comparison of immigrant health in Europe." Conditional Accept at Population Research and Policy Review.
Sheftel, Mara Getz and Frank W. Heiland. 2018. "Disability Crossover: Is there a Hispanic immigrant health advantage that reverses from working to old age?" Demographic Research 39, 209-250.
Sheftel, Mara Getz. 2017. "Prevalence of Disability among Hispanic Immigrant Populations: New Evidence from the American Community Survey." Population Review 56(1), 1-30.
Graduate Instruction
The Graduate Center, CUNY
Multivariate Statistics
Teaching Assistant to Prof. Juan Battle, Spring 2016
Introduction to Statistics
Teaching Assistant to Prof. Jeremy Porter, Fall 2015
Contact
msheftel(at)psu(dot)edu @MaraSheftel