Denis Gerstorf, Ph.D.

2004, Free University, Berlin

Assistant Professor of Human Development

114-M Henderson Bldg

gerstorf@psu.edu

Research

I am a lifespan developmental psychologist with a general research interest in better understanding heterogeneity and differential development in old and advanced old age.

My specific research foci include

(1) exploring the usefulness of multiple-indicator information in moving beyond average aging trajectories to an explicit consideration of differential aging of individuals,

(2) identifying cross-domain linkages between cognitive functioning, personality, and social integration as well as its precursors and consequences with an emerging interest in employing recent methodological advances that allow moving from static to dynamic modeling approaches,

(3) differentiating the effects of age-related and death-related processes in late-life development,

(4) examining short-term intraindividual fluctuations in psychological functioning as an additional tool in the study of lifespan development, and

(5) studying dyadic interdependencies in developmental trajectories among spouses across the adult lifespan.

I started working on my Ph.D. in 2001 at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPI) in Berlin, Germany. In this context, I had the opportunity to work closely together with Dr. Jacqui Smith on exploiting the utility of a systemic-wholistic perspective in studying facets of differential aging. I was deeply influenced by the work of Dr. Paul B. Baltes and colleagues on lifespan principles underlying human ontogeny including the macro-level contexts of developmental change, the evolutionary and ontogenetic foundations of change, and the complex nature of these changes. I received my Ph.D. in 2004 from the Free University in Berlin. After completing my dissertation, I spent one year as a post-doc at the MPI.

In September 2005, I moved to the Department of Psychology, University of Virginia using a Research Fellowship awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Here, I could collaborate with Drs. John R. Nesselroade and Timothy A. Salthouse on various research projects. As of July 2007, I joined the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at The Pennsylvania State University as an Assistant Professor of Human Development.

Education

Honors and Awards

Professional Experience

2007 – present 
Assistant Professor of Human Development at the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, State College

2005 – 2007
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville

2004 –2005
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

2001 –2004
Fellow of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program Neuropsychiatry and Psychology of Aging, funded by the German Research Foundation, the Free University Berlin, and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

2001 –2004
Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

2002 – 2003
Graduate Co-Chair, Interdisciplinary Graduate Program Neuropsychiatry and Psychology of Aging

Publications

Gerstorf, D., Ram, N., Estabrook, R., Schupp, J., Wagner, G.G., & Lindenberger, U. (in press). Life satisfaction shows terminal decline in old age: Longitudinal evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). Developmental Psychology.

Gerstorf, D., Siedlecki, K. L., Tucker-Drob, E. M., & Salthouse, T. A. (in press). Within-person variability in state anxiety across adulthood: Magnitude and associations with between-person correlates. International Journal of Behavioral Development.

Rapp, M. A., Gerstorf, D., Helmchen, H., & Smith, J. (in press). Depression predicts mortality in the young old, but not in the oldest old: Results from the Berlin Aging Study. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Gerstorf, D., Ram, N., Röcke, C., Lindenberger, U., & Smith, J. (2008). Decline in life satisfaction in old age: Longitudinal evidence for links to distance-to-death. Psychology and Aging, 23,154-168.

Gerstorf, D., Siedlecki, K. L., Tucker-Drob, E. M., & Salthouse, T. A. (2008). Executive dysfunctions across adulthood: Measurement properties and correlates of the DEX self-report questionnaire. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 15, 1-22.

Hoppmann, C.A., Gerstorf, D., & Luszcz, M. (2008). On the interplay between spousal social activity trajectories in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Aging in the context of cognitive, physical, and emotional resources. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences, 63B, P41-P50..

Smith, J, Gerstorf, D. & Li, Q. (2008). Psychological resources for well-being among octogenarians, nonagenarians, and centenarians: Differential effects of age and selective mortality. In Yi, Z., Poston, D. L. Jr, Vlosky, D. & Gu, D. (Eds.) Healthy longevity in China: Demographic, socioeconomic, and psychological dimensions (pp. 329-346). New York: Springer

Gerstorf, D., Lövdén, M., Röcke, C., Smith, J., & Lindenberger, U. (2007). Well-being affects changes in perceptual speed in advanced old age: Longitudinal evidence for a dynamic link. Developmental Psychology, 43, 705-718.

Hoppmann, C. A., Gerstorf, D., Smith, J., & Klumb, P. L. (2007). Linking possible selves and behavior: Do domain-specific hopes and fears translate into daily activities in very old age? Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 62B, P104–P111.

Luszczynska, A., Gerstorf, D., Knoll, N., Boehmer, S., & Schwarzer, R. (2007). Patients’ coping profiles and partners’ support provision. Psychology and Health, 22, 749-764.

Nesselroade, J. R., Gerstorf, D., Hardy, S. A., & Ram, N. (2007). Idiographic filters for psychological constructs. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives, 5, 217-235.

Gerstorf, D., Smith, J., & Baltes, P. B. (2006). A systemic-wholistic approach to differential aging: Longitudinal findings from the Berlin Aging Study. Psychology and Aging, 21, 645-663.

Gerstorf, D., Herlitz, A., & Smith, J. (2006). Stability of sex differences in cognition in advanced old age: The role of education and attrition. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences, 61B, P245-P249.

Gerstorf, D., & Lindenberger, U. (2006). Vergessen [Forgetting]. In J. Funke & P. A. Frensch (Eds.), Handbuch der Psychologie [Handbook of Psychology], Vol. Allgemeine Psychologie: Kognition und Handlung [Vol. General psychology: Cognition and behavior] (pp. 371-378). Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe.

Raz, N., Lindenberger, U., Rodriguez, K. M., Kennedy, K. M., Head, D., Williamson, A., Dahle, C., Gerstorf, D., & Acker, J. D. (2005). Regional brain changes in aging healthy adults: General trends, individual differences, and modifiers. Cerebral Cortex, 15, 1676–1689.

Gerstorf, D. (2004). Heterogeneity and differential aging in old age. A systemic-wholistic approach. Retrieved January 14, 2005, from http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/2004/342/indexe.html.

Smith, J., & Gerstorf, D. (2004). Aging differently: Potentials and limits. In S. O. Daatland & S. Biggs (Eds.), Ageing and diversity: Multiple pathways and cultural migrations (pp. 13-28). Bristol, UK: Policy Press.