Keith E Whitfield

Keith E. Whitfield, Research Professor, Psychology and Neuroscience. He earned a Bachelors degree in Psychology from the College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe NM and a MA and Ph.D. in Life-Span Developmental Psychology from Texas Tech University in Lubbock Texas. He also received post doctoral training in quantitative genetics from the University of Colorado, Boulder, CO. His first position was at McNeese State University and came to Duke from Penn State University. His research on individual differences in minority aging employs a two prong approach that includes studying individual people as well as members of twin pairs. Dr. Whitfield’s research examines the individual variation in health and individual differences in cognition due to health conditions. Dr. Whitfield has worked with researchers from Sweden, Russia, and the United States to examine how social, psychological, and cultural factors of cognition and healthy aging. He has completed a study that involves examining health and psycho-social factors related to health among adult African American twins from North Carolina. His current research project is a longitudinal study of cognition and health among older African Americans.

Contact Info 

Email Address:  

Mailing Address: 229 Soc/Psych Bldg Durham, NC 27708

Education:

• PhD, Texas Tech University, 1989

Areas of Interest:
Individual differences in cognitive aging among African Americans
Genetic and environmental influences on health amoung African Americans

Current Projects: Carolina African American Twin Study of Aging, , Patterns of Cognitive Aging

Research Summary:
Dr. Whitfield's research on individual differences in minority aging employs a two prong approach that includes studying individual people as well as members of twin pairs. Dr. Whitfield’s research examines the individual variation in health and individual differences in cognition due to health conditions. Dr. Whitfield has worked with researchers from Sweden, Russia, and the United States to examine how social, psychological, and cultural factors of cognition and healthy aging. He has completed a study that involves examining health and psycho-social factors related to health among adult African American twins from North Carolina. His current research project is a longitudinal study of cognition and health among older African Americans.

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

1. Whitfield, K.E. & Edwards, C.L., Mentoring special populations, Educational Gerontology, vol. 37 no. 5 (2011), pp. 422-439 .
2. Whitfield, K.E., Thorpe, R., Szanton, S., Health disparities, social class, and aging, edited by Warner Schaie and Sherry Willis, The Handbook of the Psychology of Aging 7th Edition (2011), pp. 207-218, Elsuvier .
3. Whitfield, Angel, J., & Wong, R., Biobehavioral aspects of health and aging in people of Mexican Origin, Journal of Health and Aging, vol. 23 no. 7 (2011), pp. 1019-1026 .
4. Kennedy, S.W., Allaire, J.C., Gamaldo, A.A., & Whitfield, K.E, Race differences in intellectual control beliefs and cognitive functioning, Experimental Aging Research (In Press) .
5. Baker, T.A., Buchanan, N.T., Small, B.J., Hines, R.D., & Whitfield, K.E., Identifying the relationship between chronic pain, depression, and life satisfaction in older African Americans, Research on Aging (In Press) .