Prof. Dr. Denis Gerstorf
As lifespan developmental scholars, members of the Developmental and Educational Psychology Group are particularly interested in better understanding how our everyday lives and the long-term developmental trajectories we are on are often closely intertwined with and co-regulated by the contexts in which we live.
Towards that end, they conduct multi-time scale studies that link processes of change and variation all the way from micro-time scales such as moments and days to macro-time scales such as years and decades (and back). In doing so, they explore the utility of various different macro-time scales, including time-from-birth (age), time-to/from-events (e.g., morbidity onset, death), and historical time. They are also interested in how developmental processes are shaped by layers of contexts, including socio-economic, social, physical, care/service, technology characteristics of people’s life space.
- Long-term longitudinal panel studies
- Daily-life ambulatory assessment studies
- Questionnaire data, performance testing, objective external data (e.g., administrative sources, diagnoses by physicians, physiological data such as blood parameters)
Current position
| 2011 - present | Full Professor of Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE) |
| 2015 - present | Chairperson of the Berlin Aging Study II (DE) |
| 2011 - present | Research Fellow/Director at the German Institute for Economic Research, Berlin (DE) |
Positions held
| 2011 - 2021 | Adjunct Professor at the Pennsylvania State University, State College (US) |
| 2007 - 2011 | Assistant Professor at the Pennsylvania State University, State College (US) |
| 2005 - 2007 | Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville (US) |
| 2004 - 2005 | Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin (DE) |
Academic Education
| 2001 - 2004 | Doctoral Degree (PhD) in Psychology at the Freie Universität Berlin (DE) |
| 1997 - 2001 | Diploma in Psychology at the Freie Universität Berlin (DE) |
Honors/Awards/Fellowships
| 2020 | Richard Kalish Innovative Publication Article Award, Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSS), Gerontological Society of America |
| 2014 | Fellowship in Behavioral and Social Sciences from the Gerontological Society of America (US) |
| 2011 | Margret M. and Paul B. Baltes Foundation Early Career Contributions Award in Behavioral and Social Gerontology from the Gerontological Society of America (US) |
| 2010 | Springer Early Career Achievement Award in Research in Adult Development and Aging fromt the American Psychological Association, Division 20 Adult Development and Aging (DE) |
| 2009 | Honorary Visiting Scholarship from Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia (AU) |
| 2008, 2009 | Visiting Research Fellowship from the German Institute for Economic Research, Berlin (DE) |
| 2005 - 2010 | Junior Fellow at the Max Planck International Research Network on Aging Maxnet Aging (DE) |
| 2002 | Outstanding Student Poster Award from the American Psychological Association, Division 20 Adult Development and Aging (US) |
DFG and internationally funded projects
| 2022 – present | Research Grant (National Institute of Health/Aging in the US, 1R01AG079523) - 'Is the Worsening of Midlife Health and Well-Being a US or Cross-Cultural Phenomenon?' |
| 2020 – present | Research Grant (Canadian Institute for Health Research 432595) - 'Allies in Health' |
| 2021 - present | Research Grant (DFG, GE 1896/8) - 'Age Differences in the Context-Sensitivity of Emotion Regulation Strategies' |
| 2017 - 2021 | Research Grant (DFG, GE 1896/7) - 'Emotional Reactivity and Regulation in Old Age: A Multi-Time-Scale Approach' |
| 2017 - 2021 | Research Grant (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 435-2017-0283) - 'A couples approach to goal regulation in old age' |
| 2017 - 2021 | Research Grant (BMBF, BMBF 01GL1716A/B) - 'Sex- and gender-sensitive prevention of cardiovascular and metabolic disease in older adults (GendAge)' |
| 2016 - 2018 | Research Grant (DFG, 1896/6) - 'Dynamics of Adaptation in Very Old Age: Within-Person and Across-Partner Processes in the Daily Lives of Couples' |
| 2013 - 2017 | Research Grant (DFG, GE 1896/3) - 'Environmental Factors that Regulate Terminal Decline: Late-Life as a Natural Experiment' |
| 2010 - 2013 | Research Grant (Australian Research Council LP100200413) - 'Day-to-Day Life of Adults after the Age of 85' |
Selected activities
| 2011– present | Editor, Behavioral Science Section, Gerontology |
| 2014 – 2023 | Associate Editor, Psychology and Aging |
| 2012 – 2019 | Associate Editor, International Journal of Behavioral Development (IJBD) |
| 2012 - present | Editorial Board member, Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences |
| 2011 - present | Editorial Board member, European Journal of Ageing |
| 2020 – present | Member Advisory Board, The German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA) |
| 2014 – present | Member Advisory Board, Center for Ageing and Health (AgeCap), University of Gothenburg, Sweden |
| 2014 – 2017 | Member Advisory Board, Norwegian Life Course, Ageing and Generation Study (NorLAG) |
| 2020 – present | Co-Head Publications Committee, International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development |
| 2018 – 2019 | Head Awards Committee, Early Career Contributions Award, Gerontological Society of America |
| 2015 – present | Member Steering Committee, Society for the Study of Human Development |
Selected publications
- Gerstorf D, Schilling OK, Pauly T, Katzorreck M, Lücke AJ, Wahl HW, Kunzmann U, Hoppmann CA, Ram N. Long-term aging trajectories of the accumulation of disease burden as predictors of daily affect dynamics and stressor reactivity. Psychol Aging. 2023 Dec;38(8):763-777. doi: 10.1037/pag0000779.
- Gerstorf D, Ram N, Drewelies J, Duezel S, Eibich P, Steinhagen-Thiessen E, Liebig S, Goebel J, Demuth I, Villringer A, Wagner GG, Lindenberger U, Ghisletta P. Today's Older Adults Are Cognitively Fitter Than Older Adults Were 20 Years Ago, but When and How They Decline Is No Different Than in the Past. Psychol Sci. 2023 Jan;34(1):22-34. doi: 10.1177/09567976221118541.
- Gerstorf D, Hülür G, Drewelies J, Willis SL, Schaie KW, Ram N. Adult development and aging in historical context. Am Psychol. 2020 May-Jun;75(4):525-539. doi: 10.1037/amp0000596.
- Almeida DM, Charles ST, Mogle J, Drewelies J, Aldwin CM, Spiro A, Gerstorf D. Charting adult development through (historically changing) daily stress processes. Am Psychol. 2020 May-Jun;75(4):511-524. doi: 10.1037/amp0000597.
- Wahl HW, Gerstorf D. A conceptual framework for studying COntext Dynamics in Aging (CODA). Dev Rev. 2018 Dec;50(B):155-176. doi: 10.1016/j.dr.2018.09.003.
- Mueller S, Wagner J, Smith J, Voelkle MC, Gerstorf D. The interplay of personality and functional health in old and very old age: Dynamic within-person interrelations across up to 13 years. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2018 Dec;115(6):1127-1147. doi: 10.1037/pspp0000173.
- Gerstorf D, Hoppmann CA, Löckenhoff CE, Infurna FJ, Schupp J, Wagner GG, Ram N. Terminal decline in well-being: The role of social orientation. Psychol Aging. 2016 Mar;31(2):149-65. doi: 10.1037/pag0000072.
- Gerstorf D, Hoppmann CA, Ram N. The promise and challenges of integrating multiple time-scales in adult developmental inquiry. Res Human Dev. 2014 May 14;11(2):75–90. doi: 10.1080/15427609.2014.906725.
- Gerstorf D, Ram N, Lindenberger U, Smith J. Age and time-to-death trajectories of change in indicators of cognitive, sensory, physical, health, social, and self-related functions. Dev Psychol. 2013 Oct;49(10):1805-21. doi: 10.1037/a0031340.
- Ram N, Gerstorf D. Time-structured and net intraindividual variability: tools for examining the development of dynamic characteristics and processes. Psychol Aging. 2009 Dec;24(4):778-91. doi: 10.1037/a0017915.