Departmental Affiliations
Center & Institute Affiliations
Jeanine Parisi, PhD, MA, studies how lifestyle activities may promote cognitive, physical, and mental health across the lifespan.
Contact Info
Research Interests
Adult development and aging; cognition; intellectual and social engagement; personality; prevention and intervention; program evaluation
Experiences & Accomplishments
at Urbana-Champaign
My interest in aging research has been largely shaped by my personal belief that learning is a lifelong process that occurs through life experiences and activities in which we engage. As many activities continue into the later half of life, I am particularly interested in the relationship between intellectual and social engagement and cognitive performance in an adult population. Additionally, my interests are concerned with the identification of lifestyle factors (e.g., education, personality) that may serve as risk/protective mechanisms on cognition in adulthood; and determining how interventions may be designed, implemented, and improved in order to promote cognitive, physical, and mental health across the lifespan.
Honors & Awards
Advising, Mentoring, and Teaching Recognition Award (AMTRA), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2021, 2023
Fellowship, Gerontological Society of America, 2017
Fellowship, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois, 2007
American Psychological Association Dissertation Research Award, 2006
Bureau of Education Dissertation Research Award, University of Illinois, 2006
William Chandler Bagley Doctoral Scholarship, University of Illinois, 2006
Select Publications
Selected Publications
Rebok, G. W., Huang, A., Smail, E., Brichko, R., Parisi, J. M., Marsiske, M., Roth, D. L., Thorpe, R. J., Felix, C., Jones, R. N., & Willis, S. L. (2022). Long-term effects of cognitive training on all-cause mortality in US older adults. Journal of Aging and Health, 34(6-8), 1135-1143.
Rieger, N., Parisi, J. M., Perrin, N., & Gitlin, L. N. (2022). Engagement in favorite activity and implications for cognition, mental health, and function in persons living with and without dementia. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 41(2), 441-449.
Rebok, G. W., Tzuang, M., & Parisi, J. M. (2020). Comparing web-based and classroom-based memory training for older adults: The ACTIVE Memory WorksTM study. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 75(6), 1132-1143.
Jackson, J. J., Hill, P. L., Payne, B. R., Parisi, J. M., & Stine-Morrow, E. A. L. (2020). Linking openness to cognitive ability in older adulthood: The role of activity diversity. Aging and Mental Health, 24(7), 1079-1087.
Parisi, J. M., Gross, A. L., Marsiske, M., Willis, S. L., & Rebok, G. W. (2017). Control beliefs and cognition over a 10-year period: Findings from the ACTIVE trial. Psychology and Aging, 32, 69-75.
Parisi, J. M., Roberts, L., Szanton, S. L., Hodgson, N. A., & Gitlin, L. N. (2017). Valued activities among individuals with and without cognitive impairments: Findings from the National Health and Aging Trends study (NHATS). The Gerontologist, 57, 309-318.