Faculty Profile

BIO

Dr. Linda M. Chatters, PhD, FGSA, FAASWSW (she/her) holds joint appointments in the School of Social Work where she is the Paula Allen-Meares Collegiate Professor of Social Work, as well as a Professor in the Department of Health Behavior & Health Education Equity in the School of Public Health.  Her research has investigated adult development and aging among the Black population in the U.S. using data from national probability samples of Black adults including the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA) and the National Survey of American Life (NSAL). The major focus of her research has been the study of aging and adult development among Black Americans in relation to a variety of social contexts (i.e., the family, church, and community), personal and social relationships (i.e., adult children, church members, kin vs. non-kin), and individual outcomes (i.e., social support, subjective well-being, and perceptions of health status).    

Dr. Chatters is co-author (with Robert Joseph Taylor and Jeff Levin) of Religion in the Lives of African Americans: Social, Psychological and Health Perspectives (Sage Publications).  Other books with Robert Joseph Taylor and James S. Jackson include  Aging in Black America and Family Life in Black America. She is the Editor for the 2021 Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics, entitled: “Black Older Adults in the Era of Black Lives Matter.”  She has authored over 200 journal articles, chapters, and books and has been designated by Thomson-ISI® as a Highly Cited Researcher™ in the Category of General Social Sciences.

Dr. Chatters is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW).  She was awarded the 2025 Distinguished Career Achievement Award from the Society for Social Work Research and the 2025 James S. Jackson Outstanding Mentoring Award from the Gerontological Society of America.