Carol Ryff
Phone: 262.5597
Email: cryff@facstaff.wisc.edu
Office: 415 Psychology
Professor
Ph.D. 1978,
My
work is focused on the study of psychological well-being (i.e., having purpose
in life, quality relations with others, personal growth, mastery, and
self-acceptance). Our studies examine
how these aspects of positive psychological functioning are contoured by broad
social structural factors (age, gender, socioeconomic status, race, culture), how they change as individuals are confronted with
various life challenges and transitions, and how they are linked to
health. The latter work addresses the
mechanisms (e.g., neural circuitry, cardiovascular risk, neuroendocrine
regulation, immune function) that link profiles of well-being to unfolding
trajectories of health and illness. The
construct of resilience is a theme that runs across many of these studies. A central question is whether the capacity to
maintain or regain high levels of well-being in the face of life adversity
(including cumulative challenges) is protective at the biological level. Much of this work is carried out in a
national sample of Americans, known as MIDUS (midlife in the
REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS
Ryff, C.D.,
Singer, B.H., & Love, G.D. (2004).
Positive health: Connecting
well-being with biology. Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society of
Urry, H.L., Nitschke,
J.B., Dolski, I., Jackson, D.C., Dalton, K.M., Mueller,
C.J., Rosenkranz, M.A., Ryff,
C.D. Singer, B.H., & Davidson, R.J. (2004).
Making a life worth living: Neural correlates of well-being. Psychological Sciences, 6, 367-372.
Brim, O.G., Ryff,
C.D., & Kessler, R.C. (2004).
How healthy are we?: A national study of well-being at
midlife.
Ryff, C.D., Keyes, C.L.M., & Hughes, D.L. (2003). Status inequalities, perceived
discrimination, and eudaimonic well-being: Do the challenges of minority life hone
purpose and growth? Journal of Health
and Social Behavior, 44, 275-291.
Keyes, C.L. M., Shmotkin,
D., & Ryff, C.D. (2002). Optimizing well-being: The empirical encounter of two traditions. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 82, 1007-1022.
Singer, B.H., & Ryff,
C.D. (2001). New horizons in
health: An integrative approach.
Ryff, C.D., & Singer, B. H. (2001). Emotion, social
relationships, and health.