Emily Willroth

Assistant Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley
M.A. College of William and Mary
B.A. University of Missouri
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    Emily Willroth’s research focuses on well-being and health across the lifespan. 

    Willroth’s current research examines how different components of well-being (e.g., emotion, life satisfaction, sense of purpose) vary and change across time, both in the short-term from moment-to-moment and in the long-term across the adult lifespan. She applies insights from this research to examine links between well-being and important health outcomes in middle and older adulthood, such as chronic illness, mortality, and dementia risk. 

    Selected Publications 

    • Willroth, E.C., Pfund, G.N., McGhee, C., & Rule, P. (2023). Wellbeing as a protective factor against cognitive decline and dementia risk: A review of the literature and directions for future research. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Science. Online ahead of print.
    • Willroth, E.C., James, B.D., Graham, E.K., Kapasi, A., Bennett, D.A., & Mroczek, D.K. (2022). Well-being and cognitive resilience to dementia-related neuropathology. Psychological Science. Online ahead of print.
    • Willroth, E.C., John, O.P., Biesanz, J., & Mauss, I.B. (2020). Understanding short-term variability in life satisfaction: The individual differences in evaluating life satisfaction (IDELS) model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119, 229-248.
    • Willroth, E.C., Atherton, O.E, & Robins, R.W. (2021). Life satisfaction trajectories during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood: Findings from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin youth. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 120, 192-205.
    • Willroth, E.C., Graham, E.K, & Mroczek, D.K. (2020). Comparing the predictive utility of trait affect and average daily affect for the prospective prediction of health outcomes. Journal of Research in Personality, 87, 103966.
    • Willroth, E.C. (2022). The benefits and challenges of a unifying conceptual framework for well-being constructs. Affective Science. Online ahead of print.
    • Willroth, E.C., Graham, E.K., & Mroczek, D.K. (2022). Challenges and opportunities in preregistration of coordinated data analysis: A template and tutorial. Psychology and Aging, 37, 136-140.