Kent Jason Cheng, Ph.D.

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Gerontology at the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Manning College of Nursing and Health Sciences. Before joining UMass, I was an NIA-funded T32 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Healthy Aging at The Pennsylvania State University.

I am a social gerontologist, population health scientist, and family demographer who broadly studies social determinants of health across the life course in the United States, the Philippines, and other countries. I have written over 30 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as the Journal of Marriage and Family, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Social Science and Medicine – Population Health, The Milbank Quarterly, and Preventive Medicine. My primary research focus is on the health implications of family support – caregiving, financial transfers, emotional support, and shared living arrangements – and social welfare policies for older adults and their families.

Contact: kent.cheng@umb.edu

UMass Boston website: https://www.umb.edu/directory/kentcheng/

Selected Research

On families

Cheng, Kent Jason G. 2024. “Early-Life Disadvantage and Parent-to-Child Financial Transfers.” Journal of Marriage and Family. doi: 10.1111/jomf.13036.

Cheng, Kent Jason G., Alexis Rául Santos-Lozada. 2024. “Mental and Physical Health Among ‘Sandwich’ Generation Working Age Adults in the United States: Not All Sandwiches are Made Equal.” SSM – Population Health. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101650.

Cheng, Kent Jason G. “From the Rainbow to the Sunset: Availability of Informal Care for Older Sexual Minorities in the United States.” Revise and Resubmit at the Population Research and Development Review.

Cheng, Kent Jason G., Janet M. Wilmoth. “The Role of State-Level Welfare Generosity and Intergenerational Transfers Among US Older Adults.” In Preparation.

Contextual factors of health

Montez, Jennifer Karas, Kent Jason G. Cheng, & Jacob M. Grumbach. 2023. “Electoral Democracy and Working‐Age Mortality.” The Milbank Quarterly. doi: 10.1111/1468-0009.12658.

Montez, Jennifer Karas, and Kent Jason G. Cheng. 2022. “Educational Disparities in Adult Health across U.S. States: Larger Disparities Reflect Economic Factors.” Frontiers in Public Health 10:966434. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.966434.

Cheng, Kent Jason G., Yue Sun, and Shannon M. Monnat. 2020. “COVID‐19 Death Rates Are Higher in Rural Counties with Larger Shares of Blacks and Hispanics.” The Journal of Rural Health 36(4):602–8. doi: 10.1111/jrh.12511.

Health policy in the Philippines

Estrada, Miguel Antonio G., Rutcher M. Lacaza, and Kent Jason G. Cheng. 2024 “Legal changes and evidence on unmet need for contraception, Philippines.” Bulletin of the WHO 102(11): 778-85, doi: 10.2471/BLT.23.290577.

Cheng, Kent Jason G. and Miguel Antonio G. Estrada. 2022. “A Dichotomy of Smokers in the Philippines following Sin Tax Reform: Distinguishing Potential Quitters from those Unlikely to Quit.” PLoS One 17(10): e0275840. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275840.

Cheng, Kent Jason G., Adovich S. Rivera, Red Thaddeus D. P. Miguel, and Hilton Y. Lam. 2021. “A Cross-Sectional Study on the Determinants of Health-Related Quality of Life in the Philippines Using the EQ-5D-5L.” Quality of Life Research 30(8):2137–47. doi: 10.1007/s11136-021-02799-0.

Cheng, Kent Jason G., and Miguel Antonio G. Estrada. 2021. “Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the 2019 Cigarette Excise Tax Reform in the Philippines.” Preventive Medicine 145:106431. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106431.

Cheng, Kent Jason G., and Miguel Antonio Garcia Estrada. 2020. “Price Elasticity of Cigarette Smoking Demand in the Philippines after the 2012 Sin Tax Reform Act.” Preventive Medicine 134:106042. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106042.

Teaching

Summer 2022

Instructor on record for Undergraduate Sociology of Families, online, asynchronous

Rating: 4.42 out of 5 (response rate of 12 out of 19)

Selected student feedback:

“The fact that I was able to connect what I was learning to everyday things”

“I really enjoyed the recorded lectures by the teacher. Kent was able to explain the content in a user-friendly manner that made me want to learn more about the material. It was interesting bringing his own experiences into the lectures.”

2021

Guest lecturer for Undergraduate Sociology Research Methods

Topic: Quantitative Research Using Secondary Data

2016 – 2017

Guest lecturer for the MSc Clinical Epidemiology Program for health policy and health economics related topics

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