Full Vita

Research Interests

Significant population aging is predicted over the next couple of decades in the U.S. and developed countries throughout the world.  Such a dramatic shift in the age composition of our nation demands solution to urgent public health and human development issues affecting quality of life in later years, looking for factors whose effects may begin decades before negative outcomes are realized.  Researchers are actively searching for the answer to questions such as why some individuals survive well into the 8th-10th decades of life with excellent cognitive and emotional health while others seem more vulnerable.  My research program focuses on geriatric mental health and the psychosocial factors that affect risk for depression and dementia in late-life, including lifestyle choices, stressful life events, social support networks, personality, religiosity, and the extent to which these factors might alter genetic influences.

I am Principal Investigator of a new NIH-funded study designed to examine stressors across the entire lifespan and their association with late-life cognitive health, and the moderating effects of depression and genes.  Also as Principal Investigator, I recently completed a phenomenological study of depression and older adults’ emotional support systems.  Since 2001, I have also been the Principal Investigator of the Cache County Study on Memory Health and Aging Duke University subcontract to USU, a large-scale epidemiological study of dementia continuously funded by NIH since 1994.   I am also co-investigator on the Dementia Progression Study which is examining the interrelationships between the caregiving environment and the clinical course of dementia.  These studies, with combined funding over $20million, have generated a wealth of data suitable for investigations in many areas of human development.  Many topics have been completed as MS theses and doctoral dissertations at USU, with a wide range of additional topics still available to future students. I am also working on another NIH grant proposal to be submitted in 2009 which will explore how personality affects our reactions to life stress and ultimately our mental health, and students may wish to gain grant-writing experience working with me in this endeavor.  Call, stop by, or email me! I would be pleased to visit with students wanting more information about any of these research opportunities for potential thesis/dissertation projects, research internships, independent study, and satisfaction of research-related doctoral competencies.

Selected Publications

Norton, M.C., Piercy, K.W., Rabins, P.V., Green, R.C.,, Breitner, J.C.S., Østbye, T., Corcoran, C., Welsh-Bohmer, K.A., Lyketsos, C.G., & Tschanz, J.T.  Caregiver/recipient closeness and symptom progression in Alzheimer disease.  The Journals of Gerontology Series B:  Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 2009; doi:  10.1093/geronb/gbp052.

Norton, M.C., Østbye, T., Smith, K.R., Munger, R., & Tschanz, J.T.  (2009).  Early Parental Death and Late-life Dementia Risk: Findings from the Cache County Study. Age and Ageing, 38(3), 340-243.

Norton, M.C., Singh, A., Skoog, I., Corcoran, C., Tschanz, J.T., Zandi, P.P., Breitner, J.C.S., Welsh-Bohmer, K.A., & Steffens, D.C.  Church Attendance and New Episodes of  Major Depression in a Community Study of Older Adults. The Cache County Study.  Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 2008 May;63(3):P129-37.

Norton, M.C., Skoog, I., Toone, L., Corcoran, C., Tschanz, J.T., Lisota, R.D., Hart, A.D., Zandi, P.P., Breitner, J.C.S., Welsh-Bohmer, K.A., & Steffens, D.C.  Three-year Incidence of First-Onset Depressive Illness in a Population Sample of Older Adults.  The Cache County Study.  American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.  2006;14:237-245.

Norton, M.C., Skoog, I., Franklin, L.M., Corcoran, C., Tschanz, J.T., Zandi, P.P., Breitner, J.C.S., Welsh-Bohmer, K.A., & Steffens, D.C.  (2006).  Gender Differences in the Association between Religious Involvement and Depression:  The Cache County (Utah) Study.  Journals of Gerontology B: Psychological Sciences, 61: P129-P136.

Østbye, T., Krause, K.M., Norton, M.C., Tschanz, J.T., Sanders, L., Hayden, K., Pieper, C., & Welsh-Bohmer, K.A.  (2006). Ten Dimensions of Health and Their Relationships With Overall Self-Reported Health and Survival Among the Elderly in Utah: The Cache County Memory Study. Journal of the American Geriatric Society 54: 199-209.

Tschanz, J.T., Treiber, K.,  Norton, M.C., Welsh-Bohmer, K.A., Toone, L., Zandi, P.P.,  Szekely, C.A., Lyketsos, C., Breitner, J.C.S., and the Cache County Study Group. (2005). A population study of Alzheimer's disease: Findings from the Cache County Study on Memory, Health and Aging. Care Management Journal 6(2):107-114.

Steffens D.C., Norton M.C., Hart A.D., Skoog I., Corcoran C., & Breitner J.C.  Apolipoprotein E genotype and major depression in a community of older adults. The Cache County Study. Psychological Medicine, 2003 Apr;33(3):541-7.

Norton, M.C.  Cross-sectional concordance and longitudinal risk for depression in elderly married couples.  Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, Vol 62(5-B), Dec 2001. pp. 2495.

Tschanz, J.T., Norton, M.C., & Calvert, T.  Need for assistance in daily living activities and caregiver stress:  results from a community survey of over 5,000 individuals in Cache County, Utah.  Intermountain Aging Review.  2001; 3(1), 15-17.

Steffens, D.C., Skoog, I., Norton, M.C., Hart, A.D., Tschanz, J.T., Plassman, B.L., Wyse, B.W., Welsh-Bohmer, K.A., Breitner, J.C.S.  Prevalence of depression and its treatment in an elderly population.  The Cache County, Utah Study. Archives of General Psychiatry,  2000 Jun; 57(6), 601-7.

Norton, M.C., Tschanz, J.T., Fan, X, Plassman, B.L., Welsh-Bohmer, K.A., West, N., Wyse, B.W., & Breitner, J.C.S., (October 1999).  Telephone Adaptation of the Modified Mini-Mental State Exam (3MS). The Cache County Study., Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology and Behavioral Neurology, 12 (4), 270-6.

Steffens, D.C., Norton, M.C., Plassman, B.L., Tschanz, J.T., Wyse, B.W., Welsh-Bohmer, K.A., Anthony, J.C., Breitner, J.C.S.  (October 1999). Enhanced cognitive performance with estrogen use in non-demented community-dwelling older women,  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 47 (10), 1171-5.

Norton, M.C., Breitner, J.C.S, Welsh, K.A., & Wyse, B.W. (1994).  Characteristics of  nonresponders in a community survey of the elderly.  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 42, 1252-1256.