CURRENT POSITION
- Department Chair, Anthropology, University of Alabama
EDUCATION
- PhD, Emory University (2006)
- Visiting Graduate Student, Child Development, UC Berkeley (Summer 2000)
- BS, Biochemistry and Anthropology, SUNY Binghamton (1998)
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. DeCaro is a biocultural medical and psychological anthropologist and human biologist with interests in human developmental ecology and neuroanthropology. Dr. DeCaro studies the intersection of cultural models, everyday practices, and human physiology in the production of differential well-being across the life course, especially but not exclusively focusing on children. He has been honored as a College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Fellow (2011-2014), and with the 2015 University of Alabama President’s Faculty Research Award. He also has been recognized for community engagement as co-recipient of a 2015 University of Alabama Council on Community Based Partnerships Award for Outstanding Faculty/Staff-Initiated Engagement Effort.
Dr. DeCaro runs a developmental ecology and human biology lab–a biological anthropology wet lab providing a center within the department for biocultural research involving immunological, endocrine, nutritional, and other biological markers. Physiological responses can be used as a “lens” onto the impact of everyday experience. Biomarkers allow Anthropologists to consider the socialization of physiological aspects of arousal and the social contexts of physical health. His major current research projects concern pathways among food insecurity, nutritional status, social status and differential well-being in the United States, Central America and East Africa; the role of daily routines and cultural models in patterns of physical activity among older adults with osteoarthritis; biocultural-linguistic approaches to the science of emotion regulation; and psychobiological moderation of school adjustment in children.
email: jason.a.decaro@ua.edu
PUBLICATIONS
- Smith DM, DeCaro JA, Murphy SL, Parmelee PA. (2019) Momentary reports of fatigue predict physical activity level: Wrist, waist, and combined accelerometry. Journal of Aging and Health [epub ahead of print].
- Aronoff JE, DeCaro JA. (2018) Life history theory and human behavior: Testing associations between environmental harshness, life history strategies, and testosterone. Personality and Individual Differences 139:110-115. V
- Parmelee P, Scicolone M, Cox B, DeCaro J, Keefe F, Smith D. (2018) Global vs. momentary osteoarthritis pain and emotional distress: Emotional intelligence as moderator. Annals of Behavioral Medicine 52:713-723.
COMPILED BY: Elizabeth Chong, Emory College, 03/03/2022