Stephanie Hanus

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Doctoral Candidate

Stephanie is a doctoral candidate studying family, life course, and aging, at the University of Georgia where she also received her master’s in sociology. Her research currently lies at the intersection of health (e.g., mental health, aging) and intimate relationships. Specifically, she investigates the relative impact of intimate relationships (e.g., romantic relationship status and quality) on various well-being outcomes (e.g., psychological well-being, self-reported health, health behaviors, and measures of epigenetic aging) across the life course. She describes the primary goal of her research as to elucidate the changing role romantic relationships have for health and healthy aging using advanced statistical methodologies and longitudinal data. During her tenure at the University of Georgia, Stephanie has taught several undergraduate courses, including Sociology of the Life Course, Sociology of Family, Social Research Methods, Cultural Diversity in Families, and Sociology in Film. 

Selected Publications:

Hanus, Stephanie L., Leslie Gordon Simons, Man Kit Lei, Ryon Cobb, and Ronald L. Simons. 2022. “Romantic Relationship Status, Quality, and Depression among Middle-aged and Older Black Women.” Journal of Gerontology: Series B Advance online publication. doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbac016

Hanus, Stephanie L. Forthcoming. Colorblindness, Interracial Intimacies, and Shondaland’s Bridgerton.” Media Culture and Society.

Hanus, Stephanie L. Forthcoming. “Environmental Reproductive Justice: Development and Research.” In Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Sociology edited by C. Overdevest. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

Articles Featuring Stephanie Hanus

Congratulations to Stephanie Hanus-Knapp who has been selected for the 2025 UGA Graduate School Excellence in Teaching Award! This award, administered in collaboration with the Center for Teaching and Learning and UGA’s Teaching Academy, is given to no…

From left to right,  Steph Hanus, M.A., won the B.O. Williams thesis award, Megan Steele, Ph.D., received the Certificate of Excellence and Alyssa Brown, doctoral candidate, received the Graduate Teaching Award. Dr. Leslie Gordon Simons, second…