Jan Greenberg
Ph.D.
Doctoral Program Chair

Professor; Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1987. Interests: family, aging, mental health. Current research: Families of persons with mental illness; aging parents as caregivers to adult children with mental illness.

Contact Information

University of Wisconsin, Madison - Social Work
213 School of Social Work
1350 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: 263-0532
Fax: 263-3836
Email: greenberg@waisman.wisc.edu

Education

University of Massachusetts, BA, 1974
University of Wisconsin-Madison, MSSW, 1978
University of Minnesota, Ph.D. Family Social Science, 1987

Research Interests

Professor Greenberg teaches in the area of mental health and aging. Over the past decade, he has been investigating the challenges faced by families of persons with severe and persistent mental illness. A major focus of his research, conducted in collaboration with Dr. Marsha Mailick Seltzer (UW-Madison), and Dr. Marty Krauss (Brandeis University), has been to investigate differences in the mental health of aging parents caring for an adult child with mental illness and of those caring for an adult child with developmental disabilities. He is presently conducting a five year longitudinal study of aging parents caring for an adult son or daughter with schizophrenia. This study will examine the long-term toll on family life that coping with schizophrenia can create. It also explores the involvement of and the effects on the lives of siblings when aging parents are no longer able to remain in a primary caregiving role. The study will also document changes in the quality of life of adults with schizophrenia after they experience the loss of parental support due to aging or death. In addition, he is collaborating with Dr. Sandy Maga�a (UW-Madison) to study Latino and African American families coping with the care of a relative with serious mental illness.

Current Research Projects

Project Title: Impacts of Parenting Adolescents and Adults with Autism

Role on Project: Co-Principal Investigator; PI, Marsha Mailick Seltzer

Funding Agency: National Institute of Aging

This longitudinal study examines the impact of lifelong caregiving on families who have a son or daughter with autism. It involves the investigation of changes in the symptoms of autism during the adolescent and adult years, and the influence of these changes on family members.

Project Title: Aging Parents with a Mentally Ill Child at Home

Role on Project: Principal Investigator; Co-PI, Marsha Mailick Seltzer

Funding Agency: National Institute of Mental Health

This study investigates the well-being of aging parents caring for an adult child with schizophrenia, and examines how these families make the transition to non-parental care when the aging parents are no longer able to continue in the caregiving role

Project Title: Exploration of Dementia and Mental Health Disorder in Cases of Self-neglect in the Elderly

Role on Project: Principal Investigator

Funding Agency: Graduate School, University of Wisconsin

This study focused on the etiology of self-neglect in the elderly.

Selected Publications

Greenberg, J.S. (in press). The role of fathers in the lives of their sons and daughters with mental illness. In B. J. Kramer & E.H. Thompson (Eds.), Men as caregivers: Theory, research, and service implications. Springer Publications.

Seltzer, M.M., Greenberg, J.S., Floyd, F., Pettee, Y., & Hong, J. (2001). Life course impacts of parenting a child with disability. American Journal of Mental Retardation.

Greenberg, J.S., Seltzer, M.M., Orsmond, G., & Krauss, M.W. (1999). Siblings of adults with mental illness or mental retardation: Current involvement and expectation of future caregiving. Psychiatric Services, 50, 1214-1219.

Greenberg, J., Seltzer, M.M., Krauss, M.W., & Kim, H.W. (1997). The differential effects of social support on the psychological well-being of aging mothers of adults with mental illness or mental retardation. Family Relations, 46, 383-394.

Greenberg, J. S. (1995). The other side of caring: Adult children with mental illness as support to their mothers in later life. Social Work, 40, 414-423.

Greenberg, J. S., Greenley, J. R., & Benedict, P. (1994). The contributions of persons with serious mental illness to their families. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 45, 475-480.