• Emerging Professional Graduate Degree Award, Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management, The Pennsylvania State University, 2011

• Arnold O. Beckman Research Award, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007

• Outstanding Graduate Student Award, The Pennsylvania State University, 2006

• Graduate Fellow, The Pennsylvania State University, 2005-2006

• Endowed Fellow, The Pennsylvania State University, 2002-2003

• Sigma Phi Omega, National Honor Society for Gerontology, 2002

• Phi Beta Kappa, Whitman College, 1995

Julie S. Son, Ph.D., graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a doctorate in Leisure Studies from the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management. Her primary research interests are on the social psychology of leisure and health across the lifespan with a particular emphasis on recreation and park resources and needs, and addressing diversity issues (age, gender, ethnicity, income, geographic location). Associate Professor Son has worked in an array of recreation and park settings with various populations including providing therapeutic recreation to children with disabilities, camp counseling, coaching youth sports, engagement on university health promotion initiatives, assisting American Indian tribal organizations in addressing recreation and health issues, and recreation-based health and wellness programs for older adults. Key areas of research investigation include promoting healthy active lifestyles through leisure, understanding the pathways to physical activity across the lifespan, investigating the social-physical activity nexus, and extending a critical lens to active living to more fully include other healthy leisure activities (e.g., social leisure) beyond physical activity.

• Recreation and Park Behavior

• Leisure, Health and Wellness

• Social Psychological Aspects of Leisure

• Leisure Across the Lifespan

• Physical Activity

• Social Engagement

• Building healthy active lifestyle coalitions in an impoverished racially diverse rural community

• Working with individuals with chronic conditions (e.g., arthritis, diabetes) to promote healthy lifestyles

• Developing partnerships with park and recreation and health professionals to promote physical activity

• Physical activity in recreation and park settings (several studies)

• Leisure activities (incl. physical activity) and health in an impoverished, racially diverse rural community

• Social leisure and health of older women

• Leisure activities, arthritis and health

• Leisure and health of college-age adults

• Social cognitive factors, leisure-time physical activity and health of college women

• Social cognitive aspects of park-based physical activity in later life

• Son, J. S., Kerstetter, D. L., Yarnal, C. M., & Baker, B. L. (2007). Promoting older women’s health and well-being through social leisure environments: What we have learned from the Red Hat Society®. Journal of Women and Aging, 19(3/4), 89-104.

• Son, J. S., Kerstetter, D. L., & Mowen, A. J. (2008). Do age and gender matter in the constraint negotiation of physically active leisure? Journal of Leisure Research, 40(2), 267-289.

• Son, J. S., Mowen, A. J., & Kerstetter, D. L. (2008). Testing alternative leisure constraint negotiation models: An extension of Hubbard and Mannell’s model. Leisure Sciences, 30(3), 1-19.

• Hutchinson, S. L., Yarnal, C. M., Son, J. S., & Kerstetter, D. L. (2008). Beyond fun and friendship: The Red Hat Society® as a coping resource for women. Ageing & Society, 28, 979-999.

• Kerstetter, D. L., Yarnal, C. M., Son, J. S., Yen, I., & Baker, B. L. (2008). Functional support associated with belonging to the Red Hat Society®, a leisure-based social network. Journal of Leisure Research, 40(4), 531-555.

• Son, J. S., & Hutchinson, S. L. (2009). Conceptualizing leisure self-care in an exploratory study of American Indian elders’ health beliefs and behaviors. Leisure/Loisir, 33(2), 479-509.

• Janke, M., Son, J. S., & Payne, L. L. (2009). Self-regulation and adaptation of leisure activities among adults with arthritis. Activities, Adaptation, & Aging, 33(2), 65-80.

• Son, J. S., Kerstetter, D. L., & Mowen, A. J. (2009). Illuminating identity and health: Extending our understanding of the constraint negotiation of leisure-time physical activity. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration: Special Issue on Physical Activity and Health, 26(3), 96-115.

• Son, J. S., Yarnal, C. M., & Kerstetter, D. L. (2010). Engendering social capital through a leisure organization for middle-aged and older women: Implications for individual and community health and well-being. Leisure Studies, 29(1), 67-83.

• Yarnal, C. M, Son, J. S., & Liechty, T. (2011). “She was buried in her purple dress and her red hat and all of our members wore full ‘Red Hat Regalia’ to celebrate her life”: Dress, embodiment and older women’s leisure. Journal of Aging Studies, 25(1), 52-61.

• Son, J. S., Mowen, A. J., & Kerstetter, D. L. (2011). Interactive social cognitive model of leisure-time physical activity in mid to late life. American Journal of Health Behavior, 35(1), 60-70.

• Son, J. S., & Yarnal, C. M. (2011). Integration of constraints and benefits within an older women’s social club: An examination, extension and critique. Leisure Sciences, 33(3), 205-227.

• Son, J. S., Shinew, K. J., & Harvey, I. S. (2011). Community readiness for leisure-based health promotion: Findings from an underserved and racially diverse rural community. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 29(2), 90-106.

• Janke, M., Jones, J. Payne, L. L, & Son, J. S. (in press). Living with arthritis: Using self-management of valued activities to promote health. Qualitative Health Research.