In this presentation, Prof Silverstein will review long-term care challenges facing China in light of its aging population, increased longevity, growing disease burden, and low fertility.

This “perfect storm” of demographic factors have put into sharp relief the urgency to formulate policies that serve frail older adults in a nation where filial piety remains a robust if fraying cultural norm. The perspectives of older people are rarely considered in such discussions, despite that fact that they will be the consumers of the evolving long-term care system in China. To address this issue, Prof Silverstein uses national data from 10,000 individuals 60+ in urban and rural China to assess their preferred source of care and willingness to use long-term care facilities—focusing on differences by urban/rural location, family size, the presence of sons, and the economic success of children. He will conclude by discussing the importance of economic resources as a factor implicitly determining the availability and quality of formal care for older adults in China.

This session will be conducted via Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8630...

About the Speaker

Professor Merril Silverstein, Ph.D., Marjorie Cantor Endowed Chair in Aging Studies, Syracuse University

Department of Sociology, Department of Human Development and Family Science Aging Research Institute

Professor Merril Silverstein is inaugural holder of the Marjorie Cantor Chair in Aging Studies at Syracuse University in the Maxwell School Department of Sociology and in Human Development and Family Science. He received his doctorate in sociology from Columbia University. In over 150 research publications, he has focused on aging in the context of family life, with an emphasis on life course and international perspectives. He serves as principal investigator of the Longitudinal Study of Generations and has had projects in China, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Israel. He is a Brookdale Fellow and Fulbright Senior Scholar and between 2010-2014 served as editor-in-chief of Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.