A researcher who specializes in aging and families is the first from the Faculty of ALES to receive a $100,000 research cluster grant from the Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS).
Joohong Min received the award to examine the implications of two major social trends occurring in many developed countries: aging populations and increasing family diversity associated with higher rates of divorce and remarriage, delayed marriage and parenthood, childlessness, and other factors.
Her study will evaluate how these trends affect financial, social and health outcomes in later life and fill a critical gap in knowledge, said Min, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Ecology.
Although families are still the key social institution in which individuals are embedded and cared for, there is immense variability in family trajectories across the life course, and most existing research on families has focused on early life-course stages such as childhood and youth.
"Few studies have examined how increasing diversity in families influences older adults. We don't have enough evidence," Min said.
Specifically, the team will examine whether the occurrence, timing and order of those major family transitions result in a cumulative advantage or disadvantage for older adults.
Until now, there has been a lack of appropriate data and analytic techniques with which to address these complex questions, and so surprisingly little research has been done, she said.
But using advanced analytical techniques, Min's team will test the capacity of two recent sets of Canadian data to answer the questions. One is Statistics Canada's General Social Surveys on caregiving and families, which contain information about family history and inter-generational exchanges, such as financial support, child care, respite, etc.
The other is the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, which is currently following 50,000 people between the ages of 45 and 85 for at least 20 years, and the changing medical, psychological, social and economic aspects of their lives.
"There's a possibility the current data can answer our research questions, and we think we can identify how to improve the collection of longitudinal information about families that we really need," Min said.
The three-year project - titled Health, Wealth and Happiness: Dynamics of Families and a Good Old Age - is also notable for its multidisciplinary approach. Its nine-member team includes six researchers from the University of Alberta (representing Human Ecology, Sociology, Nursing and Family Medicine), two sociologists from the Universities of Manitoba and Victoria, and the CEO of the Vanier Institute of the Family in Ottawa.
Such an approach fulfils the Kule Institute's mandate for funding interdisciplinary research in the social sciences, humanities and arts that has a potential for national or international impact.
The other three cluster grants awarded by KIAS this year went to researchers in the Faculty of Arts. They include a study documenting the Dene diaspora, another on sustaining mountain cultures in the Canadian West, and a third on social justice-related research-creation.
KIAS was established in 2010 by benefactors Peter and Doris Kule. Its new research cluster grant program began in 2015. This year's grants will be officially announced on March 1 at 3:30 p.m., at the Thinking Communities Celebration of Research event at the Timms Centre for the Arts.
Joohong Min received the award to examine the implications of two major social trends occurring in many developed countries: aging populations and increasing family diversity associated with higher rates of divorce and remarriage, delayed marriage and parenthood, childlessness, and other factors.
Her study will evaluate how these trends affect financial, social and health outcomes in later life and fill a critical gap in knowledge, said Min, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Ecology.
Although families are still the key social institution in which individuals are embedded and cared for, there is immense variability in family trajectories across the life course, and most existing research on families has focused on early life-course stages such as childhood and youth.
"Few studies have examined how increasing diversity in families influences older adults. We don't have enough evidence," Min said.
Specifically, the team will examine whether the occurrence, timing and order of those major family transitions result in a cumulative advantage or disadvantage for older adults.
Until now, there has been a lack of appropriate data and analytic techniques with which to address these complex questions, and so surprisingly little research has been done, she said.
But using advanced analytical techniques, Min's team will test the capacity of two recent sets of Canadian data to answer the questions. One is Statistics Canada's General Social Surveys on caregiving and families, which contain information about family history and inter-generational exchanges, such as financial support, child care, respite, etc.
The other is the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, which is currently following 50,000 people between the ages of 45 and 85 for at least 20 years, and the changing medical, psychological, social and economic aspects of their lives.
"There's a possibility the current data can answer our research questions, and we think we can identify how to improve the collection of longitudinal information about families that we really need," Min said.
The three-year project - titled Health, Wealth and Happiness: Dynamics of Families and a Good Old Age - is also notable for its multidisciplinary approach. Its nine-member team includes six researchers from the University of Alberta (representing Human Ecology, Sociology, Nursing and Family Medicine), two sociologists from the Universities of Manitoba and Victoria, and the CEO of the Vanier Institute of the Family in Ottawa.
Such an approach fulfils the Kule Institute's mandate for funding interdisciplinary research in the social sciences, humanities and arts that has a potential for national or international impact.
The other three cluster grants awarded by KIAS this year went to researchers in the Faculty of Arts. They include a study documenting the Dene diaspora, another on sustaining mountain cultures in the Canadian West, and a third on social justice-related research-creation.
KIAS was established in 2010 by benefactors Peter and Doris Kule. Its new research cluster grant program began in 2015. This year's grants will be officially announced on March 1 at 3:30 p.m., at the Thinking Communities Celebration of Research event at the Timms Centre for the Arts.