Center for Aging Families - Families play a crucial role in shaping health and well-being across the entire lifespan, with family ties taking on increased importance in later life. Given the changing demography and economics of aging families and the implications of these changes for health and well-being, an integrated, interdisciplinary approach is urgently needed. The Center for Aging Families (CAF) ignites scientific inquiry on the centrality of contemporary and complex aging families as deeply influential on aging health. To illuminate how rapid shifts in family relationships across the life course link to population health and health disparities of aging adults, CAF brings together an interdisciplinary community of scholars of all stages from Bowling Green State University (BGSU), Ohio State University (OSU), and Purdue University (Purdue). CAF affiliates are widely recognized in the field as leaders in family change, population health, and aging. The CAF leadership team is composed of four senior scholars with extensive administrative experience: Susan Brown (BGSU), Sarah Hayford (OSU), Hui Liu (Purdue), and Rin Reczek (OSU). CAF will leverage existing individual-level collaborations to build infrastructure that fosters deep and meaningful connections and generates high-quality and high-impact science. The impact of CAF is transformative, beginning with Phase 1’s strategic strengthening of connections between our three institutions, followed by Phase 2’s expansion of the CAF network to institutions nationwide and globally, broadening its reach and influence. CAF is primed to make significant advancements by seeding new and innovative lines of research in family aging research via pilot funding and grant-writing training and mentorship (Program Development Core); translation and dissemination of research findings (Communication and Dissemination Core); and an integrated research infrastructure (Administration and Research Support Core). CAF research will focus on three overarching research themes that are central to aging family life: 1) the changing demography of aging families, with the focus on the demographic changes of intimate, procreative, and family of origin ties among aging populations; 2) aging family health, with a focus on how these broader demographic shifts matter for health, health behavior, cognition and healthcare of older adults; and 3) health disparities in family aging, leveraging the NIA’s health disparities framework to integrate approaches that address disparities in family changes and their health impacts across contextual and behavioral influences. The research infrastructure provided by CAF will stimulate cutting-edge research that aligns with NIA priority topic areas for population-based social science aging research. Establishing and supporting the Center for Aging Families (CAF) will have a transformative impact on the field of aging family research.
