Merril Silverstein

Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor in Aging, Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs & Falk College of Sport & Human Dynamics Link

Faculty Associate, Aging Studies Institute
Faculty Affiliate, Center for Aging and Policy Studies

CAPS Biography:

My work closely aligns with both of CAPS signature themes of family and intergenerational supports and health and well-being. Over my career, I have supervised and performed analyses that seek to better understand the interconnections among family structure, social support, filial norms, emotions, and psychological and physical well-being from middle-age to late life. This includes producing methodological innovations that fully capture the richness of intergenerationally linked and dynamic survey data. I have published on issues of caregiving, particularly normative and cohort change in filial responsibility and gender differences in caregiving. I am Principal Investigator of one of the longest continuously running social science projects studying family and social relationships: The Longitudinal Study of Generations, now in its 53rd year. I also initiated and co-direct a 20-year longitudinal study of older adults in rural China. How social relationships produce psychological and physical benefits and harm in older adults has been a theme pervading my research over the past several decades. My research takes a life-span developmental, as well as a cross-cultural approach with research projects and collaborators in China, Sweden, Wales, Israel, Germany, and the Netherlands.