THREE ESSAYS ON POPULATION AGING, FAMILY AND WELL-BEING

Abstract

Population aging represents one of the most significant demographic shifts of the twenty-firstcentury, occurring within contexts of increasing social heterogeneity, massive migration flows, and changing family structures. This dissertation examines three interconnected dimensions of how demographic processes affect the life trajectories and well-being of older adults: socioeconomic differentials in mortality, social connections and emotional well-being, and family structures and living arrangements. Using data from China and the United States, the three essays reveal how demographic transformation creates distinct challenges across different societies. In China, survey attrition systematically biases mortality estimates, while massive internal migration reshapes family structures and drives population-level patterns of loneliness, with projections showing that parents of one-child policy cohorts will face unprecedented rates of complete family separation and elevated burden of loneliness. In the United States, racial and ethnic minorities follow different family trajectories than whites, increasingly diverging from the traditional norm of lifelong marriage and spousal coresidence in later life. Together, these findings show how the global demographic trends—population aging, family change, and migration—manifest as fundamentally different challenges across societies and social groups.