BABY BOOMERS AND FAMILY CHANGES IN THE 21st CENTURY

From left to right:  Nancy Orel, Merril Silverstein, Linda Waite, Susan Brown, 
I-Fen Lin, Kara Joyner, and Deborah Carr

Tuesday, March 15, 2011
8:30 am - 2:45 pm
Room 201 Bowen-Thompson Student Union

On January 1, 2011, Baby Boomers began turning age 65. Each day for the next 20 years, roughly 10,000 Boomers will experience this milestone. As the largest birth cohort in U.S. history confronts old age, individuals, families, and society will face considerable new challenges. The Center for Family and Demographic Research and the National Center for Family & Marriage Research at BGSU will host three distinguished scholars who will discuss the implications of the aging population with a special emphasis on how this shift will affect family organization and relationships.

Guest Speakers :

“Close Relationships at Older Ages”
Linda Waite, PhD
Lucy Flower Professor in Urban Sociology
Department of Sociology
The University of Chicago

“Gender Role Ideology Across Age, Time, and Generations: The Case for Baby-Boom Exceptionalism”
Merril Silverstein, PhD
Professor of Gerontology and Sociology
Davis School of Gerontology and Department of Sociology
University of Southern California

"Reinventing Widowhood?  Some (Untested) Predictions about Baby Boomers & Spousal Loss”
Deborah Carr, PhD
Professor of Sociology
Institute for Health, Health Care Policy & Aging Research
Rutgers University