Aging with Limited Kin in Family-Oriented Societies

CCPR Seminar with Bussarawan “Puk” Teerawichitchainan (National University of Singapore)

Monday, May 18, 2026
2:00 PM - 3:15 PM (Pacific Time)
Public Affairs Building, Rm 4240A

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Across the Asia Pacific, rapid demographic transitions and changing family structures are producing a growing number of adults aging with limited close kin. Drawing on mixed-methods evidence from Thailand and Singapore, this talk examines how childlessness and other forms of constrained kin availability shape later-life vulnerability, adaptation, and inequality in societies where aging systems continue to rely heavily on family support. Findings reveal heterogeneous pathways into kin limitation and the diverse ways older adults navigate—or struggle to adapt to—constrained kin configurations through their support networks, care arrangements, and planning strategies. These patterns are shaped by gendered life course trajectories, socioeconomic circumstances, and institutional contexts. The evidence also reveals persistent tensions between familistic norms and the lived realities of increasingly limited kin networks. The talk concludes by reflecting on what these shifts suggest about the future of aging in family-oriented contexts and the implications for promoting equitable aging as kin networks continue to shrink.

Bussarawan “Puk” Teerawichitchainan is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the National University of Singapore and served as Co-Director of the NUS Centre for Family and Population Research until December 2025. Her research examines aging, family, and the life course in Southeast Asia, including recent projects on the long-term impacts of war trauma among older Vietnamese survivors and the dynamics of childless aging in Singapore and Thailand. She is currently a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.




Sponsor(s): Center for Southeast Asian Studies, California Center for Population Research, UCLA Department of Sociology Family Working Group (FWG) and Political Sociology and the Global South (PSGS)