Our Research

Family Diversity and Inequality in Aging Societies

Unveiling Hidden Disparities in Health, Education, and Socioeconomic Outcomes

European societies are becoming more heterogeneous and more diverse due to a variety of trends, including population aging, increasing migration flows, as well as a diversification of work, care, and relationship arrangements. In many ways, these trends occur and materialize in families and social relationships, possibly changing the very nature and accepted definitions of what constitutes a ‘family’. Despite a large body of research on the causes and consequences of population aging, we know little about the causes and consequences of family diversity in aging societies, particularly concerning inequalities in health, socioeconomic, and educational outcomes.

Bridging Research Streams

The ECPD synergizes research streams and aims across two key disciplines: biomedical sciences and social sciences. Through a uniquely symbiotic and strategically aligned collaboration between these two commonly fragmented methodological approaches, the ECPD aims to conceptualize, explore, and put into practice the mechanisms connecting family diversity with health and social inequalities.


The Conceptual Framework and Our Objectives

Objective 1 • To re-define family diversity

Objective 1 aims to advance the understanding and conceptualisation of family and family diversity through in-depth reviews of scientific literature, legal frameworks and official statistics, co-creative interaction with a “citizen panel”, and quantitative survey experiments.

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Objective 2 To understand mental health in migrant families

Objective 2 assesses the somatic, psychosocial, educational, and environmental determinants of mental health in migrant families and uses multimodal approaches, integrating qualitative exploratory research and real-world laboratories with quantitative studies, to understand them.

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Objective 3 • To rethink family caregiving in aging societies

Objective 3 aims to advance the understanding of the dynamics of complex relationships between family members that provide and receive informal care, which is essential to support individuals and families living with care needs.

 

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Objective 4 •To elucidate interdependencies between physical and mental health and pathways into multimorbidity in changing family systems

Objective 4 aims to capture and understand mutual feedback effects between physical and mental disease and longitudinal pathways of multimorbidity emergence in changing family systems.

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Objective 5 •To link the pathways between family diversity and health and economic inequalities

Objective 5 aims at examining the link between family transitions (such as childbirth, marriage, death of a partner or separation) and economic and health inequalities.

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Objective 6 •To evaluate the relation between family diversity and educational inequalities

Objective 6 will examine the interplay between family diversity and environment, genetics and multiple outcomes such as health, fertility, wellbeing and educational attainment.

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Bringing Research Into Society

Bridging Knowledge and Action for Policy Impact

A more nuanced understanding of the drivers and dynamics of population diversity and social inequality is highly essential for evidence-informed decision-making in a considerable number of policy fields. In order to actively contribute evidence-informed policymaking, a further structural component aims to create a transdisciplinary forum with a target group composed of key stakeholders from academia, governance, business, and civil society, based in Berlin and at regional, national, European, and international levels. Key tools for that purpose will be expert meetings and stakeholder workshops to evaluate best practice examples and policies, public events promoting citizens’ engagement, and real-world laboratories.

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