About Us

Mission

The Center for Aging Families (CAF) is an inter-institutional, multidisciplinary research center that advances population research on aging families among faculty affiliates at Bowling Green State University, The Ohio State University, and Purdue University. CAF provides research support services to facilitate grant-writing, pilot data collection, and research dissemination; seeds new and innovative lines of research in the demography and economics of aging families; and fosters a collaborative intellectual environment to nurture science on aging families.

Overview

The Center for Aging Families (CAF) is a multi-disciplinary research center that advances population research on aging families among faculty affiliates at Bowling Green State University, The Ohio State University, and Purdue University. CAF includes more than 50 faculty affiliates spanning a dozen disciplines in the social sciences and medical fields. CAF is supported by an infrastructure grant from the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute on Aging (P30AG096979), as well as by internal funds from BGSU, OSU, and Purdue. 

CAF has three primary research areas: the changing demography of aging families; aging family health; and health disparities in aging families. The Center will advance science on how family relationships across the life course link to population health and health disparities in the second half of life.

By providing material and intellectual support to emerging scholars, seeding innovative research projects across all career stages, enhancing intellectual community, and sharing our pathbreaking science with policy stakeholders across the U.S. and beyond, CAF will advance innovative, high-impact research on aging families. Center activities and services include an Emerging Scholars program; Innovation Grants program; grant writing training and working group; research support services; data services (e.g., access to OSU Federal Statistics Research Data Center and American Population Panel); CAF Fast Facts research briefs; seminar series; and annual conference. CAF prioritizes investments in junior faculty and multidisciplinary teams.  

The CAF brings together an expert team of co-directors from three universities: Susan L. Brown from Bowling Green State University, Sarah Hayford and Rin Reczek from The Ohio State University, and Hui Liu from Purdue University.

Susan L. Brown

Susan L. Brown is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Bowling Green State University and Co-Director of the Center for Aging Families (CAF). She also serves as the Director of the Center for Family and Demographic Research and Co-Director of the National Center for Family & Marriage Research. She is a family demographer whose research addresses union formation and dissolution and its linkages to health and well-being in the second half of life. She is especially interested in nonmarital partnerships, including living apart together (LAT) and cohabiting relationships. She also studies the patterns and implications of limited family ties among older adults. Her research on later life divorce has been supported by three NIA grant awards over the past decade. She is widely recognized as an expert in family change among older adults and is regularly quoted in the national media. Dr. Brown’s scholarly agenda closely aligns with CAF’s research theme on the changing demography of aging families. She leads CAF’s Communication and Dissemination Core. She also is a Mentor in CAF’s Emerging Scholars program.

Sarah Hayford

Sarah Hayford is Robert T. Lazarus Professor of Population Studies in the Department of Sociology at The Ohio State University and Co-Director of the Center for Aging Families. She also serves as the Director of the Institute for Population Research. Dr. Hayford is a family demographer with a focus on childbearing and parenthood in family and life course context, including intergenerational relationships. She co-leads an ongoing longitudinal data collection project on intergenerational support and health at mid-life among women in rural Mozambique, with funding from NIA. Dr. Hayford’s research contributes to CAF’s research themes on the changing demography of aging families and aging family health. She leads CAF’s Administrative Core and is a Mentor for CAF’s Emerging Scholars program.

Hui Liu

Hui Liu is Professor of Sociology at Purdue University and Co-Director of the Center for Aging Families (CAF). She also serves as the Director of the Center on Aging and the Life Course at Purdue University. Dr. Liu is a family demographer whose research is guided by the aging and life course perspective to examine how marriage and family processes are related to population health. For nearly two decades, she has been dedicated to developing, testing, and advancing scientific knowledge of how marriage and family dynamics both influence and are influenced by health and well-being across the life course. Her work places particular emphasis on vulnerable populations, including older adults and same-sex couples. Her research on marriage and health has been supported by multiple NIH grants, including a K01 and an R01. Dr. Liu’s research closely aligns with CAF’s themes on aging family health and health disparities in family aging. She co-leads CAF’s Development Core and is a Mentor for CAF’s Emerging Scholars program.

Rin Reczek

Rin Reczek is Professor of Sociology at The Ohio State University and Co-Director for the Center for Aging Families (CAF). She is a family demographer and qualitative methodologist whose research accounts for the full complexity of family ties, with specific attention to how family dynamics and structure shape health and well-being in mid- and later-life. She is especially interested in how the multifaceted dynamics of parent-adult child ties, parenthood, and intimate relationships change across the life course. Dr. Reczek is well known for her national media engagement on family estrangement and no-contact family relationships, as well as for her work on sexual minority families and health. Dr. Reczek is currently leading a National Institutes of Health-funded project examining how childbearing biographies (e.g., age at first and last birth, parity) shapes midlife health. Dr. Reczek research interests dovetail with CAF’s research theme on aging family health and health disparities in aging families. She co-leads CAF’s Development Core, which houses our Emerging Scholar and Innovation Grant programs.

To be added to the CAF email list, please email agingfamilies@bgsu.edu. If you are interested in becoming a CAF faculty affiliate, send a brief summary of your aging families research interests to agingfamilies@bgsu.edu. 

CAF Media Spotlight For the Media

External Advisory Board

The External Advisory Board meets biannually to advise Center leadership on its activities and initiatives.

Members:

J. Scott Brown, Miami University (OH)
Karen Fingerman, University of Texas-Austin
Jennifer Karas Montez, Syracuse University
Sarah Patterson, University of Michigan
Rebecca Wong, University of Texas-San Antonio

Internal Executive Committee

The Internal Executive Committee convenes quarterly to work with the Center’s leadership team to implement key activities and programs.

Members:

Susan South, Purdue University
Jeff Wing, Ohio State University
Jenjira Yahirun, Bowling Green State University

Updated: 11/06/2025 12:29PM