Yongxin Shang

Postdoctoral Scholar

Social Science Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University

Hi! I am Yongxin, currently working as a postdoc researcher at the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) at Penn State. I previously worked as a postdoc at Yale. I received my PhD in Public Policy (with a minor in Demography and a concentration in Sociology) at Cornell University in 2025.

I am broadly interested in family demography and health inequalities. Some overarching questions that motivate my research include: Who will care for older adults in an increasingly aging society? What are the life course patterns of care-giving and care-receiving? What types of social policy can better support older adults in need of care and their families? I am trying to advance the understanding of these questions from an interdisciplinary and international perspective.

News:

June 2026: I recently moved to Penn State to start my new postdoc position. I will continue working on research projects related to aging and family. Please reach me at my new email address yongxin.shang@psu.edu.
January 2026: My co-authored paper with Meng Huo, Fei Wang, and Sarah Patterson has been published in the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences. Check out here to learn how serving as a confidant is associated with the well-being of caregivers.
November 2025: I am honored to be selected for the Work and Family Researchers Network (WFRN) 2026 Early Career Fellowship Program. I look forward to joining this amazing community and connecting with many inspiring work-family scholars!
September 2025: I am going to organize a PAA 2026 session titled "Flash: The Demography of Care for Older Adults" (call for paper). Please consider submitting your relevant papers to the session (submission deadline is October 5, 2025)!
July 2025: I successfully defended my dissertation and graduated from Cornell University with my PhD in Public Policy. See some of my stories and reflection here.

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