Iris Chi, the Chinese-American Golden Age Association/Frances Wu Chair for the Chinese Elderly at the USC School of Social Work, is part of an inter-school collaboration that has been awarded $15,000 for research on the aging population in China from the USC U.S.-China Institute. The grant will be used to expand existing research on the needs of the elderly population in China and to explore their impact on Chinese society as a whole.

The project, "Population Aging in China: Social, Health and Policy Implications," a team effort between the USC School of Social Work and the USC Davis School of Gerontology, where Chi holds a joint appointment, will be investigated with Merril Silverstein, a Davis School professor of gerontology and sociology.

"China's elderly population is growing three times the rate of most Western countries, so the country is in a race with itself," Chi says.

The United Nations reports that China will have one of the world's oldest populations by mid-century, with more than one in five older than age 65 and more than one in three older than age 60. She and Silverstein question whether it can achieve its desired level of economic development before a growing older population and a shrinking workforce slow down its economy.

"As China continues to become a global force, the scope of this project will be important not only to China but to the world," she said.

The grant will help the researchers expand collaborative efforts with other USC schools and colleagues in China. To this end, Chi and Silverstein will attend the Asia/Oceania Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics summit in Beijing in October to present research papers and network with other scholars in the area of aging, especially those at Peking and Renmin universities in China. They also plan to host a two-day symposium at USC in April 2008 on family and formal care of the elderly in China with the participation of U.S. and Chinese scholars.

Prior to her work at the USC School of Social Work, Chi was the director of the Sau Po Centre on Aging at the University of Hong Kong, where she taught for 17 years. She is currently collaborating on a national longitudinal study of Chinese elders to document the needs and conditions of 20,255 community-dwelling older adults in urban and rural China. Silverstein currently serves as principal investigator of a longitudinal study of older people in Anhui Province," which is partially funded by the USC School of Social Work. The study is examining the impact of rural-to-urban migration on the physical and psychological well-being of the elderly left behind in rural villages by their adult children.

Another important aim of this project is to enhance research training and professional socialization for USC graduate students studying aging and intergenerational relationships in China. Currently, doctoral students Zhen Cong from the USC Davis School of Gerontology and May Guo, Yawen Li and Lu Zhou from the USC School of Social Work are using data from Chi's and Silverstein's work for their dissertations and will contribute to all scholarly activities related to the USC U.S.-China Institute project.

The USC U.S.-China Institute was established in 2006 as an interdisciplinary research institute to produce policy-relevant social science research, innovative graduate and undergraduate training, extensive and influential public events, and professional development efforts all focused on the U.S.-China relationship.