Social, cultural, and scientific advancements have helped people live longer. Not only are people living longer, but they also have fewer children than at any previous time in human history. This shift will present a unique situation where there will be more older adults outnumbering infants and teenagers in about four decades. How will the world take care of this burgeoning population?

Christine A. Mair, associate professor of sociology and gerontology and director of UMBC’s Center for Health, Equity, and Aging in the department of sociology, anthropology, and public health, examines the presence or absence of family and non-family ties. Mair seeks to document how social integration and support (or lack thereof; e.g., “kinlessness”) shape mental health, physical health, end-of-life experiences, and other aspects of well-being especially cross-nationally.

“Many of these older adults will also be unpartnered due to never marrying, divorce, or their eventual widowhood. These three intersecting trends of high longevity, low fertility, and low partnership will culminate to produce a growing population of people who are both unpartnered and childless. This group is sometimes referred to as ‘kinless,’” Mair explains to Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities and host of The Academic Minute, a daily show featuring faculty from colleges and universities worldwide speaking about their cutting-edge research.