A BGSU sociology professor is joining four other university researchers to conduct a five-year, $2.2 million study on the generational health and economic impacts of COVID-19 according to a press release from the university.  

Dr. I-Fen Lin, who has expertise in intergenerational relationships, is going to be a co-investigator on the research project.  

The project, titled “Tracing the Health Consequences of Family Support During the COVID-19 Pandemic” is being funded by the National Institutes of Health, and will also be taking on researchers from Syracuse University, Duke University and the University of California, Los Angeles.  

Dr. Lin and the team of researchers, which is composed of three sociologists and two economists, will extract specific information from two national surveys and compile contextual data to provide a full-scale picture of American families’ lives before, during and in the years following COVID-19. 

The goal of the research is to create a comprehensive database on how intergenerational assistance, the ability of one family member to provide time, money or housing to other family members, affected the health and economic outcomes of older adults during the pandemic. 

The research project began in September of 2022 and is expected to continue through May 2027.