U.S.-Hong Kong 2015 Conference

About the Conference

In the past few years, The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) has successfully co-organized numerous US-China conferences in China, with the aim to foster the development of strong linkages and collaboration between aging researchers in the United States and China. We are very happy to announce that GSA will co-organize the international conference with the Department of Psychology, the Institute of Ageing, the Nethersole School of Nursing, and the Department of Social Work at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in January 5-6, 2015.

 

Theme of the 2015 Conference

By now it has become common knowledge that the world’s population is aging. But what is little known is that aging is particularly an Asian issue. In 2010, 53.2% of the world population aged 65 years or over lived in Asia. This figure is estimated to increase. In fact, in the coming 30 years, 66.5% of the world’s older population increase would be accounted for by Asia. Despite this, current literature focuses more on aging in North America and Europe. There are both theoretical and practical demands on testing the generalizability of the Western findings on Asian samples. In addition, cross-cultural similarities and differences on aging phenomena can potentially challenge existing literature on aging, provoking new thoughts on the interaction between individual and social factors in shaping aging.

 

Aging studies have so far been studied with a wide range of methodologies. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods are broadly employed. Health-related and biological-based techniques are becoming more and more popular. It is hoped that this conference will provide a platform for researchers around the world to discuss the adoption of multi-method and multi-technologies in studies on aging.

 

In addition, another focus of this conference will be attitude toward aging. Asia has a tradition on respect for older adults. Concepts like filial piety were also originated from Asia. Yet, as population aging becomes more and more evident, attitudes and beliefs about older adults are often more negative in Asia than in other parts of the world. Meanwhile, concepts on successful aging have been around for over a decade in the Western literature, and there have been many recent findings that aging may be associated with gains as well as losses. More intergenerational support may flow down the generations rather than up. This conference hopes to be a platform for researchers from different countries to exchange ideas on the societal attitude and perception toward aging in different cultures.

 

This conference will focus on the socio-psychological aspects of aging. Acknowledging the cultural differences in aging, the conference will focus on aging in context with particular emphasis on cross-cultural and multi-method studies.