Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan

Bussarawan “Puk” Teerawichitchainan will dedicate her time at CASBS to examining the implications of aging with limited family ties in Southeast Asia—a region undergoing rapid population aging while continuing to rely heavily on familial support. Drawing on data from her recently completed mixed-methods study of childless older adults in Singapore and Thailand, she will explore how different pathways to childlessness shape later-life experiences, including long-term and end-of-life care planning. Her research also investigates how older adults with limited kin navigate support through non-family networks, technology, and social policies. This work aims to contribute to rethinking intergenerational solidarity, the concept of aging well, and the sociological and demographic understanding of aging populations in Asia.

Teerawichitchainan is associate professor of sociology at the National University of Singapore, where she co-directed the Centre for Family and Population Research from 2020 to 2025. Her research lies at the intersection of family demography, social gerontology, and medical sociology. She also contributes to a parallel line of research on the long-term impacts of war on health and well-being in Vietnam. Her research has been supported by the U.S. National Institute on Aging, the National Institutes of Health, and Singapore’s Ministry of Education. A former Fulbright Fellow, she received her MA and PhD in Sociology from the University of Washington. She is the National University of Singapore Fellow at CASBS for 2025–26.

You can read more about her work at: https://discovery.nus.edu.sg/14760