Research

My research is situated at the intersections of the social determinants of health, work and family research, life course, social change, and workplace flexibility. My overarching goal is to understand how health inequalities across social groups are produced and perpetuated over time and in different social contexts. I am particularly interested in the role of new ways of working–remote work, hybrid work, shorter workweeks, and workplace flexibility–in affecting the performance and well-being of workers, organizations, and society. My current research revolves around four main themes.


Pandemic-precipitated Social Change. The COVID-19 pandemic has reset social structures in profound ways. My current research focuses on how the pandemic has shifted distributions and disparities in work arrangements, family lives, and health and well-being, particularly as these aspects intersect with gender, race/ethnicity, and other social-locational markers including life course stage. The support of two NSF grants and a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research has enabled the collection of original quantitative and qualitative data to explore these questions.

Fan, Wen, and Phyllis Moen. Forthcoming. “The Future(s) of Work? Disparities around Changing Job Conditions when Remote/Hybrid or Returning to Working at Work.” Work and Occupations.

Fan, Wen, and Phyllis Moen. 2024.  “The Shifting Stress of Working Parents: An Examination of Dual Pandemic Disruptions—Remote Work and Remote Schooling.” Social Sciences 13(1): 36.

Qian, Yue, and Wen Fan (equal authorship). 2024. “Stressful Life Events and Depressive Symptoms During COVID-19: A Gender Comparison.” British Journal of Sociology 75(1): 38-47.

Qian, Yue, and Wen Fan (equal authorship). 2023. “The Early-2020 COVID-19 Outbreak in China and Subsequent Flourishing: Medium-Term Effects and Intervening Mechanisms.” Society and Mental Health 13(3): 208–226.

Fan, Wen, and Yue Qian (equal authorship). 2023. “State Contexts, Job Insecurity, and Subjective Well-being in the Time of COVID-19.” Journal of Happiness Studies 24: 2039–2059.

Fan, Wen, and Phyllis Moen. 2023. “Ongoing Remote Work, Returning to Working at Work, or In Between during COVID-19: What Promotes Subjective Well-being?Journal of Health and Social Behavior 64(1): 152–171.

Nano, Joseph P., Mina H Ghaly, and Wen Fan. 2022. “Lessons from Early COVID-19: Undergraduate Students’ Academic Performance, Social Life, and Mental Health in the United States.” International Journal of Public Health 67:1604806.

Fan, Wen, and Phyllis Moen. 2022. “Working More, Less or the Same During COVID-19? A Mixed Method, Intersectional Analysis of Remote Workers.” Work and Occupations 49(2): 143-186.

Blog in Work in Progress.

Fan, Wen, Yue Qian, and Yongai Jin (first two authors equal authorship). 2021. “Stigma, Perceived Discrimination, and Mental Health during China’s COVID-19 Outbreak: A Mixed-methods Investigation.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 62(4): 562-581.

Qian, Yue, and Wen Fan (equal authorship). 2020. “Who Loses Income During the COVID-19 Outbreak? Evidence from China.” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 68: 100522.


Work, Family, and Health. My second research theme aims to understand how work and family intersect to create environments that affect the health and well-being of individuals and couples. Drawing on insights from occupational health, work/family research, and gender studies, my research emphasizes the context of couple, examines the role of occupations in shaping worker identity and health, and highlights the intersectional and holistic processes by which work and family environments get under the skin and into the minds and hearts.

Fan, Wen. Forthcoming. “Becoming a Parent: Trajectories of Family Division of Labor in Germany and the United States.” Advances in Life Course Research.

Yucel, Deniz, and Wen Fan. 2023. “Workplace Flexibility, Work–Family Interface, and Psychological Distress: Differences by Family Caregiving Obligations and Gender.” Applied Research in Quality of Life 18: 1825–1847.

Fan, Wen. 2022. “Breadwinning, Occupational Sex Composition, and Stress: Examining Psychological Distress and Heavy Drinking at the Intersection of Gender and Race.” Gender and Society 36(6): 922–960.

– Blogs in Gender & Society Blog and Work in Progress.

Fan, Wen, and Yue Qian. 2022. “Constellations of Gender Ideology, Earnings Arrangements, and Marital Satisfaction: A Comparison Across Four East Asian Societies.” Asian Population Studies 18(1): 24–40.

Fan, Wen. and Ruilin Chen. Forthcoming. “Temporal Work Arrangements and Well-being in China,” in Yaojun Li, and Yanjie Bian (eds.) Social Inequalities in China. London, UK: Imperial College Press.

Fan, Wen. 2020. “Workplace Flexibility.” in Lynette Spillman (ed.) Oxford Bibliographies in Sociology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Invited Contribution.

Fan, Wen. 2020. “Couples’ Conjoint Work Hours and Health Behaviors: Do Gender and Sexual Identity Matter?” in Hui Liu, Corinne Reczek, and Lindsey Wilkinson (eds.) Marriage and Health: The Well-Being of Same-Sex Couples. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Fan, Wen, Jack Lam, and Phyllis Moen (equal authorship). 2019. “Stress Proliferation? Precarity and Work-Family Conflict at the Intersection of Gender and Household Income.” Journal of Family Issues 40(18): 27512773.

– Selected as a nominee (15 out of over 2,500 articles) for the 2020 Rosabeth Moss Kanter International Award for Research Excellence in Work and Family

Yucel, Deniz, and Wen Fan (equal authorship). 2019. “Work–Family Conflict and Well-Being among German Couples: A Longitudinal and Dyadic Approach.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 60(3): 377395.

Fan, Wen, Phyllis Moen, Erin Kelly, Leslie Hammer, and Lisa Berkman. 2019. “Job Strain, Time Strain, and Well-being: A Longitudinal, Person-Centered Approach in Two Industries.” Journal of Vocational Behavior 110: 102-116.

Moen, Phyllis, Erin Kelly, Shi-Rong Lee, J. Michael Oakes, Wen Fan, Jeremy Bray, David Almeida, Leslie Hammer, David Hurtado, and Orfeu Buxton. 2017. “Can a Flexibility/Support Initiative Reduce Turnover Intentions and Exits? Results from the Work, Family, and Health Network.” Social Problems 64: 53-85.

Moen, Phyllis, Erin Kelly, Wen Fan, Shi-Rong Lee, David Almeida, Ellen Kossek, and Orfeu Buxton. 2016. “Does a Flexibility/Support Organizational Initiative Improve High-Tech Employees’ Well-Being? Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Network.” American Sociological Review 81(1): 134-164.

Fan, Wen, Jack Lam, Phyllis Moen, Erin Kelly, Rosalind King, and Susan McHale. 2015. “Constrained Choices: Linking Employees’ and Spouses’ Work Conditions to Health Behaviors.” Social Science & Medicine 126: 99-109.

Lam, Jack, Kimberly Fox, Wen Fan, Phyllis Moen, Erin Kelly, Leslie Hammer, and Ellen Kossek. 2015. “Manager Characteristics and Employee Job Insecurity around a Merger Announcement: The Role of Status and Crossover.” The Sociological Quarterly 56(3): 558-580.

Kelly, Erin, Phyllis Moen, J. Michael Oakes, Wen Fan, Cassandra Okechukwu, Kelly D. Davis, Leslie Hammer, Ellen Kossek, Rosalind Berkowitz King, Ginger Hanson, Frank Mierzwa, Lynne Casper. 2014. “Changing Work and Work-Family Conflict: Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Network.” American Sociological Review 79(3): 485-516.

– Winner of the 2015 Rosabeth Moss Kanter International Award for Research Excellence in Work and Family

Lam, Jack, Wen Fan, and Phyllis Moen. 2014. “Is Insecurity Worse for Well-being in Turbulent Times? Mental Health in Context.” Society and Mental Health 4(1): 55-73. (Featured podcast)

Moen, Phyllis, Wen Fan, and Erin Kelly. 2013. “Team-Level Flexibility, Work-Home Spillover, and Health Behavior.” Social Science & Medicine 84: 69-79.


Socio-demographic Processes and Population Health. My third research theme concerns the extent to which population health and health disparities—as well as changes therein—are shaped by demographic processes. The U.S. society and other advanced economies have undergone profound structural changes since World War II. Drawing on decades of demography and occupation literature, my research examines how these macro changes contribute to health inequalities.

Qian, Yue, and Wen Fan. 2023. “Student Loans, Mental Health, and Substance Use: A Gender Comparison among U.S. Young Adults.” Journal of American College Health 71(3): 930-941.

Fan, Wen, and Jack Lam. 2021. “Educational Differences in Risk of All-Cause Mortality After Acute Cardiovascular Events: Examining Cohort and Gender Variations.” Research on Aging 43: 403-415.

Fan, Wen, and Siqi Han. 2020. “Explaining Cross-national Variation in the Health Benefits of Tertiary Education: What are the Roles of the Skills Gap and the Earnings Gap?European Sociological Review.

Fan, Wen, and Liying Luo. 2020. “Understanding Trends in the Concentration of Infant Mortality among Disadvantaged White and Black Mothers in the United States, 1983-2013: A Decomposition Analysis.” Demography 57, 979-1005.

Qian, Yue, and Wen Fan. 2019. “Men and Women at Work: Occupational Gender Composition and Affective Well-Being in the United States.” Journal of Happiness Studies 20(7): 2077-2099.

Fan, Wen, and Yue Qian. 2019. “Rising Educational Gradients in Mortality among U.S. Whites: What are the Roles of Marital Status and Educational Homogamy?Social Science & Medicine 235: 112365.

Fan, Wen, and Yue Qian. 2017. “Native-Immigrant Occupational Segregation and Worker Health in the United States, 2004-2014.” Social Science & Medicine 183: 130-141.


Life course. I am also deeply interested in the health consequences associated with macro-level events such as political movements and historical shocks. This line of research is primarily conducted in the Chinese context, revolving around the key principles of life course research: socio-historical and geographical location, timing of lives, heterogeneity or variability, “linked lives”, and human agency and personal control. My research demonstrates that in politically tumultuous times, social processes intervene to produce diverse and sometimes surprising health outcomes for individuals located in different social positions.

Fan, Wen. 2018. “Micro-Level Experiences of Macro-Level Change: A Cohort Perspective on China’s Shift Away From State-Sector Employment.” Advances in Life Course Research 35: 77-86.

Fan, Wen. 2017. “Education Delayed but not Denied: The Chinese Cultural Revolution Cohort Returning to School.” Advances in Life Course Research 33C: 53-65.

Fan, Wen. 2016. “Turning Point or Selection? The Effect of Rustication on Subsequent Health for the Chinese Cultural Revolution Cohort.” Social Science & Medicine 157: 68-77.

Fan, Wen, and Phyllis Moen. 2015. “Comment: Capturing Linked Lives—A Promising New Method.” Sociological Methodology 45: 51-56.

Fan, Wen, and Yue Qian. 2015. “Long-Term Health and Socioeconomic Consequences of Early-Life Exposure to the 1959-1961 Chinese Famine.” Social Science Research 49: 53-69.

– Winner of the Frank Mott Award, Department of Sociology, Ohio State University

– For a Chinese summary, see here

Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Boston College