Yanwen Wang

I study stratification, demography, and well-being.

Portrait of Yanwen Wang

Hello there! I’m Yanwen Wang, a Postdoctoral Associate in the Division of Social Science at New York University Abu Dhabi.

My research focuses on stratification, demography, and well-being. One line of my work documents and explains trends in family formation and reproduction in Asia. I have studied marital sorting patterns by caste and race/ethnicity in Nepal and by ethnicity and education in China. I have also documented the rising trend of voluntary childlessness among married couples in Singapore, contrasting this with the strengthening ties between marriage and fertility in China.

A second line of research investigates how individuals and their families experience social stratification and inequality. I have examined the well-being implications of intergenerational educational mobility for both generations in China, educational sorting in unions across European societies, and gendered divisions of income and housework in China.

My work has been published in Social Science Research, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Advances in Life Course Research, Family Relations, and the Journal of Family and Economic Issues.

I earned my Ph.D. in Sociology from the National University of Singapore in 2025, under the mentorship of Prof. Zheng Mu. I also hold an M.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.A. from Nanjing University.

Updates

These updates include events in the past year and over the next six months. Please feel free to say hello if our paths cross at any of them!