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Intergenerational Time-for-Money Exchanges in Rural China: Does Reciprocity Reduce Depressive Symptoms of Older Grandparents?
Abstract
In this study, we examined how children's financial support influenced the depressive symptoms of older parents in rural China. The mutual aid model of the Chinese family suggests that the psychological benefits of economic receipts would be contingent on whether older parents provided child care for the offspring of their migrant children. The sample we analyzed consisted of 1,027 parents, aged 60 and older, living in the rural village of Anhui Province, a region with high rates of labor force migration. Clustered regression analysis of longitudinal data from 3,112 parent–child dyads showed that financial support from children reduced depression in older parents. Further, the psychological benefits were most pronounced when financial support was accompanied by full-time provision of child care to the offspring of migrant children, particularly of daughters. We conclude that intergenerational “time-for-money” reciprocity is not only a survival strategy for ensuring the economic prosperity of rural migrant families in China but can also contribute positively to the psychological well-being of grandparents left behind.
... Although grandparenting is becoming more common in China, the mental health impact of grandchild care on older adults remains unexplored and inconsistent, with reports of positive, negative, and null health effects in different studies (Shen & Yang, 2022;Tang et al., 2022;Xu, 2019). One reason for this is that many empirical studies are based on local, small-scale, or conveniencesampled data, limiting the generalization and comparison of conclusions (Cong & Silverstein, 2008). While some studies have used national, cross-sectional, or longitudinal data (Chen & Liu, 2012;Ko & Hank, 2014), their data are not updated and hardly reflect the current profiles of Chinese older adults providing grandchild care. ...
... Wang & Li, 2011). In contrast, a study in the rural area of Chaohu in Anhui, China indicated that higher levels of remittances from adult children were associated with fewer depressive symptoms among grandparents in skipped-generation households (Cong & Silverstein, 2008). Moreover, older adults may regard continuously helping their children as a failure of their part in the education and nurturing of their children, thereby causing psychological stress (Schwarz et al., 2010). ...
... The dependent variable was the severity of depressive symptoms, which reflected the grandparents' mental health status. The researchers measured depressive symptoms in the CLASS sample using the revised version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale, which includes nine items (CES-D9) (Cong & Silverstein, 2008). The CES-D9 has been validated in Chinese older adults (Jin & Liu, 2017;Zhou et al., 2017). ...
Grandparenting is becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide, especially in Chinese society. However, the impact of grandparenting on older adults’ health remains unclear. This study examined whether and how grandparenting is associated with depressive symptoms in Chinese older adults and the role of intergenerational support (i.e., financial, emotional, and instrumental support) in this relationship. Using data from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS) 2018 wave, the researchers employed multivariate linear regression models to investigate variations in depressive symptoms and their associations with grandparenting; the role of intergenerational support was also explored. The results indicated that older adults who engage in grandparenting, particularly in non-intensive care, experience a reduction in depressive symptoms, even after accounting for sociodemographic and health-related factors. Overall, intergenerational support plays a mediating role in the relationship between grandparenting and associated mental health outcomes. Bidirectional emotional and financial support and receiving instrumental support were associated with lower depressive symptoms among Chinese grandparents. In general, the findings of this study suggest that grandparenting, along with intergenerational support, provides certain protective health benefits for Chinese grandparents. With rapid changes in Chinese society, further prospective longitudinal studies are needed to examine family contexts in the relationship between grandchild caregiving and associated health outcomes.
... Existing research presents varying views on grandparenting's health effects, noting positive, negative, and neutral impacts [3][4][5][6][7]. Discrepancies may stem from diverse data, measurement methods, methodologies, and cultural contexts [8][9][10][11]. ...
... It includes questions about feeling happy, lonely, and upset, enjoying life, having a poor appetite, sleeping troubles, feeling useless, having nothing to do, and enjoying life. It has been validated in several studies [3,43]. Respondents were required to rate the frequency of depressive symptoms they have experienced in the past week on a three-point scale (none = 0, some of the time = 1, most of the time = 2). ...
... On the other hand, providing economic support for adult children can enhance the autonomy of older people, reduce feelings of dependency, and increase happiness by meeting the needs of their offspring, thereby improving their overall mental well-being [57]. Our findings suggested that understanding intergenerational support in modern China should be based on a model of intergenerational reciprocity, rather than one of equivalent exchange [3,56,58]. Since Chinese grandparents receive more financial support from their children than they provide, providing economic support to adult children might have more symbolic significance rather than just a numerical value. The act of economic interaction itself seemed to be of particular importance to grandparents, despite going against Chinese traditional values of upward support transfer [26,38]. ...
... Existing research presents varying views on grandparenting's health effects, noting positive, negative, and neutral impacts [3][4][5][6][7]. Discrepancies may stem from diverse data, measurement methods, methodologies, and cultural contexts [8][9][10][11]. ...
... It includes questions about feeling happy, lonely, and upset, enjoying life, having a poor appetite, sleeping troubles, feeling useless, having nothing to do, and enjoying life. It has been validated in several studies [3,43]. Respondents were required to rate the frequency of depressive symptoms they have experienced in the past week on a three-point scale (none = 0, some of the time = 1, most of the time = 2). ...
... On the other hand, providing economic support for adult children can enhance the autonomy of older people, reduce feelings of dependency, and increase happiness by meeting the needs of their offspring, thereby improving their overall mental well-being [57]. Our findings suggested that understanding intergenerational support in modern China should be based on a model of intergenerational reciprocity, rather than one of equivalent exchange [3,56,58]. Since Chinese grandparents receive more financial support from their children than they provide, providing economic support to adult children might have more symbolic significance rather than just a numerical value. The act of economic interaction itself seemed to be of particular importance to grandparents, despite going against Chinese traditional values of upward support transfer [26,38]. ...
Background
The practice of grandparenting has been growing in popularity worldwide, particularly in Asian societies. Nevertheless, there is a lack of thorough studies investigating the mental health effects of grandchild care on grandparents, particularly within the family context. The present study aimed to explore the impact of grandparenting on depressive symptoms in older Chinese adults, taking into account the functional role of intergenerational support.
Methods
Using the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS, 2014 and 2018, N = 9,486), we employed the Pooled Ordinary Least Square method (POLS) to explore the association between depressive symptoms and grandparenting intensity as well as include the interaction terms to investigate the role of intergenerational support among grandparents aged from 60 to 80.
Results
After adjusting for control variables, both non-intensive (-0.17; 95% CI: -0.30, -0.03) and intensive (-0.69; 95% CI: -0.95, -0.43) childcare, as well as giving financial support to adult children (-0.06; 95% CI: -0.08, -0.04) and emotional closeness with them (-0.94; 95% CI: -1.15, -0.72), were found to have a positive impact on the mental health of grandparents. Giving financial support (non-intensive: -0.04, 95% CI: -0.07, -0.01; intensive: -0.06, 95% CI: -0.13, -0.01) and providing instrumental support to adult children (non-intensive: -0.12, 95% CI: -0.24, -0.01; intensive: -0.19, 95% CI: -0.37, -0.02) moderated the association between grandparenting and the mental health of older adults, regardless of care intensity. However, the moderating role of receiving financial support (-0.07; 95% CI: -0.12, -0.02) only existed when non-intensive childcare was provided.
Conclusion
Grandchild care predicted better mental health in grandparents, mainly when they engaged in intensive grandparenting. Emotional closeness and providing financial support to adult children brought mental health benefits to grandparents involved in childcare. Giving financial support and providing instrumental support to adult children moderated the association between grandparenting and the mental health of older adults. However, the moderating role of receiving financial support from adult children only existed when non-intensive childcare was provided.
... Therefore, grandparents' provision of care for grandchildren is not merely a contributory behaviour but can be perceived as a reciprocally beneficial behaviour. An example is the intergenerational "time-for-money" reciprocity model in rural families, in which left-behind children's grandparents who provide care for their grandchildren receive remittances from their migrant adult children (Cong and Silverstein 2008;Xu and Chi 2011). Thus, support for older adults from family members is essential to their well-being (Nyqvist et al. 2013;Zheng et al. 2022). ...
... In some recent studies, providing care for grandchildren was found to bring some benefits to grandparents' mental health (Xu et al. 2017;Xu 2019;Tang et al. 2022). Grandparents' involvement in childcare is associated with a higher level of instrumental support from adult children (Xu et al. 2018), as a result of which raising their grandchildren has been found to be positively associated with their subjective well-being (Cong and Silverstein 2008;Xu and Chi 2011). The findings are more consistent with the role enhancement perspective. ...
... Traditionally, grandparents are the most obeyed and honoured members in the family, and their adult children and grandchildren have a filial responsibility to them (Mjelde-Mossey 2007). However, grandparents today are losing their traditional role -they are expected to care for their grandchildren or even to raise them, and support from their adult children is to some extent conditional on their contribution to childrearing (Cong and Silverstein 2008). Whether grandparents' subjective well-being is associated with their living arrangements and their contemporary role as child caregivers has yet to be examined, according to the inconclusive findings from the existing studies. ...
Two generations of investigative journalists are mixed together in Chinese editorial boards: those who started before 2010 and those who came after. The former contributed to the rise of investigative journalism in commercial media outlets in the 1990s and 2000s, and the latter have experienced the economic crisis of the traditional outlets and neo-authoritarianism since the rise to power of Xi Jinping. Interviews with 29 investigative journalists show that a transformation of professional values has occurred in the under 35 generation compared to their peers over 35, as the media ecosystem itself transformed in the 2010s. Changes in the journalists’ academic training and social origin have also contributed to this transformation of values, which ultimately serves Xi Jinping’s long-term authoritarian political agenda.
... Grandparenting is shown to be positively related to both subjective and objective well-being (Di Gessa et al., 2016a;Di Gessa et al., 2016b;Xu et al., 2017), cognitive functioning (Aprino & Bordone, 2014;Ahn & Choi, 2019), reduced risk of depression (Grundy et al., 2012;Tang et al., 2016), lower mortality (Hilbrand et al, 2017a;Hilbrand et al, 2017b;Danielsbacka et al., 2019) and higher level of life satisfaction (Liu et al., 2019;Xu 2019;Danielsbacka et al., 2019). An emerging strand of studies, however, warns against neglecting the relationship between grandparenting and the financial condition of grandparents (Winefield & Air, 2010;Lee et al., 2016), especially in countries like China, where the elderly depend heavily on their children for financial support (Zimmer & Kwong, 2003;Gils & Mu, 2007;Cong & Silverstein, 2008;Cong & Silverstein, 2011). Indeed, most studies focus on the direct effect of grandparenting on life satisfaction without considering the indirect or mediating effect: looking after grandchildren affects the health and financial situation of grandparents which, in turn, have an impact on their wellbeing. ...
... To disentangle the nexus of grandparenting, quality of life and life satisfaction, we conduct a panel data analysis on the basis of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Existing studies investigating grandparenting in China are limited in generalizability because they are based on regional samples (e.g., Cong & Silverstein, 2008;Cong & Silverstein, 2011;Liu et al., 2019). Our empirical strategy is based on the nationally representative longitudinal dataset that provides greater generalizability and replicability. ...
... The financial support from migrant sons is higher as the intensity of care increases compared to non-migrant sons. The earlier study of Cong & Silverstein (2008) based on the same dataset notes that the financial support the elderly receive from their children as a reward for grandchild care contributes significantly to reducing symptoms associated with depression. These studies comport with the assessment of Short et al (2001) that the high intensity of grandchild caregiving is not a culturally scripted responsibility of grandparents in China, but must be sustained instead through financial compensation. ...
Grandparenting duties can affect the well-being of the elderly both positively and negatively. This paper disentangles the interactions between grandparenting, quality of life, and life satisfaction in China. Using a panel dataset of 3205 respondents in three waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2011, 2013, and 2015, we find that grandparents who look after grandchildren are less at risk of depression, receive more financial and in-kind transfers from their children, and report greater life satisfaction than grandparents who do not look after grandchildren. These benefits vary across gender and rural-urban status, however. The positive effect of grandparenting is driven mainly by the direct effect with negligible mediating effect attributable to better quality of life.
... Affluent elders in Guangzhou, who have the financial means to support themselves in their later years without the need to work, often choose to accept rehiring primarily driven by the pursuit of personal happiness and self-fulfillment. As we mentioned earlier, elders with limited resources, particularly in rural areas, exclusively rely on providing childcare for their adult children's family in exchange for financial support, known as intergenerational reciprocity (Cong & Silverstein, 2008;Dong et al., 2012;Wang et al., 2009). In comparison, our respondents chose to get reemployed to relieve adult children's financial pressure and achieve self-accomplishment rather than caring for grandchildren. ...
... First, this study reveals a new type of elderhood that just started to emerge in China. Previous literature has shown that, rooted in filial piety, the ideal image of elderhood in Chinese society places high value on grandparents taking care of grandchildren to engage in intergenerational reciprocity and obtain psychological and economic well-being (Chang et al., 2020;Cong & Silverstein, 2008;Hoang & Kirby, 2020;Ikels, 2004;Low & Goh, 2015;Whyte, 1997). In contrast, the "selfreliant elders" underlines an emerging trend of departing from this cultural normative practice. ...
Plain language summary
This study sheds light on the emergence of a new type of elderhood in China. Traditionally, the ideal image of elderhood in Chinese society emphasized the role of grandparents in providing care for grandchildren as a means of intergenerational reciprocity and obtaining psychological and economic well-being, rooted in the cultural value of filial piety. However, a shift towards ìf “self-reliant elders” is becoming increasingly apparent. Middle-class elderly individuals in major cities are increasingly hesitant to rely on their adult children for support through childcare. Instead, they prioritize self-interest and self-reliance as key factors in their pursuit of good aging. This shift is facilitated by the availability of social resources in urban areas, such as pensions, opportunities for re-employment, and engaging in leisure activities designed for the elderly. These resources provide viable alternatives to traditional family support. Despite this emphasis on self-reliance, the value placed on maintaining amicable intergenerational relationships remains. Elderly individuals still cherish opportunities for family gatherings and maintain family intimacy through online communication. The importance of filial piety, which emphasizes family harmony, continues to influence their actions and attitudes. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent implementation of home isolation policies have further impacted the pursuit of self-interest and family harmony among the elderly. These circumstances have led to an increased demand for independent living due to family conflicts, as well as a strong desire to maintain social connections and family intimacy in light of the fear of illness and the potential limitations of engaging in enjoyable activities.
... However, procreation is distinctly common for women with disabilities in China because of their female bodies and biological attributes of reproduction [3]. Moreover, women with disabilities receive little assistance or specific services from the state during the pre-and postnatal period, and less assistance from their family of origin compared to men with disabilities in terms of childcare [4]. Given this, how do women with disabilities make childbirth decisions, what barriers do they encounter in childcare, and how do they challenge the meaning of motherhood? ...
... A commonly held belief is that adults with disabilities might receive more care and support from their parents [38]. In general, individuals aim to maintain symmetry in their interpersonal relationships, which also holds true within families [4]. Parental care for grandchildren is both part of a reciprocal cycle of care and a bargaining strategy that ensures support from adult children as the parents age [39]. ...
This paper draws on a qualitative case study of the motherhood experiences of visually impaired Chinese women. The aim is to explain how disability and gender intersected in terms of motherhood experiences. By applying an intersectionality analytical framework, the present study argues that as people with disabilities, visually impaired women encounter more barriers and receive excessive support that threatens their expression of agency throughout motherhood decisions and childcare; as women with disabilities, visually impaired women receive less support from their family of origins compared to men with disabilities. By reinterpreting disability, employing various strategies to resist societal stigmas, and emphasizing their roles in the public sphere, women with visual impairments challenge the boundaries between disability and ability and reframe their relations with the world as mothers.
... Some scholars believe that children's economic support can significantly improve the mental health of older people in rural areas [21,22]. Thus, the life satisfaction of older people may be enhanced through this support, which helps to meet their basic living and medical needs and can alleviate cognitive decline [23][24][25][26]. While economic support is material, older people also need their children's emotional support. ...
... Second, our study shows that emotional support and daily care can help ease depression among older people, consequently promoting mental health. These conclusions echo those of other studies [23][24][25]. This confirms the positive effect of social exchange theory and is consistent with the hypothesis of the feedback theory. ...
Today, population aging is the main trend of population development. Home-based care is mainly adopted in Chinese society, and scholars have paid ample attention to the effect of intergenerational support on the mental health of older people. However, research conclusions differ. This study uses data from the 2018 China Health and Pension Tracking Survey (CHARLS), which we analyzed with STATA software to construct least squares regression and two-stage least squares regression models. The regression model included 6,647 respondents to investigate the mental health status of older people based on depression status. Intergenerational support was defined as economic support, emotional support, and daily care provided by the children of older people. We studied the impact of three aspects of intergenerational support on the mental health of the elderly. We performed a robustness test using the variable replacement and propensity score matching methods, and analyzed age, gender, and urban-rural heterogeneity. The results showed that economic support had no significant impact on the mental health of older people, while emotional support and daily care had a positive effect. The heterogeneity results indicated that the relationship between intergenerational support and mental health of older people differed significantly based on age, gender, and urban and rural areas. Therefore, children should raise their awareness of supporting their parents, pay attention to their parents’ mental health, and provide emotional support and daily care. Furthermore, community work improves family relations, creates a good social environment, and encourages young people to respect and be filial to older people. The government should improve the medical security system and old-age service system, and provide policy support to help the mental health of older people.
... We constructed mental intactness by summing scores on orientation to time (5 points), visuo-construction ability (1 point), and calculation ability (5 points), and constructed episodic memory through summing scores on instantaneous memory (10 points) and delayed memory (10 points) (Luo et al., 2019;Shi et al., 2023;Yang & Wang, 2020). Cong and Silverstein (2008) employed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale developed by Radloff (1977) to assess the depressive symptoms of Chinese older adults. Their study demonstrated that the Chinese version of the CES-D scale exhibited good reliability and validity among Chinese individuals. ...
... Their study demonstrated that the Chinese version of the CES-D scale exhibited good reliability and validity among Chinese individuals. In this research, depression symptoms were measured using the 10-item version on a 4-point Likert scale of the Chinese version of the CES-D scale (Cong & Silverstein, 2008). Specifically, older adults were asked to rate the frequency, ranging from rarely or none of the time to most or all of the time, with which they experienced the 10 depression symptoms during the last week. ...
This study aims to investigate whether generational differences in intergenerational caregiving patterns (caring for parents only, caring for grandchildren only, and caring for parents and grandchildren simultaneously) are associated with cognitive health disparities among the sandwich generation within four-generation families, drawing upon the theories of intergenerational solidarity and intergenerational stake. Moreover, this study seeks to identify mediators that help explain these disparities. A nationally representative sample of 8,065 respondents was drawn from the 2011 and 2018 waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. The findings reveal that the sandwich generation caring for grandchildren only, as well as those caring for grandchildren and parents simultaneously, exhibit better cognitive health. However, caregiving for parents only is not significantly related to their cognitive health. This study identifies the inability to reduce depressive symptoms as a mediator explaining the insignificant association between caregiving for parents only and the cognitive health of the sandwich generation. The findings underscore the importance of offering support to the sandwich generation within four-generation families to enhance their cognitive health. Moreover, it is imperative to distinguish between different intergenerational caregiving patterns based on generational differences among the sandwich generation, with a specific emphasis on allocating public resources aimed at promoting cognitive health for those engaged in caring for parents.
... Depressive symptoms was the Chinese version of the 9-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD; Cong & Silverstein, 2008;Mu et al., 2023;Radloff, 1977). Participants were asked about the frequency of depressive symptoms occurring during the past week, including three items indicating feelings of positive affect (feeling happy, enjoying life, feeling pleasure), two items indicating feelings of negative affect (feeling lonely, feeling upset), two items indicating feelings of marginalization (feeling useless, having nothing to do), and two items indicating somatic symptoms (having a poor appetite, having sleeping problems). ...
... To obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of childhood parental death, further research is warranted, employing a broader range of indicators. Second, despite the established validation and common use of the CES-D scale in Chinese older adults (Cong & Silverstein, 2008;Mu et al., 2023), our study found relatively low internal consistency within our sample, as indicated by Cronbach's alpha of .64. This limitation may affect the precision of our results. ...
Despite growing interest in understanding the impact of childhood parental death, less is known about its long-term effects on older adults. We investigated the mediating role of poor health perception in the relationship between childhood parental loss and late life health. A cross-sectional study using data from the 2016 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey was conducted. Our final sample featured 8,547 older adults. The prevalence of childhood parental death was 9.8%. Results indicated a significant direct impact of childhood parental death on depression and cognitive function. Mediating effects were observed, with older adults who experienced childhood parental loss perceiving their health status as significantly worse. This, in turn, predicted higher levels of objective physical impairment, greater depression, and lower levels of cognitive function. Our study offers the first empirical evidence of the enduring negative effects of childhood parental death as well as the pivotal mediating role of poor health perception.
... Second, as a form of social participation, parenting grandchildren makes it more likely for grandparents to receive adult children's support by increasing the intensity and frequency of intergenerational contact (38). Third, sharing the labor cost of parenting also strengthens adult children' capacity to reciprocate in remittances (39). The data of Class2012 confirmed that helping to care for grandchildren can significantly increase the amount of financial support and the frequency of adult children's housework and visits (40). ...
... The literature has mainly discussed the psychological impacts of a reciprocal pattern of behavior. Intergenerational time-formoney exchanges (39) or financial exchange (48) could reduce the depressive symptoms of older grandparents. However, the lack of view of grandparents' support and offspring's feedback as separate but related behaviors hinders further understanding of older grandparents' psychological expectations of generational relationships. ...
Objectives
Despite extensive studies about the direct effect of grandchild care on caregiver depression in China, understanding of its internal influencing mechanism has been limited. After controlling for socioeconomic factors, this study investigated whether the experience of caring for grandchildren had a long-term impact on the depression levels of grandparents, either directly or indirectly through generational support from adult children.
Methods
The subjects of this study were a total of 9,219 adults over 45 who participated in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Surveys in 2015 and 2018. We adopted a lag-behind variable to examine the impact of grandchild care on depressive symptoms of grandparents. The proposed mediation model was analyzed using bootstrap modeling, and the KHB method was conducted further to examine differences in the effects of generational support.
Results
The experience of caring for grandchildren had a significant negative correlation with the depression level of Chinese grandparents. Moreover, children's support significantly mediated the impact of parenting experience on grandparents' depression. Significantly, instrumental support mediated the effect to the greatest extent, while emotional support from children contributed the least. The intermediary effect has urban–rural heterogeneity.
Conclusion
These findings indicated that grandchild care significantly inhibited the depression level of Chinese grandparents through increased intergenerational support from adult children. The implications of the study's findings were discussed.
... Thus, intergenerational emotional cohesion (IEC ) in the family, as the primary source of social support for older immigrants (7), plays a signi cant role in maintaining their mental health (8). As suggested by studies in both Western countries (9,10) and China (11,12), the IEC with their adult children has a profound effect on the mental health of the elderly, especially the older immigrants (13). However, few studies have been conducted to delve into the mechanism of IEC in affecting mental health in this population, which is expected to be accomplished by the present study. ...
... Empirical studies have con rmed that the emotional closeness with their adult children has positive effect on older peoples' mental health (9,11), and alleviates their depressive symptoms (10,19). For example, a study of 1561 older Chinese found that those in strong IEC are less likely to suffer from depression (20). ...
Background
Intergenerational relationships profoundly affect older parents’ mental health. However, few studies have shed light on its mechanisms in familistic cultures and migration contexts. The current study aimed to investigate the associations of intergenerational emotional cohesion (IEC) and depression among the Chinese older immigrants, and the mediating roles of loneliness and perceived stress.
Methods
Obtained from a cross-sectional survey conducted in Nanjing, China, the research data involved 654 older immigrants. Variables were measured using the intergenerational solidarity inventory, 3-item R-UCLA Loneliness Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, and 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).
Results
There is a negative correlation exists between IEC and depression. Through IEC, three significant mediation pathways were identified that directly affect depression: (1) loneliness (β=-0.063; Ratio = 18.21%), (2) perceived stress (β=-0.085; Ratio = 24.57%), and (3) loneliness and perceived stress (β=-0.033; Ratio = 9.53%).
Discussion
This study advances our understanding of the mechanism through which IEC influences depression in Chinese older immigrants. A strong IEC can reduce depressive symptoms by relieving loneliness and perceived stress.
... Grandchild care can compensate for this deficit to some extent and increase life satisfaction. Moreover, grandparents provide care to children left behind and, in return receive remittances from their adult children (Cong and Silverstein, 2008). Therefore, we propose Hypothesis 4: ...
... A possible reason for this difference is that Chinese older adults have internalized intergenerational care as their own responsibility (Xu, 2019), and although this pattern of caregiving has increased the burden on older adults, it has not reduced their life satisfaction. Moreover, intergenerational care in China is often caused by labor migration, especially in rural areas where young people go out to work and leave children behind (Cong and Silverstein, 2008). This differs from custodial parenting, represented by the United States, which is the result of parents caught in a difficult situation (Hayslip et al., 2019). ...
Background
In China, grandchild care plays an important social role later in life. The effects of grandchild care on physical health and depression in older adults have been illustrated. However, there is a gap in research on grandchild care and life satisfaction of older adults specifically based on the Chinese experience.
Method
Based on 7,079 individuals’ data from 2018 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS), this study explored the impact of grandchild care on older adults’ life satisfaction by using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Propensity Score Matching (PSM), and instrumental variables (IV) models.
Results
The empirical results indicated that (1) life satisfaction was significantly higher for older adults who undertook grandchild care compared to those who did not; (2) non-coresiding grandparents showed higher life satisfaction than those non-carers, and this effect was not found in custodial grandparents or three-generation household grandparents; (3) higher life satisfaction of grandchild caregivers was achieved through reduced loneliness, enhanced self-efficacy, and increased emotional support from children, with the latter being the greatest contribution; and (4) the improving effect of grandchild care on life satisfaction was found mainly in the group of older adults who were male and in rural households.
Conclusion
There was a significant difference in life satisfaction between older Chinese adults who provided grandchild care and those who did not. Efforts in terms of old age policy protection and family relationships should be made to enhance the subjective well-being of older adults.
... Most of the literature documented a negative correlation between depression and intergenerational transfers (Liu et al., 1995;Silverstein et al., 2006). The transfers from adult children are found to improve the economic well-being of elderly parents by providing the means to purchase daily necessities and instilling an overall sense of security after retirement (Cong & Silverstein, 2008;Sun, 2004). Public transfers could also reduce financial stress and increase spending on healthcare to relieve the depressive symptoms of elderly people. ...
Using three waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this paper examines whether financial transfers from adult children to elderly parents affect the latter's mental health. Both OLS and instrumental variable (IV) estimates show that financial transfers significantly attenuate depressive symptoms of elderly individuals, with a much larger size of the IV estimates. We also examine the income and cultural channels through which intergenerational transfers work and further discuss the explanatory powers of these two channels through a decomposition analysis. The results suggest the cultural channel accounts for a larger proportion of the financial transfer effect. This means that the unique beneficial impact of intergenerational financial transfers on the mental health of older adults cannot be fully substituted in the foreseeable future.
... In addition, when women go out to work and earn wage income, they can provide financial support to the elderly at home (Liu and Wu, 2022). It can significantly improve their life satisfaction, keep the mental health and reduce the degree of depression of the elderly (Cong and Silverstein, 2008). ...
Introduction
China’s traditional culture makes rural women and men take on different family responsibilities.
Methods
Use “China Family Panel Studies” (CFPS) data and build Logit and propensity score matching models to empirically study the impact of children care and elderly care on rural married women going out to work. And explore the welfare effects of basic education public services in helping rural women take care of their families.
Results
The results show that caring for children has a significant hindering effect on rural married women’s job hunting. Especially for those in low-income families, the employment inhibition is most significant among women aged 20–30 with multiple children. Contrary to previous cognition, supporting the elderly has a certain weak stimulating effect. The kindergarten public services in rural areas can help women take care of their children and relieve their work pressure. The primary school public services have not played a role in alleviating them.
Discussion
This shows that there are still a large number of female laborers in rural China who are unable to go out to work due to family care. The improvement of rural basic education public services can promote more rural women going out to work. This finding will provide a policy reference for the introduction of a formal care system and the establishment of basic education public services in China.
... However, Krsteska et al. argue that excessively frequent emotional support can lead to conflicts, resulting in decreased subjective well-being and increased levels of depression among the older adults (14). In the dimension of economic support, many researchers contend that the impact of older adults receiving or providing economic support on their depression is influenced by factors such as age, rural or urban residence, and gender.For instance, Cong Z et al. suggested that receiving economic support from adult children satisfies the daily living and healthcare needs of older adults in rural areas, thereby contributing to an improvement in their psychological well-being (15,16). Research by Li et al. indicated that providing economic support can significantly alleviate depressive symptoms in male older adults, but it doesn't show significant effects on female older adults (17). ...
Background: Intergenerational support is a crucial factor influencing the psychological well-being of older adults. The interactions between various dimensions of intergenerational support and the diverse effects of different configuration of these factors on older adults’ depression still require further investigation.
Method: Utilizing the 2018 data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), this study employs the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) method to analyze the configurational effects of intergenerational support on older adults’ depression.
Result: Single-dimensional intergenerational support cannot be considered a necessary condition for influencing older adults’ depression. The configurational effects of intergenerational support across different dimensions serve as sufficient conditions for older adults’ depression. The consistency parameter for all solution configurations in this study is 0.83, with a coverage of 0.61. The research identifies four types of configurational patterns associated with older adults’ depression: "Unidirectional Care Deficiency Type" (consistency mean of 0.84, coverage of 0.49), "Bidirectional Care Deficiency Type" (consistency mean of 0.86, coverage of 0.33), "Bidirectional Economic Deficiency Type" (consistency mean of 0.85, coverage of 0.48), and "Mixed Type" (consistency mean of 0.83, coverage of 0.23).
Conclusion: The configurational effects of intergenerational support across different dimensions contribute to an increase in the levels of older adults’ depression. It is advocated to adopt a holistic perspective when examining the intricate connection between intergenerational support and older adults’ depression. Furthermore, it is important to pay attention to maintaining a dynamic equilibrium between receiving and providing intergenerational support.
... " We reverse-recorded six negative items and summed the result after reverse coding as a continuous variable, with higher values indicating better mental health. This method has been validated in previous studies worldwide (56,57), with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale being 0.71. ...
Background
Although a large body of research suggests that social networks from family and friends are important factors in protecting the mental health of older adults, we know little about the mediating and moderating mechanisms behind this relationship. Using China as an example, this study aims to investigate a comprehensive model that includes social networks, loneliness, Internet use, and mental health outcomes in the older population.
Methods
We analyzed data from 7,648 Chinese older people over 60 using the 2018 CLASS survey. We studied how various social networks affect their mental health. Using SPSS’s PROCESS macro, we first employed descriptive statistics to examine the characteristics of the participants and calculate the correlations of core variables. Then, we assessed whether loneliness mediated this relationship and tested the moderated mediation effect of Internet use. Our findings shed light on these complex dynamics.
Results
The statistics indicate a positive correlation between social networks and mental health. Furthermore, mediation models revealed that loneliness moderates the relationship between social networks and mental health. In addition, moderated mediation models revealed that Internet use played a distinct function in the family networks model compared to the friend networks model. Internet use moderates explicitly the effects of family networks on loneliness and friend networks on mental health.
Conclusion
The findings emphasize the importance of differentiating the types of social networks to understand their impact on older adults well-being, encouraging policymakers, medical professionals, and families to adopt more targeted approaches when devising policy interventions and medical strategies, especially for older individuals with insufficient social support. Additionally, we urge governments to recognize the varying types of social networks among older populations and harness the protective effects of Internet technology on their well-being within a digital society.
... When examining the mediating effect, this study also concerned gender as well as rural-urban differences. This is because previous research highlighted significant gender differences in China's traditional family norms in terms of domestic life and caregiving practice (6,7). Studies reported that grandmothers spent a comparable amount of time in childcare, which was three times as much time as grandfathers spent in childcare (8). ...
Objective
Prior studies showed mixed results of the association between grandchild care and grandparents’ health. This research focused on the mechanisms behind the above link by studying how internet use served as a mediator through which grandchild care has impacted grandparents’ health. The study aimed to draw implications to improve health of grandparents who offer care to grandchildren.
Methods
Using a sample of 16,829 grandparents aged 50 through 80 from the 2018 wave of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), the study relied on the KHB method to conduct the analysis. Grandparental health was measured by self-rated health (SRH), instrumental activity of daily living (IADL), life satisfaction and depression.
Results
Overall, grandchild care had a positive effect on grandparental health. Those who engaged in grandchild care were more likely to use internet. In addition, internet use mediated the ways in which grandchild care impacted grandparents’ health. Interne use generally promoted the positive influence of grandparental caregiving on grandparents’ health. Specifically, the mediating effects of watching videos and chatting through the internet were most pronounced among urban grandmothers. The mediating effects of watching news were most noticeable among both urban grandmothers and grandfathers.
Conclusion
Internet use served as a mediator in the association between grandchild child care and grandparental health. Promoting internet usage may be an effective way reducing the negative impact of grandchild care on grandparents’ mental health. It could also increase the positive effect of caregiving on grandparents’ SRH and functional independence. The study also underscored the importance of taking rural–urban context and gender role into consideration when studying intergenerational caregiving and Chinese grandparents’ health.
... Affluent urban grandparents tend to compete for opportunities to nurture and care for shrinking numbers of grandchildren to gain emotional rewards (34). Compared to their urban counterparts, rural grandparents are more dependent on their children's financial support (35)(36)(37). In this way, rural grandparents may be more likely to consider grandchild care as a reciprocal form of intergenerational reward rather than an emotionally rewarding activity (33). ...
Objectives
Although studies have researched the mental effects of intergenerational care, little is known about the impact of transformations in caregiving intensity on depression. This study explores grand-parents’ depressive symptom outcomes in terms of changes over time in grandparental childcare, with considerations for subgroup differences.
Method
Using data from the 2015–2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study on grandparents aged 45 and older, we adopted generalized estimating equations to estimate the effects of seven category changes [(1) continued to provide high-intensity or (2) low-intensity care at both waves; (3) never provided care; (4) started caregiving; (5) ended caregiving; (6) provided less intensive care; and (7) provided more intensive care] over time in grandparental childcare on depressive symptoms among 17,701 grandparents with at least one grandchild, as well as how the impact varies by gender and urban/rural areas.
Results
Grandparents who decreased the intensity of care, stopped childcare, or offered continuous low-intensity care were associated with a lower level of depression compared with those providing no childcare. In addition, the benefit of continuous caregiving on mental health was especially noticeable in urban grandmothers.
Conclusion
Providing continuous low-intensity, decreased-intensity grandparenting and the cessation of caregiving were associated with a decreased level of depression for Chinese grandparents; however, there were complex interactions at play. Policies aimed at supporting grandparenting should consider caregiving intensity transitions relevant to gender and urban/rural residence.
... Early research in the U.S. reported the adverse health effects of grandchild care [12,13], such as a reduction in life satisfaction [14] and in physical function in the elderly [13]; however, recent research in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan has found health advantages for grandparents who provide occasional, extensive, or custodial care for grandchildren. For example, caregiving grandparents experienced less depressive symptoms than their non-caregiving counterparts [15][16][17]. However, in many developing areas, especially areas in China, the rapid development of urbanization has hollowed out many urban and rural areas in non-central cities, where local elderly individuals need to take more time to care for their family. ...
Most elderly people choose to age in place, making neighborhood environments essential factors affecting their health status. The policies, economic status, and housing conditions of old neighborhoods have led many elderly people to live in skipped-generation households (SGHs), where they have gradually weakened physical functions and are responsible for raising grandchildren; this puts their health in a more fragile state than that of the average elderly person. Practical experience has shown that when faced with complex environmental renovation problems in old communities, many cases often adopt a one-step treatment strategy; however, many scholars have questioned the sustainability of such unsystematically evaluated renovation projects. Therefore, it is often valuable to explore the root causes of these old neighborhood problems and conduct targeted transformations and upgrades according to the interactive relationship between various influencing factors. This study attempted to establish a novel evaluation system to benefit the health of elderly families in old neighborhoods and develop an understanding of the impact relationship among the indicators, while avoiding any form of waste when collecting responses in regard to the future transformation of old neighborhoods. A questionnaire survey was conducted on the elderly in the Guangzhou Che Bei neighborhood in China, and by applying the rough set theory of the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory model, we established a preliminary evaluation system, obtained key environmental factors affecting the health of elderly people living in SGHs, and clarified their mutual relationships. Finally, on this basis, we proposed corresponding neighborhood renewal suggestions. The results of this study provide a theoretical basis for future research, and our research model can be applied to similar aging research in the future.
... This is also implied by the notion of generativity, which refers to the older generation felt need to contribute to the younger (Erikson, 1997). Possible explanations for this phenomenon have been suggested, fore example that older people can continue to support their adult children's daily lives by helping with household chores and caring for grandchildren, thus sustaining their own selfworth, self-growth and self-efficacy (Cong & Silverstein, 2008;Goodman & Silverstein, 2002) and increasing trust and emotional communication between elderly persons and the next generation (Ahn and Choi, 2018; Arpino & Bordone, 2014). ...
This study takes the Danish retired older adults as the research object, investigating the interrelations among smartphone use, intergenerational support and older adults’ eudaimonic wellbeing through quantitative and qualitative methods. The technology acceptance model (TAM) and semi-structured in-depth interviews were employed to evaluate whether the proposed hypotheses were confirmed. The results revealed that the use of smartphones as an information technology device had an impact on the path from the attitude toward use to actual smartphone use. Also, they had a positive effect on older adults’ eudaimonic wellbeing. The findings demonstrated that the design and use of smartphones are in line with the physiological characteristics of older adults, and calls on them to use smartphones healthily. This study also confirmed that the physical needs and emotional needs of intergenerational support from children can positively promote older adults’ wellbeing, even though in individualistic cultures, where intergenerational support perhaps matters less.
... First, reverse intergenerational support improves the happiness of the elderly. In the aspect of reverse economic support, some studies have found that the economic support provided by the elderly to their children can enhance the sense of self-efficacy and fairness of the elderly and then improve life satisfaction (Zhang and Li, 2005;Zhen and Merril, 2008;He, 2011). In terms of reverse time support, some studies have shown that there is a strong positive relationship between the intergenerational care of grandchildren and the life happiness of the elderly, which means that intergenerational care is an important link to enhance the intergenerational connection between paternity and offspring. ...
Intergenerational support is bidirectional, and reverse intergenerational support refers to parents providing financial support, time support, and spiritual support to their offspring. The emergence of reverse intergenerational support has created role conflicts among different groups of older adults. Based on survey data from 3,170 elderly people in eight sample provinces in China, this paper empirically investigates the relationship between reverse intergenerational support and the happiness of the elderly in contemporary China and the moderating effect of role conflict in it, using an ordered logit model. It was found that, first, reverse economic support reduces the happiness of the elderly, and reverse time support and reverse spiritual support can significantly enhance the happiness of the elderly. Second, in the presence of role conflict, the effect of reverse time support and reverse spiritual support on the enhancement of older adults’ happiness was suppressed; in the presence of role enhancement, the effect of reverse economic support on the reduction of older adults’ happiness was mitigated. The above findings provide new empirical evidence for understanding the relationship between reverse intergenerational support and the happiness of the elderly, which is prevalent in contemporary China, and offer new insights for enhancing happiness.
... Theories of intergenerational relationship, including intergenerational exchange theory, intergenerational altruism theory and intergenerational solidarity theory, are often used to describe how intergenerational support works (Bengtson & Roberts, 1991;Chou, 2011;Cong & Silverstein, 2008b, 2011, 2014Fingerman et al., 2011;Fu et al., 2020). Financial support, instrumental support, and emotional support are the key components of intergenerational support (Cong & Silverstein, 2008a). ...
Expected intergenerational support reflects how potential care-receivers estimate the future supply of and demand for intergenerational support. The population of rural China is aging quickly, and future care-receivers in rural China are today’s young and middle-aged, who are now experiencing a decline in fertility as well as urbanization and migration. These changes influence the distribution of resources across generations within families and may cause the young and middle-aged to revise their expectations of intergenerational support. We focus on a “sandwich effect,” in which the young and middle-aged care for children and elderly parents simultaneously. Using survey data, we find that with respect to the expected supply of intergenerational support there are three categories; we call them “traditional concern,” “urbanized concern,” and “aging risk concern.” Expected demand for intergenerational support also has categorical features: A minority expects high demand with a preference for financial and instrumental support, while the majority expects low demand but focused on emotional support. Families’ sustainable livelihoods have significant impacts on individuals’ expectations of intergenerational support. The “sandwich effect” plays moderating roles on the relationships between families’ sustainable livelihoods and individual expectations.
... However, it should be noted that according to our interviews, grandparents' 'free' childcare support is only temporary, because after repaying their debt and achieving economic stability, Chinese adult children often economically compensate their grandparents for their delegated care. Interestingly, these remittances not only cover grandparents' childrearing expenses as a form of 'time-for-money' exchange (Cong and Silverstein 2008), but are also seen as a way to express their gratitude for their grandparents' time and support. As Jia stated, this economic compensation is not required by their parents, but derives from their appreciation of their grandparents' efforts and a sense of guilt for not being able to fulfil their family obligations. ...
This study explores Chinese immigrant parents’ decision-making processes regarding childcare arrangements in Spain based on migration status and the availability of kinship networks. Drawing on 33 semi-structured interviews with Chinese parents who have preschool-aged children during the early stages of parenthood, this study reveals that Chinese immigrants’ childcare management is largely based on informal childcare provided by extended family members in both the host society and home country due to its high quality and flexibility, and because it transfers cultural values to the second generation. Moreover, migrant parents’ childcare needs are constantly negotiated within extended families due to the roles of grandparents’ care in other family members’ wellbeing. By exploring Chinese families’ collaborations, negotiations, and even conflicts in the childrearing decision-making process following families’ migration to a receiving country, our research contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of migration and the role of kinship networks in ethnic minority groups’ childcare choices.
... Social networks only buffer the negative effects of external stimuli when the individual is exposed to adverse experiences. Social networks protect an individual's physical and mental health (Cong & Silverstein, 2008). These two models reflect two possible roles that social networks play in the chronic illness model and depression: mediating and moderating roles. ...
Multimorbidity refers to an individual has two or more chronic diseases at the same time. Studies on the associations between multimorbidity patterns and depression among Chinese older women are scarce. This study investigated 3455 Chinese women (aged 60 and above) to identify their multimorbidity patterns and the relationships between multimorbidity patterns, social networks, and depression. Based on the results of latent class analysis, the multimorbidity patterns of Chinese women can be divided into four classes: relatively healthy (44.78%), degenerative diseases (35.28%), high multisystem morbidity (5.85%), and metabolic diseases (14.10%). Linear regression found that degenerative diseases and high multisystem morbidity positively predicted depression. Through the Process plug-in in SPSS software, we found family network partially mediated the relationship between high multisystem morbidity and depression, performing a suppressing effect. This is the first study that investigated multimorbidity patterns among Chinese women. Given the influence of different multimorbidity patterns on older women’s depression, specific measures should be implemented by community healthcare staff and family members for older women with different characteristics.
... It could be explained that older parents who took care of grandchildren evaluated themselves with higher filial piety (B. Luo & Zhan, 2012), and caregiving does positively increase the psychological wellbeing of rural grandparents (Cong & Silverstein, 2008). Besides, this chapter found receiving economic support from adult children cannot decrease rural elderly parents' depression level, whereas it can significantly increase the level of wellbeing. ...
Over the past half-century, China has witnessed the largest internal migration in history, with millions of predominantly rural workers moving to become part of the urban workforce. The hukou household registration system means that migrant workers experience various forms of disadvantage relative to those born in cities, in terms of access to housing and other social amenities; in addition, families are often separated for protracted periods by migration. In this thesis I analyse the effects of migration from three novel and under-researched perspectives. The first is about rural children’s experiences of boarding school. The mental health of children left behind by migration has generated a huge literature, but the role played by boarding schools has received little attention; existing evidence is mixed and does not take into account parental migration. Using data from the first wave of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS 2010), I investigate the relationship between boarding school and a range of child outcomes, controlling for both household and community characteristics. I find that boarding school is associated with poorer mental health for children; in addition, although boarding school is predominantly a rural rather than a "left-behind" phenomenon, left-behind status slightly modifies the influence of boarding on children’s academic performance and academic satisfaction. Secondly, I explore the emotional health of older people whose children have migrated for work. A small literature has documented negative effects on elders’ mental health, but it does not investigate the mechanisms that underpin this relationship. Using data from CFPS 2010, I introduce three new dimensions. I consider temporal factors, finding that elders’ mental health decreases the longer their children are away, but recovers after a certain length of time. I also distinguish between left-behind parents based on whether all or some of their adult children have migrated, finding that rural elders suffer less adverse impacts, and recover twice as quickly from the absence, when only some of their children have migrated. Finally, I investigate moderating effects, showing that providing (grand)childcare and receiving economic support from migrant children mitigate negative effects on mental health. Thirdly, I examine the extent to which migrant households have access to financial services provided by banks, insurance companies and other institutions, using data from the China Household Financial Studies (2013). Multilevel estimates reveal substantial differences in financial inclusion by hukou status, with significant modifying effects of city development. The findings shed light on the potential for market failures that deny access to financial services to groups of people, and suggest how policymakers could regulate the financial services market for better consumer protection, financial inclusion, and rural-urban integration. Results from all three empirical chapters suggest that internal migration and economic reform in China have not benefited rural citizens as intended. Rural children suffer significantly poorer mental health in boarding schools; elderly parents’ mental health is strongly impacted by their adult children’s migration, and migrants in urban areas – even those who have successfully converted to an urban hukou - experience impediments when attempting to integrate into urban life. Evidence from multiple perspectives of family life suggests a need for institutional changes leading to fairer and more equal outcomes for rural migrants and their families.
... Intergenerational support and depressive symptoms in old age Consistent with the first hypothesis, results indicated that rural but not urban participants receiving financial support from adult children had fewer depressive symptoms, corroborating previous reports of contribution of financial support in rural China (33) and other developing countries (27). In addition, a higher percent of rural participants reported receiving intergenerational financial support than urban participants. ...
Objectives
Intergenerational support is associated with fewer depressive symptoms in old age. Uneven development has resulted in huge urban–rural disparities in China, which could lead to different intergenerational relationships. The present study aimed to examine whether intergenerational support was associated with depressive symptoms differently among urban and rural Chinese older participants.
Methods
A sample of 3,498 participants from nine pairs of urban subdistricts and rural villages were included in the present study. Depressive symptoms were measured by the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and the intergenerational support mechanisms (financial, instrumental, and emotional) were assessed with a self-designed questionnaire.
Results
Significant areas by support effect for depressive symptoms indicated different associations between intergenerational financial and emotional support and depressive symptoms in urban and rural areas. Specifically, urban older participants receiving emotional support from adult children and rural older participants receiving financial support from adult children showed fewer depressive symptoms. In both areas, participants receiving instrumental support showed fewer depressive symptoms.
Conclusion
Our study is the first to compare the urban–rural disparity in association between intergenerational support and depressive symptoms in a developing country, China. The results support modernization theories proposing weakened economic function but intensified emotional ties in societies with higher level of development. Communication-based intergenerational emotional support should be promoted in urban areas, and formal support systems should provide financial and instrumental support to the vulnerable rural older population.
... This paper argues that it can be explained from the motivation of intergenerational support. Scholars usually attribute the motivation of intergenerational support of Chinese families to the traditional concept of filial piety in Chinese society, that is, adult children have the obligation to provide old-age security support for their parents, and such support behavior is "altruistic" (Cong and Silverstein 2008). The extent of economic support by children is mainly based on the actual needs of their parents. ...
Emerging evidence in North America and Europe suggests that traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) adversely affect cognition. However, little is known about this relationship in people living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). It is also unknown whether indoor air pollution can modify the effect of TRAP. The Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) is a prospective cohort study of men and women aged 65 years and older enrolled in 2018. We ascertained residential proximity to major roadways based on self-reports and assessed cognitive function using the Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). We used cooking fuel type and home ventilation as proxies for indoor air pollution. We examined the associations between traffic road proximity and cognitive impairment using multivariable logistic regressions, controlling for age, sex, marital status, education, residence, geographical regions, smoking, drinking, body mass index, socioeconomic status, dietary pattern, physical activity, depressive symptoms, indoor air pollution, and chronic conditions. We evaluated the effect modification in subgroup analyses and by assessing the interaction between indoor air pollution proxy and proximity to roadways.Among 11,104 individuals of average age 82.7 ±11.0 years old (54.0% female), we identified 3727 (33.6%) cases of cognitive impairment. The adjusted odds ratios (95% CI) of cognitive impairment were 1.20 (1.05, 1.37), 1.26 (1.09, 1.46), 1.02 (0.86, 1.21), and 1.07 (0.90, 1.28) for individuals living < 50 m, 50–100 m, 101–200m, and 200–300 m compared to those living > 300 m from a major roadway (P for trend <0.001). In dichotomized analyses comparing subjects living <100 m from a roadway to those living > 100 m, the risk (OR) associated with living closer to roadways was greater in participants who did not implement any ventilation during cooking (compared to those using natural or mechanical ventilation, 1.83 (1.32–2.53) vs. 1.14 (1.03–1.26), P for interaction = 0.006) and in solid fuel users (compared to clean fuel users, 1.37 (1.13–1.67) vs. 1.13 (1.04–1.21), P for interaction = 0.028). The associations were robust in a set of sensitivity analyses. We conclude that living closer to major roadways was associated with an increased risk for cognitive impairment in older adults in China, suggesting an adverse TRAP effect. Indoor air pollution appeared to enhance the TRAP effect synergistically.
... In their old age, most elderly expect psychological and financial support from their children. Previous studies have shown that receiving financial support and daily care from one's children contributes to the physical and mental quality of life of the elderly [15,16]. In this context, we found that the cultural practice of filial piety medication links health commodities, elderly health, and traditional cultural values among Thai rural families. ...
Filial piety is a Buddhist virtue, and its meaning varies across cultures. In Thailand, filial piety refers to an appreciation of one's indebtedness to others. Previous studies showed that filial piety is deeply grounded in longstanding culture values and related to the health of the elderly. Information from some literature revealed that medicinal products given to the elderly by their children, called "Ya-Luk-Ka-Tan-Yoo", were apparent in the communities of rural southern Thailand. This study aims to explore in depth how "Ya-Luk-Ka-Tan-Yoo" is perceived, valued, and functions in southern Thailand's socio-cultural contexts. Ethnography methodology is used, and a researcher was embedded in the field for six months, gathering data through participant observation and ethno-graphic interviews with fifty-two respondents. The findings reveal that filial piety medication is related to the local meanings of medicine, children, and gratitude. "Ya-Luk-Ka-Tan-Yoo," in the eyes of both the elderly and their children, encompasses more than just health. Implicit herein are the concepts of a means of care and gratitude and a symbol of life. Filial piety medication is thus a carrier/medium of physical, financial, and emotional support. This research reveals how the ill health of the elderly is transformed to a commodity. Nonetheless, the negative impact of the efficacy of filial piety medication remains an issue of concern among professionals. The findings indicate that people are aware of the risks associated with self-medication. However, they insisted that their use was still necessary and justifiable.
... Babysitting grandchildren is highly correlated with obtaining financial support from the offspring. Migrant children may increase their financial support to their parents because their parents help to take care of their children (38), and parents use the remittance to cover the daily expenses of caring for their grandchildren, which may weaken the positive impact of the "income effect" on the health. Obviously, adult children's migration affects parents' health through two opposing mechanisms. ...
Population aging and rural–urban migration have posed challenges to the elderly support system in developing countries that lack social safety net and services. Given that there is no consistent conclusion in the literature on whether adult children's internal migration can improve or impair their left-behind parents' health, little is known about the effect mechanisms. This paper investigates the comprehensive impact of adult children's migration on the health of their parents in rural China by analyzing the income effect and time allocation effect. The empirical analysis uses the rural sample of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2013, 2015, and 2018. We found that adult children migration can improve parents' physical health, mainly thanks to the income effect. The analysis of the mechanism found that although the income effect has a positive effect on parents' health, the time allocation effect has a negative effect on parents' health because of the lack of care and increased working hours of parents. Our findings suggest that providing social care services and enhancing intergenerational communication can be practical strategies to mitigate the negative effect of children's migration to rural left-behind elderly parents.
The heterogeneity of grandparent caregivers in rural China increases the challenges in exploring and assisting this group. To address this, the study used data from 38 in-depth interviews conducted in three diverse Chinese villages, identifying four ideal types of grandparents: leading, sacrificial, reciprocal and reluctant. These types are based on grandparents’ ideologies and family structures, reflecting different stages of societal change. The findings indicate that the diversity of grandparents and their varied caregiving experiences in rural China reflect the transformation trends of rural families and individuals. Additionally, this study introduced a new analytical tool for future research on rural Chinese grandparents.
This study aims to investigate the associations of caring for grandchildren and/or great-grandparents with depressive symptoms, as well as life satisfaction in Chinese grandparents, and analyze the moderating roles of urban-rural residence and social participation. A nationally representative sample of 2973 grandparents in families with great-grandparents and grandchildren were selected from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CESD-10) and the single-item were used to measure depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. Social participation included participation in social and intellectual activities. The binary logistic regression model was employed to explore the relationship between caring and depressive symptoms, as well as life satisfaction in the whole participants, different urban-rural residence, and social participation groups, respectively. Caring was associated with depressive symptoms and life satisfaction (p < 0.05). A significant interaction existed between caring and urban-rural residence for depressive symptoms (interaction p = 0.029) and life satisfaction (interaction p = 0.027). Significant interactions were also found among caring, urban-rural residence, and social activities with depressive symptoms (interaction p = 0.025). In urban, caring for both was negatively related to depressive symptoms for the non-social activists, while in rural, caring for great-grandparents was positively associated with depressive symptoms for social activists (p < 0.05). Any new policy design related to preventing and reducing the possibility of mental disorders in Chinese grandparents should be tailored to heterogeneous subgroups who live in different rural-urban and social activities participation.
This introductory chapter provides the research background and an overview of the book. The chapter starts with a brief introduction of the aging and health related issues worldwide, it then discusses aging and health issues in China. Afterwards, the chapter provides an overview of existing demographic and sociological studies on older adults’ (including the oldest old’s) health in recent years. Since prior studies on the oldest old are largely cross-sectional, the chapter points out two main goals of the study. First, it aims to use a longitudinal scope to demonstrate how Chinese oldest old’s health status has changed by time period and across birth cohorts during 1998–2018. Second, the study intends to investigate how period and birth cohorts have played a role in the associations between Chinese oldest old’s health and a variety of demographic, socioeconomic, and lifestyle factors. To achieve these main goals, the manuscript applies the age-period-cohort (APC) approach and constructs cross-classified random-effects models (CCREMs) to carry out the analyses. Data are from eight waves (1998, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011–12, 2014 and 2018) of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). The final part of the chapter outlines the objectives and the structure of the book and indicates how this manuscript improves existing literature on Chinese oldest old’s health and its’ determinants.
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the effect of sandwich-generation caregiving (caregiving for elders and children simultaneously) on employed caregivers’ job satisfaction when compared with non-sandwich caregiving patterns of no caregiving, children-only caregiving and elders-only caregiving. This study also aims to explore whether depression mediates this effect and whether three types of caregivers-friendly work time (less work-time length, less nonstandard work-time schedule and more work-time autonomy) buffer these direct and indirect effects.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 7,571 Chinese employees is chosen from the 2020 China Family Panel Studies through a multistage stratified sampling design.
Findings
After controlling for employees’ sociodemographic, work and other caregiving characteristics, this study finds that sandwich-generation caregiving is indeed more likely to negatively affect employees’ job satisfaction when compared with no caregiving and elders-only caregiving, but to the same extent as children-only caregiving. This study also suggests that the effect of sandwich-generation caregiving on job satisfaction is mediated by employees’ depression and that three types of caregiver-friendly work time help to weaken the negative effects on employees’ depression and job satisfaction.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the negative spillover effect and its mechanisms of caregiving on employees’ job satisfaction through focusing on a special caregivers group: employed sandwich-generation caregivers. These results shed light on the importance of extending caregiver studies to the workplace and provide implications for organization managers and human resources practitioners to design caregiver-friendly workplace policies to maintain employed caregivers’ work-family balance.
Objectives: With the accelerated aging of Chinese society, the demand for high-quality care services for the elderly population is rapidly increasing. In response, the Chinese government promotes the construction of home- and community-based elderly care (HCBEC) systems, which significantly influence the life satisfaction (LS) of this group. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between the accessibility of HCBEC and LS of the elderly population in China and further examined the underlying mechanisms. Methods: We analyzed data from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) using an ordered logit model. Results: HCBEC significantly enhanced the LS of the elderly population, with more pronounced positive effects observed among females, unmarried persons, rural dwellers, and those with chronic diseases or physical disabilities. These services also increase their satisfaction by enhancing accessibility to anticipated care and medical services. Conclusions: This study theoretically complements research on LS. The use of large-sample data analysis ensures the reliability of the results, providing practical implications for China's proactive response to population aging and policy, and enhancing the subjective well-being of the elderly population.
Objective: To identify changes over time in gendered patterns of intergenerational contact between older adults and their adult children in an Asian context.
Background: Patterns of contact between older adults and their adult children have strong implications for older adults' health in societies with strong family values and gendered expectations for old age care.
Methods: The authors utilized data from two waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2006 and 2016); 1,311 Korean older adults reported their frequency of contact (in-person contact and mediated communication) with their 5,663 mixed-gender adult children when they were aged 65–74 years and when they were aged 75–84 years, respectively. Latent transition analysis was applied to identify gendered patterns of contact among multiple children and examine transitions between waves.
Results: More frequent contact with sons was twice as common as more frequent contact with daughters in 2006. However, these gender-unequal patterns of contact were likely to transition to gender-equal patterns in 2016. The onset of functional limitations was associated with transitions into equally frequent in-person contact with sons and daughters, whereas the onset of clinically significant depressive symptoms was associated with transitions into more frequent mediated communication with daughters.
Conclusion: The findings show a decline in traditional son-preferential patterns of contact, in favor of gender-equal contact among Korean older adults. Furthermore, mental health issues emerging in the transition from young-old to middle-old emphasize the role of daughters as kin-keepers who support their parents emotionally.
The Chinese society is becoming old before becoming rich. It is also experiencing major social transitions such as smaller household sizes, intergenerational separation resulting from urbanisation, and the lack of community-level support networks for older people in need. These features pose hurdles to the development of an old age care system. In this chapter, the author argues that an old age care system is gradually taking shape with community-based care taking the lead. However, the current system continues to face the challenges of a lack of sustainable business models for private and social providers and the insufficient quality of labour supply. This study highlights not only the new policy changes that are being implemented to effectively address the weaknesses in the system but also the future directions related to policy reform and research.
Background
As a natural source of support for the elderly, the family is an important channel for achieving a sense of security, happiness, and worthiness in old age. In this study, we analysed the characteristics of intergenerational support in families of centenarians and explored the impact of the number of family generations on intergenerational support.
Methods
We conducted a cross‐sectional survey between April 2020 and January 2021 among 62 elderly people aged 99+ in Rugao, China, one of six ‘longevity cities’ in the world. Assisted by the researchers, centenarians completed questionnaires with details pertaining to general demographics, intergenerational support, and other aspects. We used a logistic regression model to analyse the influence of the number of family generations on intergenerational support that the centenarians received with respect to economic, living, and emotional aspects.
Results
Centenarians were primarily recipients of care in their families, and received intergenerational support mainly for their declined physical functions and limited self‐care ability. The study results revealed that the greater the number of generations comprising the family, the greater was the intergenerational life care and emotional comfort provided for centenarians by the family.
Conclusions
In this study, we found a positive effect of the number of family generations on intergenerational support for centenarians. The government and society should promote the tradition of respecting, caring for, and honouring the elderly while paying close attention to the dynamic changes in the family structure of centenarians in promoting high‐quality and sustainable development of the people, economy, and society.
Background
Depression is a major factor affecting the happiness of older rural residents. With the increasing aging of the Chinese population, overage labor is becoming more prevalent in rural areas of China. This study aimed to assess whether, and if so, how, overage labor affects depression status in older rural residents.
Methods
Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this study explored the association between overage labor and depression among older rural residents by using ordinary least squares and moderated mediation models.
Results
The results show that overage labor significantly reduced levels of depression in older rural residents. This result remained robust after using propensity score matching and double machine learning. Furthermore, the improvement of older rural residents' depression via overage labor is mainly achieved through work income, but this mediating effect is negatively moderated by intergenerational financial support. This implies that in traditional Chinese rural society, intergenerational financial support from children plays an important role in reducing depression among older rural residents.
Conclusion
Our findings have potential policy implications for China and other developing countries in terms of addressing issues related to aging and depression in older adults.
With female outmigration for work on the rise, it becomes pertinent to examine how the evolving gender composition of labor migrant streams influences the well-being of those left behind at origin. This study investigates whether a daughter's outmigration for work distinctly affects the mental health of older parents left behind, drawing on the case of Indonesia — one of the largest sources of male and female migrant labor in the world. It uses individual fixed effects regressions to model changing mental health outcomes for a representative panel of 2,133 older parents, ages 50 or more, from the 2007–2008 and 2014–2015 Indonesia Family Life Survey. It finds that older parents, specifically older mothers, who had a daughter migrate for work between waves saw a greater increase in depression over time compared to those who had (a) no labor migrant children in either wave, and (b) only labor migrant sons in both waves. Possible reasons for these gendered mental health implications are discussed, including loss of preferred caregivers at origin, concerns about migrant children's precarity at destination, worries about married migrant daughters’ family stability, and anxieties about unmarried migrant daughters engaging in premarital relationships at destination. This study underscores the need to consider gender-based heterogeneities in future investigations on the impact of migration on those left behind, and in social protection efforts for vulnerable elderly.
Intergenerational support from children and differences in social security treatment are important factors influencing the occurrence of multidimensional poverty among the elderly in China. Drawing on social support theory, based on the data of the 2018 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, this article investigates the effects of different intergenerational support provided by children on multidimensional poverty among the elderly, using a combination of logit regression model and moderating effect model, and identify the role played by social security programs. The study shows that multidimensional poverty among the elderly in China is generally severe, and the structure of poverty is evolving from material to spiritual poverty. The effectiveness of financial and caregiving support in the management of multidimensional poverty among the elderly has diminished and is limited to rights-based poverty, and the effects are in opposite directions. Emotional support assumes an increasingly important role in poverty management and has a significant impact on the alleviation of economic, health, and spiritual poverty as well as overall multidimensional poverty. Social security programmes have significant moderating effects on the relationship between financial support, emotional support and multidimensional poverty among the elderly, and differences in social security programmes can cause changes in the impact of intergenerational support on multidimensional poverty among the elderly. This study has theoretical value and practical implications for building a solid bottom line for a mass return to poverty and improving the current situation of multidimensional poverty among the elderly in China.
While social support is generally beneficial, it remains unclear how it directly and indirectly affects subjective well-being among grandparents via generative acts. Multi-stage cluster random sampling was employed in a city in Eastern China, reaching 1013 noncustodial grandparent caregivers of kindergarten children (mean age = 58.3, range: 40-93, female = 71.9%, non-local = 508). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results reveal that social support positively affected three indicators of subjective well-being among noncustodial grandparent caregivers. Also, social support worked through agentic generative acts to positively affect life satisfaction and positive affect, while not through domestic generative acts. The present study contributes to grandparent caregiving research in urban China by advancing an integrated framework that considers the mechanism of generative acts. Policy and practice implications are also discussed.
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship between objective and subjective aspects of financial well-being, the role of family financial support and depression symptoms of Chinese older adults.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used two waves (2015 and 2018) of the Harmonized China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Two financial ratios: the expenditure-to-income ratio and the financial assets ratio, were used to measure the objective aspect of financial well-being. Perceived money management difficulty was employed to measure the subjective aspect of financial well-being. Depression symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) score. Three analytical models, including an ordinary least squares (OLS) model, an OLS model controlling for lagged depression and a random effects model using panel data, were used to examine the relationships between the objective and subject aspects of financial well-being and depression.
Findings
The results from the three models showed consistent relationships: the expenditure-to-income ratio was a positive contributor, while the financial assets ratio was a negative contributor to depression of older adults in China. The robustness check using binary-coded financial ratio thresholds showed that reaching the suggested thresholds was negatively associated with depression. Perceived money management difficulty contributed positively to depression. The robustness check using the fixed effects model showed no significance of the two ratios, while perceived money management difficulty was positively associated with depression. The insignificance might be due to data limitation (limited waves or rare changes across waves).
Originality/value
The findings indicate that both objective and subjective financial well-being matters in relation to depression symptoms and, therefore, to the overall mental health of the Chinese elderly. Developments in public policies are needed to promote accessible financial services, assistance programs, mental health services and facilities for the older population in China.
There are not as many grandparents and great grandparents at the time of this revision in 2022 as we might have expected a decade ago. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic was especially harsh for older people and reached out to many societies all over the globe. Other problems, such as opioid and other substance abuse, hunger, poverty, and disease have affected different regions to further challenge grandparents and their family networks. Research on grandparents is often at the qualitative level to examine specific cultures and roles or at the demographic or population level. In this chapter, the issues of childcare and socioeconomic exchange and transfers are examined in some depth. The reciprocal nature of relationships across the life course and between generations is a natural foundation for collaboration across disciplines.KeywordsCOVID-19grandfamiliesco-residencecaregivingcrisisintergenerationalretirementstep-grandparents
One of the key questions in evaluation of the performance of the New Rural Social Endowment Insurance Program (NSEI) in China is how the intergenerational transfers among families will change along with the NSEI reform. Based on the 2008 and 2011 waves of Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), we adopt econometric methods such as instrumental variables regression, fixed-effect panel regression, and difference-in-difference method in empirical analyses and find that NSEI has significant replacement, or “crowding out”, effects on intergenerational transfers among Chinese families in rural areas. One RMB of pension is associated with a reduction of 80.8 cents of intergenerational transfers from adult children. The elders who attended NSEI received 587.1 RMB, on average, less transfers from adult children in 2011 compared with those who did not attend NSEI, which amounts to 62.7 percent of public pensions by NESI at the same period. As a result, we argue that adult children will benefit more from NSEI compared with their old-age parents. The major outcome of NSEI is to alleviate aged-supporting burden on adult children, rather than to increase benefit level of elderly.
Background: Prior studies showed mixed results of the association between grandchild care and grandparents’ health. This research focused on the mechanisms behind the above link by studying how internet use served as a mediator through which grandchild care impacted grandparents' health. The study aimed to draw health implications to improve health of grandparents who offer intergenerational care.
Methods: Using a sample of 16,829 grandparents aged 50 through 80 from the 2018 wave of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), the study relied on the KHB method to conduct the analysis. Grandparental health were measured by self-rated health, IADL, life satisfaction and depression.
Results: Overall, grandchild care had a positive effect on grandparental health. Those who engaged in grandchild care were more likely to use internet. Internet use mediated the ways in which grandchild care impacted grandparents' health. It generally promoted the positive influence of intergenerational caregiving on grandparental health. The mediating effects of watching videos and chatting through internet were most pronounced among urban grandmothers. The mediating effects of watching news were most noticeable among both urban grandmothers and grandfathers.
Conclusions: These findings implied that promoting internet usage may be an effective way reducing the negative impact of intergenerational caregiving on grandparents' depression. It could also increase the positive effect of caregiving on grandparents' SRH and functional independence. The study also underscored the importance of taking rural-urban context and gender role into consideration when studying intergenerational caregiving and Chinese grandparents' health.
Background
: Caring for grandchildren has been a normative, pragmatic and prevalent practice in China, while its association with the well-being of grandparents remains inconclusive. This study aims to illustrate whether and how the provision of grandchild care is related to grandparents’ life satisfaction, and how the relationship is contingent on the features of grandparents.
Methods
: Using data from the 2018 wave of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we apply ordered logistic model to examine the link between caregiving intensity and life satisfaction.
Results
: Provision of moderate grandchild care is associated with better life satisfaction, as caregiving grandparents participate in social activities more actively and feel more confident in the future. The association between intensive child care and life satisfaction remains insignificant, as its detrimental effect might wipe out the benefits. The positive association between moderate caregiving and life satisfaction is more pronounced among male, younger, rural grandparents and grandparents not co-residing with their children.
Conclusion
: Our findings suggest that caring for grandchildren is not necessarily beneficial for grandparents. Attenuating the load of child care as well as enhancing social and economic support to caregivers would help them better reap the benefits of grandchild care.
The purpose of this study is to examine the interface between financial strain, informal received economic support, informal anticipated financial support, and psychological distress in later life. Data provided by a large probability sample of older adults in the People’s Republic of China reveal that the relationship between financial difficulty and psychological distress is stronger for older adults who receive more economic assistance. However, the results involving anticipated support are in the opposite direction. More specifically, the association between financial problems and psychological distress is lower for older adults who believe that others stand ready to help in the future should the need arise. A detailed theoretical rationale is developed to explain these results.
Although most older Chinese parents live with an adult son or daughter, most adult offspring do not live with parents. We examine the relations of these noncoresident offspring with parents in terms of proximity, frequency of contact, and exchange of help. Based on a 1993 random sample survey conducted in two major Chinese cities, we find that although rates of coresidence are high, noncoresident sons and daughters live close to parents, have frequent contact with their parents, and provide regular help to parents. Relationships with noncoresident sons and daughters are unaffected by whether parents coreside with another child. There is some evidence of closer relationships with sons than with daughters, but parents without a son receive as much help from all children as do parents with sons. The effects of these and other predictors are estimated in multivariate analyses, and results are interpreted in terms of the persistence or change of traditional family norms.
After a brief review of the major concepts and propositions of the social-psychological theory of exchange, a view of aging
as exchange is developed. Drawing upon the previous work of Blau and Emerson, problems of aging are seen as problems of decreasing
power resources. Because power resources decline with increased age, older persons become increasingly unable to enter into
balanced exchange relations with other groups with whom they are in interaction. From this view, the process of disengagement
is the result of a series of exchange relations in which the relative power of the aged vis-à-vis their exchange partner increasingly
deteriorates. An imbalanced exchange ratio consequently results in which the aged are forced to exchange compliance—the most
costly of all generalized reinforcers—for their continued sustenance. The retirement phenomenon is specified as illustrative
of the aging as exchange process.
The social-breakdown syndrome suggests that an individual’s sense of self, his ability to mediate between self and society, and his orientation to personal mastery are functions of the kinds of social labeling experienced in life. We argue that the elderly in Western society are susceptible to, and dependent on, social labeling because of unique social reorganizations in late life, e.g., role loss, vague or inappropriate normative information, and lack of reference groups. Consequences to the dependence on external labeling generally negative for the elderly are the loss of coping abilities and the development of an internalized sense of incompetence.
We use the first wave of data from the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) study to examine the effects of past parent-to-child financial transfers on selection of a child to provide assistance with basic personal care for unmarried parents. We estimate a fixed-effects conditional logit model and find a positive and significant association between past financial transfers and a child's current helping behavior. The coefficient of past financial transfers is in the direction hypothesized, and its magnitude is 80% as large as that of gender, a well-documented powerful predictor of parental caregiving. There appears to be substantial evidence that earlier parent-to-child financial gifts play a role in determining which child in the family will provide assistance.
Rapid growth in the size of the childless elderly population has prompted concerns about the negative effects of childlessness on psychological well-being. This study adds to this line of inquiry by examining the effects of childlessness on two important dimensions of elderly persons' psychological well-being: loneliness and depression.
Using the 1993 Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old data set, the authors estimated logistic and ordinary least squares regression models of psychological well-being for a nationally representative sample of people aged 70 and older (N = 6,517).
Childlessness per se did not significantly increase the prevalence of loneliness and depression at advanced ages, net of other factors. There also was no statistical evidence for the hypothesis that childlessness increases loneliness and depression for divorced, widowed, and never married elderly persons. Sex, however, altered how childlessness and marital status influenced psychological well-being. Divorced, widowed, and never married men who were childless had significantly higher rates of loneliness compared with women in comparable circumstances; divorced and widowed men who were childless also had significantly higher rates of depression than divorced and widowed women.
The findings suggest that it is important to understand the consequences of childlessness in the context of marital status and sex.
This research assessed how parents' transfers of sentiment, time, and financial assets to their adolescent/young adult children affect the children's propensity in middle age to provide social support to their aging parents. We tested whether the mechanism of long-term intergenerational exchange is better modeled as a return on investment, an insurance policy triggered by the longevity or physical frailty of parents, or the result of altruistic (or other nonreciprocal) motivations on the part of adult children.
Models were examined with 6 waves of data from the University of Southern California Longitudinal Study of Generations. The sample consisted of 501 children who participated in the 1971 survey and who had at least 1 parent surviving in 1985. Growth curve modeling was applied to predict average levels and rates of change in social support provided to mothers and fathers between 1985 and 1997 as a function of early parental transfers of affection, association, and tangible resources to their children.
Children who spent more time in shared activities with their mothers and fathers in 1971 provided more support to them on average. Receiving greater financial support from parents in 1971 raised the marginal rate at which support provided by children increased over time. Maternal health operated synergistically with early affection to produce greater levels of support. Both levels and rates of increase in support from children were positive, even for children who received no early transfers from their parents.
The results offer some support for investment, insurance, and altruistic models of intergenerational exchange. Sharing time in activities provides a direct return to the parent that is characteristic of an investment strategy, whereas financial transfers provide a time-contingent return that is characteristic of an insurance mechanism. That affection triggers greater support to more functionally impaired mothers suggests that emotionally investing in children as a health insurance mechanism may be based on the greater moral equity accorded to mothers. The motivation of adult children to provide social support to their older parents is partially rooted in earlier family experiences and guided by an implicit social contract that ensures long-term reciprocity.
This study examines the extent to which older parents provide material resources and services to their children in the Philippines and Taiwan, and the influence of coresidence on reported transfers between parents and their adult children. The data used in the analyses are from two nationally representative household surveys of persons aged 60 and older in the Philippines and Taiwan. Results show that almost half of older parents in the Philippines provide resources to non-coresident children and only 4 percent of older Taiwanese parents currently make such transfers. When transfers with coresident children are included, older parents show much greater involvement in family support: 69 and 14 percent of older parents in the Philippines and Taiwan, respectively, say they make transfers to children. The difference between the two measures diminishes with age, however, as overall levels of giving decline. Results from multivariate models show that while both measures are associated in similar ways with key factors such as age, health, gender, and economic resources, the association between living arrangements and intergenerational transfers varies across measures. These results suggest that older adults' in these countries tend to exhibit a preference for transfers to the children with whom they live, and that coresidence with grandchildren may be an indirect transfer of services to non-coresident adult children.
The objective of this work was to examine the relationship of perceived quality of care to depression among recipients of informal long-term care.
Generalized estimating equations were used to generate population-average logistic regression models of prevalent depression, using a sample of 420 disabled community-dwelling women aged 65 or older receiving informal care obtained from the Women's Health and Aging Study Caregiving Survey.
Findings confirm a substantial prevalence of depression among older women with disabilities and support the hypothesis that perceived reciprocity and respect afforded by one's primary caregiver as well as adequacy of instrumental support all were associated with a lower likelihood of being categorized as depressed, even after controlling for sociodemographic, health, and psychosocial characteristics that are known to be related to depression.
Perceived quality of informal care arrangements has a bearing on the psychological health of care recipients. Individuals in more reciprocal relationships and in relationships where they felt respected and valued were less likely to be depressed than their counterparts.
The migration of working-age adults from rural to urban China has altered traditional patterns of living arrangements and intergenerational support among elderly persons who remain in rural regions. This investigation examined how household composition and support exchanges with adult children influenced the psychological well-being of older parents in rural China.
Data derived from a 2001 survey of 1,561 parents aged 60 and older living in rural Anhui Province, China. We used multiple regression in order to estimate the effects of multigenerational living arrangements and intergenerational transfers of financial, instrumental, and emotional support on depression and life satisfaction in older parents.
Older parents living in three-generation households or with grandchildren in skipped-generation households had better psychological well-being than those living in single-generation households. Receiving greater remittances from adult children increased well-being and explained why living with grandchildren was beneficial. Stronger emotional cohesion with children also improved well-being.
These results suggest that traditional family arrangements are beneficial in rural Chinese society as they represent the fulfillment of a cultural ideal. We discuss implications in the context of the corporate Chinese family, characterized by mutual aid and interdependence across generations, and its adaptation to social change.
Chinese older persons (N = 164) recruited from social centers responded to a survey instrument tapping the perceived filial behaviors of children
(close vs not close), and the degree to which these behaviors matched personal expectations (filial discrepancy). Across all
kinds of filial behaviors, providing attention when the parent was ill or distressed was perceived to be the least performed
and was most discrepant with expectations. Whether the children were paying respect and whether they were providing care in
times of illness or distress were most important in determining a sense of filial discrepancy in the parent. However, after
functional limitations and financial strain were controlled for, only respect emerged as a consistent predictor of psychological
well-being. These findings were similar whether the target was the closest child(ren) or less close children. There was no
evidence that a child's overdoing his or her filial role was detrimental to the parents' well-being among the Chinese individuals
in this study.
This book is a collection of papers by leading scholars whose research concerns economic transfers between generations. The issues addressed have great relevance to demographic issues, particularly the determination of fertility, to economic issues, including equity and growth, and to public policy, especially social security reform. Part I focuses on intergenerational features of the macroeconomy. Advances in the construct ion of generational accounts are described and used to examine how the magnitude and direction of intergenerational transfers influences demographic behaviour, the distribution of income and the accumulation of wealth. Studies presented in Part II consider the role of the state as a provider of economic security for the elderly. The authors draw on international experience and discuss many of the issues that must be confronted if efforts to reform public pension programs are to be successful. Part III considers the intergenerational behaviour of the family. The authors examine competing theories in both industrialized and developing country settings to consider how demographic change, the development of financial institutions, public policy and other economic forces influence the amount, form and timing of intergenerational transfers.
The influences of supportive and conflictual mother-daughter relationships on depressive symptoms expressed by African American and White teenage mothers and grandmothers were examined. Interviews were conducted with 83 grandmother-teenage mother dyads to assess their individual perspectives of the quality of their relationship and their psychological well-being. Findings indicated that grandmothers assessed the mother-daughter relationship as more favorable than young mothers. African American teenage mothers were more likely than White mothers to report childrearing conflicts with grandmothers. Grandmothers, regardless of race, were more likely than teenage mothers to report less conflict around raising the young mothers' babies. Although racial differences were found in the number of depressive symptoms expressed among grandmothers, this finding did not hold when controlling for socioeconomic status. Similarly, the inverse relationship found between supportive maternal relations and depressive symptoms at the bivariate level of analysis was no longer important for predicting depressive symptoms among teenage mothers in the presence of conflictual mother-daughter relationships. Implications of these and other findings for future social network research and family interventions are discussed.
In this study, I propose to answer questions about the determinants of and variation in monetary support given to older parents by incorporating the approaches of reciprocity and gender difference and by identifying a distributive norm in Chinese society. My analysis is based on a stratified, simple random sample of 200 noncoresidential families in Shandong Province, which is located along the east coast of the People's Republic of China. Multiple regression is used to determine the extent to which the derived hypotheses account for the determinants of and variation in intergenerational monetary support or the amount of this support. I conclude that the value of incorporating the norms of gender difference and reciprocity and placing them in a larger social context of the distributive norm of monetary support to older parents may supersede their worth when considered separately.
Patterns of exchange of assistance within the informal helping networks of the elderly are examined through analysis of interviews with a probability sample of 753 noninstitutionalized older persons. Most elders are involved in some type of exchange, although the proportion reporting no exchange increases as one moves from children to other relatives to friends or neighbors. Older persons who receive help usually reciprocate in some way, with the prevalence of unreciprocated assistance higher in relationships with family members than with friends or neighbors. Multiple discriminant analysis of exchange patterns produced two significant functions, the first differentiating receivers from nonreceivers and the second providers from nonproviders of help. Consistent with an exchange theory perspective, the analyses suggested that the inability to reciprocate rather than the need for assistance had a greater negative effect on morale. The data also showed a negative relationship between scope of formal service use and reliance on the informal network, a result consistent with both a possible substitution effect and/or appropriate targeting of formal services.
Gender bias in family formation in China is well documented. Much less is known about how children fare once they become part of a family. Drawing on fieldwork and survey data, we describe the care of young children, and investigate the relationship between the one-child policy and parental involvement in care. Results indicate that the one-child policy, insofar as it limits couples to one or two children, leads to greater involvement by parents in child care. Additional effects of policy vary by children's gender. Boys receive similar care regardless of the one-child policy in their communities. Girls, living in communities where couples are permitted another child if their first is a girl, are more likely to receive parental care than girls in other communities. These results suggest that gender bias in China is not solely due to outdated "feudal" ideas resulting in son preference.
This study examines the role of family support in reducing the elders’s depression in the face of the perceived inadequate public medical care in urban China. Using data from the Survey on Aging and Intergenerational Relations in Baoding City, this article investigates the overall depression level, somatic symptoms, and affective symptoms, respectively. The findings suggest that perceived inadequate public medical care, which results from dramatic changes in China’s socioeconomic transformation, has a stressful impact on all measures of depression. Family support, by its structure and function, shows both direct and moderating effects in counteracting such stress from the public domain. In light of China’s demographic transition, the state is called upon to adopt a comprehensive strategy in designing its socioeconomic development policy to meet the needs of an aging population.
The CES-D scale is a short self-report scale designed to measure depressive symptomatology in the general population. The items of the scale are symptoms associated with depression which have been used in previously validated longer scales. The new scale was tested in household interview surveys and in psychiatric settings. It was found to have very high internal consistency and adequate test- retest repeatability. Validity was established by pat terns of correlations with other self-report measures, by correlations with clinical ratings of depression, and by relationships with other variables which support its construct validity. Reliability, validity, and factor structure were similar across a wide variety of demographic characteristics in the general population samples tested. The scale should be a useful tool for epidemiologic studies of de pression.
Survey data from Baoding, China, show that the child's life-course location affects the likelihood of residing with a parent. When parents and grown children co-reside, the child's progress toward full adulthood increases the likelihood that the generations will budget separately. Marriage is the most significant marker of adulthood, but its effects differ for sons and daughters.
This article explores motivations for intergenerational exchanges of time and money using data from Indonesia. The extent of exchange and underlying motivations differ across families but substantial evidence supports the theory that transfers within families serve as insurance for family members. The results also suggest that between some parents and children money is exchanged for time. Additionally, some evidence is consistent with the idea that parents pay for their children's education partly as a loan that is later repaid. The authors compare their results to those that they obtained previously for Malaysia using similar data and methods. The findings regarding motivations for transfers are remarkably similar across the two countries.
Monetary transfers between relatives may be motivated by altruism, or they may represent payments for services rendered. Data from a large 1988 household survey are used to test these hypotheses and to study the size and direction of transfers in rural China. The analysis suggests that altruism alone cannot explain the observed transfers and that exchange may be involved. Most of the money flows appear to be transfers from adult children to elderly parents and remittances from migrants. Child care is likely to be one of the main services that parents render to adult children in exchange for money.
Financial transfers between parents and their non-coresident adult children are studied with survey data from nine Chinese cities in 1987. The predominant flow is from children to parents, and money from children accounts for nearly a third of these parents' incomes. Parents' receipt of assistance is directly associated with parents' needs, is more likely directed to widowed mothers, and less likely to widowed fathers. Parents with more nonresident children are more likely to receive than to give help. Living with a child does not alter the odds of giving or receiving, but it reduces the amount given or received.
This paper investigates the impact of the proximity of grandparents'' residence on mother''s childcare involvement in contemporary China. Drawing on data from the 1991 China Health and Nutrition Survey, we find that the presence of grandparents in the household significantly reduces a mother''s involvement in childcare. Nearby residence of grandparents also decreases mothers'' childcare involvement, but only in the case of paternal grandparents not maternal grandparents. These findings suggest the importance of grandparents as childcare substitutes and the strong legacy of a patrilineal culture. Our results point to the importance of taking into account kinship ties that extend beyond the household boundary.
Filial piety has greatly influenced parent care and the parent-child relationship in Korea as in China and Japan. In recent years, as Korea is undergoing a rapid social change, concern over parent care has been increasing. This growing concern necessitates a critical review of the willingness of adult children to practice filial piety. The very definition affiliai piety has become a public issue. Heretofore, filial piety has been described in abstract terms; it has been a concept too general to provide clear guidance for practice and research. This study, aimed at identifying specific indices of filial piety, developed a descriptive taxonomy of categories of concrete actions of filial piety by deconstructing the meanings of filial piety in practice. For this purpose, stories about adult children who exemplified filial piety were analyzed by the content analysis method and the results were triangulated with findings from a questionnaire survey of the same adult children. A set of 10 categories emerged, including respect, responsibility, affection and repayment. These categories enable a comprehensive assessment of caring of elderly parents by their adult children and a holistic under-standing of an “ideal form” of filial piety, to which Koreans are aspiring.
The purpose of this study is to examine the interface between financial strain, informal received economic support, informal anticipated financial support, and psychological distress in later life. Data provided by a large probability sample of older adults in the People's Republic of China reveal that the relationship between financial difficulty and psychological distress is stronger for older adults who receive more economic assistance. However, the results involving anticipated support are in the opposite direction. More specifically, the association between financial problems and psychological distress is lower for older adults who believe that others stand ready to help in the future should the need arise. A detailed theoretical rationale is developed to explain these results.
Yunxiang Yan is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of The Flow of Gifts: Reciprocity and Social Networks in a Chinese Village (Stanford, 1996). ---------- For seven years in the 1970s, the author lived in a village in northeast China as an ordinary farmer. In 1989, he returned to the village as an anthropologist to begin the unparalleled span of eleven yearsââ¬â¢ fieldwork that has resulted in this bookââ¬âa comprehensive, vivid, and nuanced account of family change and the transformation of private life in rural China from 1949 to 1999. The authorââ¬â¢s focus on the personal and the emotional sets this book apart from most studies of the Chinese family. Yan explores private lives to examine areas of family life that have been largely overlooked, such as emotion, desire, intimacy, privacy, conjugality, and individuality. He concludes that the past five decades have witnessed a dual transformation of private life: the rise of the private family, within which the private lives of individual women and men are thriving. ---------- ââ¬ÅThe best ethnography of rural China in the 1990s, this important book is about a rarely explored but central dimension of Chinese family life. Yan also places his study of private life directly in the center of classic debates about the character and importance of corporate kinship. It takes years of sharing villagersââ¬â¢ lives to see beneath the surface. Yan lived it, and he brings deep understanding to both the narrative and the analysis.ââ¬?ââ¬âDeborah Davis, Yale University ââ¬ÅThis may well prove to be the finest rural ethnography of a Chinese village ever written. By focusing on the emotional domain, Yan invites his readers to engage ethnographically in a new domain of scholarly exploration and analysis. In so doing, he has made the Chinese more human. It is a wonderful study.ââ¬?ââ¬âWilliam Jankowiak, University of Nevada, Las Vegas ââ¬ÅThis ethnographic study should be in every academic library.ââ¬?ââ¬âLibrary Journal ââ¬ÅIn probably the best micro-examination of Chinese society in transition, Yan goes beyond the three conventional topologies of treating the Chinese family as a cultural, economic, and political unit. His focus on the personal and emotional aspects of Chinese families separates this book from the conventional emphasis on structure and collectivism.ââ¬?ââ¬âH.T. Wong, Eastern Washington University ââ¬ÅBeautifully crafted, this study provides a sobering look at changes in rural Chinese family life, while shedding rare light on the inner moral and emotional world of the Chinese villager.ââ¬?ââ¬âPopulation and Development Review ââ¬Åa throught provoking book...ââ¬?ââ¬âAmerican Historical Review
In this article a theory of motivations to send remittances is described and tested with data from Botswana. Altruism is one of the motivations tested and found to be an insufficient explanation for remittances among migrants in Botswana. A refinement of the model stipulates a modified altruism or "enlightened self-interest." In this model the relationship between the migrant and family is tempered by an implicit understanding of mutual benefit. The household strategy may be to encourage some members to migrate as a means of spreading risk and sharing gains. The household strategy is similar to an insurance policy where migration is to places where market potential is high. The risks incurred might be high. The example is given of migration during a drought in Botswana. Migrant remittances were greater in households with more cattle or households with more to lose. Drought alone was not statistically related to remittances. Increases in remittances were related to increased levels of education. It is suggested that repayment was the motive for parents investment in migrants education. Migrants gains are identified as the potential for an inheritance the security of channeling investments through a trusted family member and security in having a home to return to. It is pointed out that the altruism and family remittances from urban migration were strategies that bridged the simple dynamic of either urban development or rural development impacting on family welfare. It is suggested that household models of economy adopt some measure to express the relationship of household wealth to remittances from urban migrants.
This paper explores the determinants of migrant remittances to rural households using data on male migrant workers drawn from the Jinan Municipality in Shandong province in the summer of 1995. The majority of migrants are found to retain close links with their rural households with 85% remitting some income in the 12 months preceding the survey date. The transfers accounted for over a third of urban labour earnings. A number of models are used to undertake the estimation of remittance functions. No evidence of altruistic behaviour is uncovered and evidence for exchange and coinsurance theories is mixed. Labour earnings proved the most robust determinant of the level of remittance and the remittance/wage elasticity calculated is found to be at the top end of the range of estimates obtained in the literature.
This study analyzes upstream intergenerational transfers from middle-aged children to their elderly parents. We formulate a model in which the middle-aged child transfers both money and time to an elderly parent based on an altruistic motive. We examine substitution between financial transfers and time transfers using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Empirical results support the assumption that upstream transfers are motivated by altruism, particularly financial transfers. Parents financially worse off than their middle-aged children receive more money. They are more likely to live nearby if not coresident. Overall, the results for time transfers provide weaker support for our model than financial transfers. A child with a high wage tends to transfer money rather than time, suggesting that the two types of transfers are partial substitutes.
This paper reviews economic studies on rural-urban migration issues in China. The paper focuses on four issues: the household registration system in China, the profile of the migrants, explanations for rural-to-urban migration, and the interaction between migration and labor market evolution, with special reference to labor market segregation, labor market flexibility, and wage differentials. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research topics.
This study examines the pattern of social support exchange between Chinese elderly and their adult children, based on a 1989
rural Chinese household survey. Following social exchange theory, we found reciprocity in household support but not in financial
support. Elderly with greater resource capacities (i.e., health, income, education, and social network) were more likely to
provide than receive assistance, whereas those with fewer resources had the opposite patterns. The exchange of support was
more likely to be related to affective and nonfinancial instrumental support than financial instrumental support. Because
only 42% of elderly with one or two children were living with their children, a formal pension and elderly care system is
needed to complement the informal support system.
With the introduction of economic reforms, families in China are challenged by a variety of family-related problems. Demographic and social changes are affecting both the capacity and willingness of the family to provide care for the elderly. The Chinese Government is aware of the importance of the family in the welfare of its citizens, and has promulgated a series of laws and regulations prescribing family obligations. Yet formal services supporting families are extremely underdeveloped, and it is urgent that the government formulate an effective policy to facilitate, support, and maximize family care.
Change in China's age structure is creating concerns about whether reductions in family size undermine traditional support mechanisms for older adults. Future generations may expect less support as the availability of children declines. In this article, the association between number of children and the receipt of instrumental and financial support is examined for rural and urban populations. Probabilities are modeled as bivariate probits. Coefficients are used to conduct simulations in which support is examined across hypothetical distributions of number of children. The results show that the number of children is an important determinant of support, but future reductions in support may not be as dramatic as anticipated.
This study examines the factors that determine adult children's financial support for elderly parents, using data from the China Survey on Support Systems for the Elderly conducted in 1992. The findings support the hypotheses of need-based transfers. In both urban and rural areas, children's financial transfers to their elderly parents are based on the parents' need, and familial support compensates for inequalities in elderly persons' access to public resources. The data also suggest that elderly support is an outcome of short- and long-term arrangements between generations. Elderly Chinese, especially those in urban areas, have short-term exchanges with their adult children, providing housing or other services and receiving financial support in return. Also, adult children's support for elderly parents may be a repayment of parental investment made in them earlier.
The majority of China's population lives in rural areas and a pattern is emerging of very uneven provision of support for rural elderly people. Local economic conditions and broad demographic trends are creating diversity in the ability both of rural families to care for their elderly kin and in the capacity of communities to support their elderly residents and family carers. In part as a consequence of China's population policy and the 'one-child policy', future Chinese families will have fewer members and be 'older', but they will continue to be regarded emotionally and in policy as the main source of economic and social support for the elderly. The increasing involvement of women in the paid workforce and the changing geographical distribution of family members resulting from work-related migration, are reducing the ability of families to care for their elderly relatives. The availability of resources other than the family for the care of older persons therefore becomes a key issue. Communities in more prosperous, modernising rural areas are often able to provide their elderly residents with welfare and social benefits previously found almost exclusively in urban areas. However, in poorly developed rural areas, provision is either very patchy or non-existent and the local economy cannot support expansion or improvement. A case study in Zhejiang Province illustrates the favourable provision for ageing in a prosperous modernising rural community, in which entitled elderly residents are provided with an impressive array of financial and social benefits. The paper concludes with a consideration of the policy implications of the growing differentiation of the social and economic capacity of rural communities to support their elderly members.
In Hong Kong, the aged population will be increased rapidly in the coming three decades and the oldest-old (aged 80 and above) is the fastest growing age group. In this paper, we examined the prevalence rate and the correlates of depression for the oldest-old.
This article analyzes cross-sectional data collected from a representative community sample of 1 903 Chinese elderly people aged 60 or above in Hong Kong. Respondents were interviewed in face-to-face format with structural questionnaire.
Using 8 as the cut-off point for the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale, we found that the prevalence rate was greater for the oldest-old (31.1% +/- 9.7%) than for the young-old (aged between 60 and 69; 19.1% +/- 2.8%) and the old-old (aged 70 and 79; 22.4% +/- 4.2%) groups. Logistic regression analyses revealed that financial strain, poor self-rated health, loneliness, and heart disease were significantly and positively related to depression in the oldest-old after gender, marital status, education, living arrangement, functional disability, sensory impairment, cognitive ability, and the presence of eight medical conditions were controlled. Interestingly, financial strain, self-rated health, and loneliness were found to be significant correlates of depression in the young-old and the old-old groups, too.
Depression is a serious problem for the oldest-old but a number of correlates are consistently identified in the oldest-old, as well as the two other age groups in the elderly population. Therefore, aged care service practitioners must take these correlates into consideration in their prevention and treatment for depression for all different age groups in the aged.
Do financial receipts from adult children reduce depressive symptoms in grandparents? Transfers from older parents to their children in Taiwan and the Philippines
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The distributive norm of monetary support to older parents: A study in China
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Depression among older parents: The role of intergenerational exchange Support between rural parents and migrant children in a rapidly industrializing society: South Korea Sharing the wealth: Demographic change and economic transfers between generations
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