scholarly journals The Effects of Co-Residence on the Subjective Well-Being of Older Chinese Parents

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 2090
Author(s):  
Shanwen Zhu ◽  
Man Li ◽  
Renyao Zhong ◽  
Peter C. Coyte
Keyword(s):  
Adult Children ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Elderly Parents ◽  
Chinese Parents ◽  
Longitudinal Study Design ◽  
Older Chinese

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of co-residence on the parental subjective well-being among older Chinese parents. Our analysis included 2968 elderly parents. Parental subjective well-being was stratified into positive well-being (PWB) and negative well-being (NWB). Positive well-being was assessed through questions about life satisfaction, optimism, and happiness and NWB was measured by questions about fear, loneliness, and feelings of uselessness. We found co-residence with adult children resulted in a significant average increase in PWB by 0.17 points relative to those who did not cohabitate. In rural China, co-residence with adult children significantly increased PWB by 0.19 points, and co-residence with a son significantly increased parental PWB by 0.18 points. Negative well-being fell significantly by 0.63 points if co-residence was with an adult daughter. Our findings imply that support from adult children significantly improved parental PWB, especially for the elderly in rural China. Public policies that facilitate the strengthening of cohabitation may help improve the well-being for older Chinese residents. Our study makes two main contributions to the international literature: first, we strengthened the causal inferences regarding the effects of co-residence with adult children on parental well-being through the use of a longitudinal study design; and second, we introduced a difference-in-differences propensity score matching (PSM-DID) approach to address potential selection bias that has previously been ignored in the literature.

scholarly journals Older parents and adult children: Traditional relationship or closeness throug or at distance?

Sociologija ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (suppl. 1) ◽  
pp. 287-305
Author(s):  
Sladjana Dragisic-Labas
Keyword(s):  
Adult Children ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The Other ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
Elderly Parents ◽  
Content Analysis Method ◽  
Care Of Elderly ◽  
The One ◽  
Reproductive Activities

A good relationship between older parents and adult children is an important part of active aging. This relationship is being transformed in different ways through all stages of life. Closeness, support and care of elderly parents by children and the other way around of descendants, both children and grandchildren by their parents and grandparents definitely facilitates and reduces the amount of care to be delivered from the community and wider society as such. However, the state often conveys its own part of responsibility to the elderly or the children, whereas the traditional culture presupposes a reciprocal care to be a moral norm, hence we get the so called ?nonsense? situation i.e., overloaded and exhausted adult children or burdened parents on the one side and preserved ?state? of well-being, on the other. In this work, we will consider the relationship between older parents and adult children using the collected data from 52 interviews (with content analysis method applied) conducted with people over 65, from Belgrade. It becomes clear that this relationship marks the everyday life - work, reproductive activities, leisure, health, i.e., the most relevant aspects of our respondents? lives. The so called ?distant closeness? proved to be efficient in Western societies and referring to our research, it is described as desirable but not always feasible. . It is also more preferable for female than for male respondents. The male respondents have higher expectations from their children when it comes to care and help. Sharing of more responsibility over needs of elderly and their children by society, could significantly enable the realization of what we here labelled ?distant closeness?.

Adult child migration and elderly parental health in rural China

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Chang ◽  
Yaojiang Shi ◽  
Hongmei Yi ◽  
Natalie Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Adult Children ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Elderly Parents ◽  
Care For The Elderly ◽  
Child Migration ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of adult children migration on the health status of elderly parents. Increased labor migration in developing countries that lack adequate social security systems and institutionalized care for the elderly is a phenomenon that is important to understand. When their adult children go away to work, it is not clear what effect there will be on “left-behind” elderly parents. Design/methodology/approach This study employs nearly nationally representative data from five provinces, 25 counties, 101 villages and 2,000 households, collected from two waves of data in 2007 and 2011. This sample comprises a subset of households which include both elderly individuals (above 60 years old) and their grown (working-aged) children in order to estimate the impact of adult child migration on the health of elderly parents in rural China. Findings This study finds that adult child migration has a significant positive impact on the health of elderly family members. Practical implications These findings are consistent with the explanation that migration raises family resources, which in turn may contribute to better health outcomes for elderly household members. Originality/value This is the first paper to attempt to identify the relationship between household migration and the health of elderly parents within the Chinese context.

scholarly journals Family Solidarity, Social Support, Loneliness, and Well-Being Among Older Adults in Rural China

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 319-320
Author(s):  
Xiaoyan Zhang ◽  
Merril Silverstein
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Adult Children ◽  
Child Support ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Total Population ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
National Bureau ◽  
Subjective Well Being

Abstract China is experiencing a large increase in elderly population. In 2019, China’s population aged 60 and above had reached 253 million, accounting for 18.1% of the total population (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2020). By 2050, the number of adults aged 60+ would be up to 430 million, reaching one third of the total population (Du, Zhai & Chen, 2005). Considering such a rapid aging process and the existing large number of older adults in China, it becomes imperative to investigate how psychosocial factors affect this group’s subjective well-being. This study proposed that, among older adults, higher support received from each of the three relational sources (adult children, family and friends) were associated with reduced loneliness and improved well-being. Structural equation modeling was conducted using a sample of rural adults aged 60 and older (N= 1142) from the 2018 wave of data from the Longitudinal Study of Older Adults in Anhui Province, China. Findings indicated that support from adult children directly and indirectly decreased older adults’ depression and improved their life satisfaction through loneliness; while support from family members directly decreased depression but did not directly improve life satisfaction or indirectly improve well-being through loneliness. Although support from friends did not have a significant impact on older adults’ well-being, it indirectly improved well-being through reduced loneliness. Findings have implications for programs or interventions targeting both parent -adult-child support and friends support and reducing rural older adults’ loneliness.

Patterns of Social Relationships and Psychological Well-being among the Elderly

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keiko Takahashi ◽  
Junko Tamura ◽  
Makiko Tokoro
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Subjective Health ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Type Method

On the premise that social relationships among elderly adults differ in terms of the most significant, dominant figure, this study aimed to examine: (1) whether there were qualitative differences in supportive functions between family-dominant and friend-dominant affective relationships, and (2) whether “lone wolves”, who were deficient in human resources, had difficulties in maintaining their well-being. A total of 148 Japanese, over the age of 65, both living in communities and in institutions were individually interviewed about their social relationships using a self-report type method, the Picture Affective Relationships test, and their well-being was assessed using Depression, Self-esteem, Life satisfaction, and Subjective health scales. Results showed that there were no differences in psychological well-being between family-dominant and friend-dominant participants, but those who lacked affective figures had lower scores in subjective well-being than did their family-dominant and friend-dominant counterparts. The generalisation of these findings to other cultures is discussed.

scholarly journals Social trust and emotional health in rural older adults in China: The mediating and moderating role of subjective well-being and subjective social status

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongsheng Chen ◽  
Zhenjun Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Subjective Social Status ◽  
Rural Elderly ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
The Impact

Abstract BackgroundChina is becoming an aging society. The emotional health of the elderly is gaining importance. Social trust is an important factor affecting emotional health, but existing studies have rarely considered the various effects of different types of social trust on rural elderly emotional health. Few studies have analysed the role of subjective well-being and subjective social status in the relationship between social trust and elderly emotional health.MethodsUsing the data of the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey 2016 (CLDS 2016) and regression models, this study selected 2084 rural respondents aged 60 years and above to analyse the impact of social trust on their emotional health. Social trust was divided into three categories: trust in family members, trust in friends, and trust in neighbours. This study also examined the mediating and moderating effects of subjective well-being and subjective social status on the relationship between social trust and emotional health.ResultsTrust in family members was significantly and positively associated with emotional health (coefficient=0.194, P<0.01) and subjective well-being (coefficient=0.177, P<0.01). Trust in friends was significantly and positively associated with emotional health and subjective well-being (coefficient=0.097, P<0.01; coefficient=0.174, P<0.01, respectively). Trust in neighbours was significantly and positively associated with emotional health and subjective well-being (coefficient=0.088, P<0.01; coefficient=0.177, P<0.01; respectively). Subjective well-being effectively reduced the impact of social trust in family, friends, and neighbours on the emotional health of the elderly by 0.023, 0.022, and 0.023, respectively. Trust in friends and neighbours significantly and positively affected respondents’ subjective social status (coefficient=0.120, P<0.05; coefficient=0.090, P<0.10; respectively). Subjective social status effectively reduced the impact of social trust in friends and neighbours on the emotional health of the elderly both by 0.004. The positive relationship between trust in family members and emotional health is weakened by subjective well-being.ConclusionsSocial trust, especially family relationships, play an important role in maintaining the emotional health of the rural elderly. In response to population ageing, more social policies must be introduced to care for the rural elderly and help them lead a happy and satisfactory life.

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