Parents' preferred care-givers in rural China: gender, migration and intergenerational exchanges

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 727-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
ZHEN CONG ◽  
MERRIL SILVERSTEIN

ABSTRACTThis study examines how intergenerational exchanges affect elders' choice of preferred care-givers in the case of sickness among adult children in rural China. The sample derived from a four-wave longitudinal study in Anhui Province, China, based on which we constructed three time intervals (i.e.2001–2003, 2003–2006 and 2006–2009) and stacked them. Our working sample included 10,181 observations from these three stacked intervals, representing 4,927 children with 1,170 elder parents. We used fixed-effects logistic regression to predict elders' favouritism among their children. Results show that those children who received more help with grandchild care from parents, who provided instrumental support to parents and whose spouses provided instrumental support to parents were more likely to be named the preferred care-givers. On average, parents favoured sons. For mothers, this favouritism was completely explained by proximity and intergenerational exchanges, and even reversed under certain circumstances. For fathers, this favouritism of sons was partially explained by proximity and intergenerational exchanges. Migrant children were less likely to be preferred care-givers. This effect was moderated by elder parents' help with caring for grandchildren. Particularly, mothers favoured daughters over sons if the above moderation effect was considered. We discuss these findings in the context of social changes including increased importance of daughters in elder parents' support networks and the large-scale rural to urban migration.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S880-S880
Author(s):  
Zhiyong Lin

Abstract As the processes of urbanization and globalization have intensified across the world, a burgeoning literature has documented the impact of emigration on the health of family members left behind in emigrant communities. Although the association between children’s migration and parental well-being is well documented, few have examined the health implications of children’s migration in the milieu of multiple children and further differentiated between children’s short-term and long-term migration. Therefore, I argue that it is not the geographic locality of a single child but the composition of all children’s location that matters. I further suggest that the impact of children’s migration on parental wellbeing is conditioned on the duration of children’s migration. Using a six waves longitudinal data (2001-2015) collected in rural China, this paper compares mental health (measured as depressive symptoms) trajectories of old adults (aged 60 and older) across different compositions of local and migrant children over a 14-year span. Results from growth curve models show that parents having more migrant children relative to local children experience a more rapid increase in depressive symptoms. In addition, older adults who have their most children migrate away for three or more waves of data have experienced the steepest rate of increase in depressive symptoms. These findings provide new evidence to support the life course processes of mental health disparities among older adults from the perspective of intergenerational proximity.


2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 633-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROB J. GRUIJTERS

ABSTRACTChina has seen a rapid decline of the traditional multi-generational household and an increase in rural-to-urban migration, raising concerns about a possible breakdown of the informal support system. Against this background, the paper looks at family care-giving (or the absence thereof) to parents in three different living arrangements: with any child or child-in-law (co-resident); independent with at least one child living in the same community (networked); and without any children in either the household or the community (isolated). It also compares the care-giving arrangements of single elders to those living with a spouse. The sample, which is derived from the comprehensive China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), contains data on 887 functionally impaired individuals aged 60 and above. The findings suggest that married parents are mostly cared for by their spouse, even if they co-reside with adult children. Proximity to children is particularly important for single elders, who are more likely to lack a care-giver when living independently. There appears to be a hierarchy in family care responsibilities, where children step in as care-givers only when the spouse is no longer able to fulfil this role. While these findings imply a significant deviation from traditional practices and norms of ‘filial piety’, they can be interpreted as a rational adaptation to the changed economic circumstances in rural China.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147332502110187
Author(s):  
Kang Sun ◽  
Mohan Dutta

The large-scale rural-to-urban migration in China has resulted in separated families and left-behind family members in the countryside. Various socioeconomic changes took place in rural China’s daily life due to migration, which provides unique perspectives to understand the hidden costs of the national discourse on development. This study aims to reveal how rural grandparenting resulted from the uneven economic development between a Chinese city and a village. A dual-site ethnographic study was conducted in one Northern village and one Southern city. Interviews, focus groups, and participant observation were used to form methodological triangulation to understand how socioeconomic features have made grandparenting necessary. Instead of focusing only on grandparents' daily responsibilities of taking care of their grandchildren, we compared grandparents' and parents' views on the changes in grandparents' socioeconomic roles, feelings of loneliness, and economic independence, as well as grandchildren's socialization processes. The study showcases grandparenting as having a social significance larger than being individualized acts of family care.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (03) ◽  
pp. 75-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Litao ZHAO

After decades of large-scale rural-to-urban migration, a massive wave of return migration has emerged in China, signalling China’s entry to a new stage of economic and social development. Behind the new trend are the economic take-off of China’s hinterland and the ageing of the first-generation migrant workers. While potentially a benign transformative force for rural China, return migration also risks becoming a way to “dump” ageing, unproductive or laid-off migrant workers in the vast countryside.


2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 239-239
Author(s):  
Ashley S Ling ◽  
Taylor Krause ◽  
Amanda Warner ◽  
Jason Duggin ◽  
Bradley Heins ◽  
...  

Abstract Horn flies (Haematobia irritans) are a major nuisance to cattle, especially in warm, humid regions, and are estimated to cause economic losses in excess of $1 billion annually to the U.S. beef cattle industry. Variation in horn fly tolerance has been reported within and across breeds, and heritability estimates ranging between 10 and 80% show a clear genetic basis. However, collecting fly abundance phenotypes is costly and logistically demanding, which precludes large-scale implementation. Consequently, finding correlated phenotypes and endo-phenotypes that are heritable and relatively easy to measure would facilitate implementation of horn fly tolerance genetic improvement programs. Thrombin (TH), a blood coagulation precursor, has a reported association with horn fly count variation within and across cattle breeds. In this study, the genetic basis of thrombin in beef cattle was investigated. Blood samples and horn fly count were collected on 360 cows and heifers twice during the summer of 2019 (June and August). Due to uncertainty associated with assessment of horn fly abundance and thrombin and the fact that economic losses occur only when fly abundance exceeds a certain threshold, thrombin was categorized into 4 classes (1=TH > 500 ng/ml; 2=250< TH< 500 ng/ml; 3=100< TH< 250 ng/ml; and 4=TH< 100 ng/ml). The trait was analyzed using linear (continuous) and threshold (discrete) mixed models. Both models included farm, pregnancy status, and cow age as fixed effects and additive and permanent environment random effects. The pedigree included 642 animals. Estimates of heritability were 0.24 and 0.29 using linear and threshold models, respectively. Estimates of repeatability were slightly higher using the threshold model (0.21 vs 0.19). Despite the small data size, all estimates were non-zero based on their respective highest posterior density intervals. These results indicate reasonable genetic variation for thrombin that could be harnessed for improvement of horn fly tolerance in cattle.


2015 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
MING WEN ◽  
KELIN LI

SummaryThis study examines the associations between parental and sibling rural-to-urban migration and blood pressure (BP) of rural left-behind children (LBC) in rural China. Analysis was based on the 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2009 waves of longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, which is an ongoing prospective survey covering nine provinces with an individual-level response rate of 88%. Blood pressure levels were measured by trained examiners at three consecutive times on the same visit and the means of three measurements were used as the final BP values. An ordinal BP measure was then created using a recently validated age–sex-specified distribution for Chinese children and adolescents, distinguishing normal BP, pre-hypertension and hypertension. Random effect modelling was performed. Different migration circumstances play different roles in LBC's BP with mother-only and both-parent migration being particularly detrimental and father-only and sibling-only migration either having no association or a negative association with LBC's BP levels or odds of high BP. In conclusion, the link between family migration and left-behind children's blood pressure is complex, and depends on who is the person out-migrating.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 164-175
Author(s):  
Sh. Sulaimanov ◽  
Zh. Esenalieva

The results of our study show that the respondent’s perception of large-scale social changes associated with the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection in the Kyrgyz Republic has a number of features. A sufficient level of awareness of the respondents about the symptoms of the disease, the ways of transmission of the virus, and measures to prevent the spread of infection are combined with an underestimation of the situation (17.2%). The majority (66.6%) of the respondents lived in Bishkek. The survey was held among 247 people, most of whom were women (57.3%) and young people (35.9±14.9 years). Every fourth participant in the study is a chronic tobacco smoker (24%). Less than half (47.3%) of the respondents were engaged in intellectual work. Among the respondents, the most common symptoms of COVID-19 were loss of taste or smell, fever, headache, muscle ache, cough, sore throat. Every third (28.4%) respondent was referred to an X-ray, CT scan. PCR and ELISA studies were carried out, respectively, by 22.5% and 10.9%.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-134
Author(s):  
La Ode Sumail

This study examines the connection between governance, financial performance, and financial difficulties of 27 conventional private banks during the pe3riod of 2015-2018. In order to meet the accuracy of the model in the regression analysis, the Lagrange Multiplier test was previously performed so that the Fixed Effects model was chosen. The relationship of insider ownership with ROA tends to be in the shape of inversed-U and the relationship between institutional ownership and ROA is significantly positive. The relationship between ROA and financial difficulties is significantly negative. Older or established large scale banks tend to have high ROA. This happens because the greater the assets, the healthier the cash flow of the bank, so that the potential for return of asset is quite high and financial difficulties tend to be low or avoidable.


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