Regional Variation in Family Support for the Elderly in China: A Geodevelopmental Perspective

10.1068/a3523 ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (9) ◽  
pp. 1617-1633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ge Lin

The author examines the impact of rapid social change and economic development on family support for older parents in contemporary urban China. Based on the 1992 Survey on China's Support Systems for the Elderly, the author uses three levels of economic development as proxies for developmental stages in a study carried out from a geodevelopmental perspective. It is found that intergenerational support in urban China is persistent as far as instrumental support is concerned, and that the level of support follows a U-shaped pattern along the axis of economic development. It is in the mid-developed urban areas that intergenerational support seems the weakest. If the pattern from the less-developed to the developed urban areas reflects a time path, then the suggested trajectory will not lead to a convergence with the old-age support system found in the West. The author concludes that, although some aspects of economic support for the elderly will likely be consistent with modernization theory, the old-age support system in China is, on the whole, likely to diverge from the path seen in the West.

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenmei Zhang ◽  
I-Fen Lin

With the rapid aging of the Chinese population, growing attention has been given to old-age support. Widowed older adults constitute a particularly vulnerable population because the loss of a spouse can lead to financial hardships and emotional distress. We used data from the 2002 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey to examine multiple dimensions of old-age support among a nationwide sample of widowed old adults ages 65 and older (N = 10,511). The results show that Chinese widows and widowers rely heavily on their adult children, particularly sons and daughters-in-law, for financial, instrumental, and emotional support. Widowed older adults’ needs and the number of children are the most significant predictors of old-age support. Widowed older adults with multiple marriages have a lower likelihood of receiving financial assistance, sick care, and emotional support from their children compared to their counterparts who have married only once. There appears to be same-gender preference in adult children’s care for their widowed parents with disabilities.


Rural China ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 156-187 ◽  

Abstract Based on the judicial archives of Li Town, Hebei Province, from the 1990s to the present, and six re-investigations of Houjiaying village, one of the six villages that the Japanese Mantetsu researchers studied in the 1930’s and 1940’s, this article uses the testamentary instruments and fieldwork research to show how intestate succession was gradually formed through the intertwined relationship between property and old-age support in contemporary rural North China. Testamentary instruments indicate the parental rights to dispose of their property and the questions-and-answers interview files reveal the old-age maintenance considerations that lie behind the provisions of the testaments. The fieldwork material plays a key role in connecting these two aspects by providing necessary background and relevant facts. This new empirical finding further confirms that old-age support is always considered a prerequisite to property succession. Testamentary succession differs from traditional modes of disposing of property and of succession in Qing and Republican China, but merges well property inheritance with concerns for the maintenance of the elderly. Although the law had undergone tremendous changes along with political and economic change, the tightly intertwined relationship between property inheritance and old-age support remains unaltered on the whole. Neither the simple continuation of traditional succession forms, nor the newly introduced modern concept of “individual property rights” can provide an explanation for this persistent relationship between property inheritance and old-age support. (This article is in Chinese.) 摘要 本文利用河北省李镇20世纪90年代至今的司法所档案,及对《惯调》所载的其中一个村庄——侯家营村——的六次回访调查. 借助档案中的遗嘱文书、问答记录和田野材料,考察了遗嘱继承在当代华北乡村的逐渐生成,以及遗嘱-赡养的结合. 遗嘱文书显现出来了父母对财产自由处分的形成,而问答记录恰好提供了审视遗嘱生成背后的赡养问题,田野材料则为两者的连接提供了背景材料和相关事实,显示了遗嘱(财产自由处分)-赡养的相互勾连这一全新的经验事实,遗嘱-赡养的结合又进一步证实了村民普遍将赡养作为财产继承的前提. 遗嘱代表着不同于清代和民国时期乡村财产的处分和继承形式,但是它却与赡养极好地结合了在一起. 民国至今,伴随着政治经济的变迁,法律也发生了巨大的变化, 但在财产继承上不变的是,财产和赡养的紧密缠绕关系. 这既不能为继承习惯延续一说所概括,也不能被现代的“个人财产权”所解释. 至于其未来变化的趋势,还有待于材料的进一步挖掘和持续的观察.


Rural China ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-341 ◽  

Abstract In multi-child families, lunyang (different children taking turns to provide support) for aged parents or single parents has been a form of family old-age support since ancient times. Based on the survey I carried out in 2008 in three villages respectively located in Zhao county (south central Hebei), Fengrun district of Tangshan county (East Hebei), and Chicheng county (Northwest Hebei), this article intends to achieve a comprehensive understanding of lunyang, a form of old-age support in North China villages, through statistical analysis. According to this research, 13.30% of the elderly people older than 60 in the surveyed villages were under care rotation. Regionally, Fengrun district had the highest level of lunyang, where over 20% of the surveyed elderly people lived by lunyang. In comparison, the elderly people under lunyang numbered 13.45% in Zhao county and only 3.55% in Chicheng county. In terms of age group, more than 30% of the surveyed elderly people older than 80 in Zhao county and Fengrun district were under lunyang. From the perspective of lunyang’s form, the portion of the singles under lunyang amounted to more than 70%. In other words, widowed elderly constituted the main part of lunyang. Couples under lunyang numbered less than 30%. The mainstream practice was for the different children to provide both meals and accommodation in turn, accounting for 70% of the cases of lunyang. However, the practice of meal rotation only increased among elderly people older than 80, accounting for over 30%. The practice of accommodation rotation only accounted for slightly more than 10%, and concentrated on people younger than 70. In most cases, the duration of the cycle for lunyang ranged from 1 month to 1 year, and the cycle of 1 month and 1 year accounted for more than 60%. In terms of control over resources for survival, only 10% of elderly people under lunyang owned their residence, and the overwhelming majority of them relied on their children to provide living expenses, showing the weak control of elderly people under rotation over survival resources and their rigid dependency on their children for old-age support. (This article is in Chinese.) 摘要 有多子的年老父母或单亲以 “轮养” 方式被赡养是一项古已有之的家庭养老做法。本文以 2008 年笔者在冀中南赵县、冀东唐山市丰润区和冀西北赤城县三个村庄所作问卷调查为基础,对 “轮养” 行为进行统计分析,试图比较全面地认识北方农村这一养老模式。根据本项研究,调查村庄 60 岁以上受访老年人被 “轮养”比例为 13.30%。 其中,丰润区 “轮养” 水平最高,超过 20% 的受访老年人以 “轮养” 方式生活,赵县为 13.45%,赤城县则只有 3.55%。分年龄组看,赵县和丰润区 80 岁以上受访老年人被 “轮养” 者超过 30%。从轮养形式看,丧偶单亲被 “轮养” 占 70% 多,夫妇被 “轮养” 不足 30%。轮吃轮住方式约占 70%;80 岁以上老年人轮吃不轮住增加,超过 30%;轮住不轮吃只占 10% 多一点,集中于 70 岁以下低龄老年组。“轮养” 周期多为 1 个月至一年之间,其中 1 个月和 1 年这两种 “轮养” 形式超过 60%。从生存资源的掌握上看,“轮养” 老年人有自己产权住房的比例只占 10%,绝大多数 “轮养” 老年人由子女提供生活费用。 被 “轮养” 老年人资源支配能力很弱,是亲代对子代养老具有刚性依赖的表现。


Author(s):  
Fang Cai ◽  
John Giles ◽  
Philip O'Keefe ◽  
Dewen Wang

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Bella Friska ◽  
Usraleli Usraleli ◽  
Idayanti Idayanti ◽  
Magdalena Magdalena ◽  
R Sakhnan

Abstract Progress which occurs in health mainly gives impact on the increase in health quality, especially on the increase of life expectancy among elderly. Family is the main support system for elderly in terms of maintaining their health. The higher the family support, the better the quality of life of the elderly. In addition, quality of life is an indicator to evaluate the success of intervention on prevention and cure. The purpose of this research is to know relationship family support with quality of life of the elderly. Type of study is an analytic observational with cross sectional design. The population of the research is the whole of the elderly in the working area of the Sidomulyo Rawat Jalan Health Center Pekanbaru with a purposive sampling technique. Samples taken were 40 respondents. The independent variable is family support and the dependent variable is the quality of life of the elderly. The research data was taken using a questionnaire. This research was conducted in in the working area of the Sidomulyo Rawat Jalan Health Center Pekanbaru on march 21-25 2019. The result of Fisher’s test obtained p value (0,020) that’s means there is relationship family support with quality of life of the elderly. Therefore, the research can be used as information for the health center in the quality of family support involving elderly cadres to reduce the decline in the quality of life of the elderly.   Abstrak Kemajuan di bidang kesehatan berdampak pada meningkatnya kualitas kesehatan serta meningkatnya umur harapan hidup terutama penduduk lanjut usia. Keluarga merupakan support system utama bagi lansia dalam mempertahankan kesehatannya. Dukungan keluarga yang tinggi akan meningkatkan kualitas hidup lansia. Kualitas hidup merupakan indikator untuk menilai keberhasilan intervensi dari segi pencegahan dan pengobatan. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui hubungan dukungan keluarga dengan kualitas hidup lansia. Jenis penelitian yang digunakan adalah observasional analitik dengan rancangan cross sectional. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah seluruh lansia yang ada di wilayah kerja Puskesmas Sidomulyo Rawat Jalan Pekanbaru dengan teknik purposive sampling. Sampel yang diambil sebanyak 40 responden. Variabel independennya adalah dukungan keluarga dan variabel dependennya adalah kualitas hidup lansia. Data penelitian ini diambil dengan menggunakan kuesioner. Penelitian ini dilakukan di wilayah kerja Puskesmas Sidomulyo Rawat Jalan Pekanbaru pada tanggal 21-25 Maret 2019. Hasil uji Fisher’s didapatkan nilai p value (0,020) artinya terdapat hubungan dukungan keluarga dengan kualitas hidup lansia. Dengan demikian, penelitian ini dapat dijadikan sebagai informasi bagi pihak puskesmas dalam kualitas dukungan keluarga yang melibatkan kader lansia untuk mengurangi penurunan kualitas hidup lansia.  


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 1059-1064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shulin Chen ◽  
Lisa L Boyle ◽  
Yeates Conwell ◽  
Shuiyuan Xiao ◽  
Helen Fung Kum Chiu

Many countries face policy challenges related to the well-being of their aging populations, and China, with the world's largest aging population, is no different. Over the past 40 years, China has experienced demographic transition toward an “aging society.” According to the National Bureau of Statistics in China (NBSC), the number of people aged 60 years and older in China has risen to 185 million, with rural areas aging more rapidly during China's demographic transition (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2013). In 1982, the proportion of population aged 60 years and older was 7.8% in rural China and 7.1% in urban China. However, by 2011 these proportions had risen to 12.6% and 15.4%, respectively, with a national average of 13.26% (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2013). Difference between rural and urban areas in the proportion of the population aged 65 years and older in China has shown a similar trend over time. Rapid economic reforms since the 1980s, associated with increased rural-to-urban migration, especially the outflow of rural young population, have resulted in a larger proportion of elderly adults in rural areas (Cai et al., 2012; National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2013). These same social forces have resulted in relatively fewer people available to take care of the growing population of older adults as well. The “elderly dependency ratio” (the ratio of older adults in China to those in the population of working age) has increased from 8.0% in 1982 to 12.7% in 2012 (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2013). The economic and social impact on caregiving will be profound.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Meda Sari ◽  
Desi Desi Desi ◽  
Dennys Christovel Dese

 Abstrak Background: Elderly is someone who has reached the age of 60 years and over and has experienced physical deterioration. Changes experienced in the aging process can have a negative impact or cause problems for the elderly such as feeling helpless and useless, feeling hopeless about the life they are living, feeling inferior so that the elderly isolate themselves and avoid their environment.. The aging process can have an impact on the quality of life. The quality of a person's life can be influenced by environmental aspects, physical aspects, mental aspects and social aspects. If all aspects can be fulfilled by the elderly, the quality of life they get is also good. Family support has a good function in improving the quality of life of the elderly, because family plays an important role in the social support closest to the family. Purpose: This study aims to describe family support for improving the quality of life of the elderly through the traditional "bahaum bapakat" approach. Methods: the study used a qualitative method by conducting semi-structured interviews, participants who contributed as many as 10 elderly people and were taken by purposive sampling, data was collected through audio recorders and interview guides which were analyzed with the stages of data collection, coding, selecting useful data for determination. themes, then data triangulation was carried out. Results: Environment as a support system for the quality of life of the elderly, Physical health care for the elderly in Sungai Buluh Village, Emotion, Spirituality, and Self-description of the elderly in Sungai Buluh Village, Social interaction, Family Support System, Social role: bahaum elderly in Sungai Buluh Village. Conclusion: Family support through the approach bahaum bapakat  has an influence on improving the quality of life of the elderly in Sungai Buluh Village.Keywords: the elderly, the quality of life, family support, bahaum bapakat


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