Study on the Problems and Countermeasures of the Rural Community Home Care Service for the Aged: Based on the Home Care Service Center for the Aged in Linqu County

With China’s population ageing, the issue of caring for the elderly has become a national concern. The rural economy is relatively backward in comparison to cities and towns, the old-age security service policy facilities are not yet perfect, and the large-scale outflow of young and middle-aged labor force following reform and opening-up has weakened the traditional family old-age support function, and the benefits of community old-age support appear, but it is still limited by a number of factors. The research object in this paper is the Weifang Linqu County Community Home Care Service Center for the Elderly, which summarizes the current implementation of rural community home care services. This paper also investigates the problems that exist in old-age care at home in rural communities and proposes some solutions.

Subjective Well-being, Status Identity, and Intergenerational Relations among the Elderly

This study investigates the influences of intergenerational relations on the subjective wellbeing and status identity of the elderly population in China. The project draws insights from the studies of social mobility and stratification, and that of family relations and old age support. Because of widespread exchange of economic resources across generations and strong sense of connectedness among parent and adult children families that continue to exist in Chinese society today, we hypothesize that older parents’ subjective sense of well-being and evaluation of their socioeconomic statuses are positively related with the socioeconomic conditions of their grown children, and the strength of the such relations with them. The study used the data from the 2013 China General Social Survey (CGSS), and the results provide fairly strong support to the hypotheses. The implications of the results on age-based stratification are discussed.

Whom Can I Rely on? The Impact of China's Public Pension Program Expansion on the Expectations for Old-Age Support

Aging is a global trend and China is no exception. Older people in China mostly rely on their adult children for old-age support. This traditional provision pattern of old-age support, however, is challenged by hundreds of millions of internal migrant workers. They relocate from rural to urban regions for better employment and are no longer able to provide old-age support to their older parents in rural areas. The aim of this study was to determine the impacts of China’s public pension program expansion in rural areas on older people’s expectations for old-age support. Utilizing the natural experiment of program expansion, this study identified an instrumental variable as the county adoption of the pension program. In addition, the study analyzed a nationally representative longitudinal dataset CHARLS with fixed effects model. Results from the statistical model showed that given the participation in the pension program, older adults reported more reliance on pension for old-age support financially and less reliance on children. Heterogeneous effects were found for older adults living together with children and older adults living independently. These important findings suggest that the government partially assumes the responsibility for the old-age support of adult children in the traditional sense. The potential benefits of this study provide a policy implication for developing countries to alleviate old-age support problems and enable internal migration for economic development.

Dead men tell no tales: the role of cultural transmission in demographic change

The paper explains long-term changes in birth, death rates, and in attitude to personal consumption by evolution of preferences by means of cultural transmission. When communities are culturally isolated, they are focused on population growth, which results in large fertility and welfare transfers to children, limited adult consumption, and lack of old-age support. With increasing cultural contact across communities, successful cultural traits induce their hosts to increase their social visibility by limiting fertility and increasing longevity via higher individual consumption. Empirical analysis confirms that social visibility, as measured by the number of language versions of Wikipedia biographical pages, is associated with fewer children and longer lifespan. The presence of notable individuals precedes reduced aggregate birth rates.

Loneliness Trajectories: Evidence for Staged Intervention Among Chinese Bereaved Parents

Losing an only child affects the mental health of many older adults in China, placing them at a higher risk of loneliness. However, few studies explore the long-term effects of losing an only child on loneliness trajectories among older Chinese bereaved parents. Adopting a qualitative, grounded theory approach, this study investigates how experiences of loneliness among bereaved parents evolve and the implications for staged intervention. Twenty-seven in-depth interviews were conducted with people who lost their only child in Shanghai and Wuhan. A multistep data analysis technique was used to analyze the data. The findings indicate that trajectories of perceived loneliness have three distinct stages and follow a U-shape in their frequency and intensity. Interventions of psychological consultation, social network restoration, and improved old-age support should be emphasized at each stage.

Negative Life Events, Social Ties, and Depressive Symptoms for Older Adults in China

Negative life events are considered important risk factors of depression among older adults. An overwhelming amount of literature suggests that individuals with the most supportive social relations tend to make a better recovery from stressful life events. As for which types of ties matter the most, whether being family, relatives, friends or the broader community, existing literature is much less consistent and has documented varying effects across different contexts. This study is set in China, which traditionally relies on family systems and filial obligations for old-age support. Using two waves of data from China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey, we examine the protective effect of different types of social relations on depressive symptoms, including those who are living in the household, children who live close by or far away, as well as their ties with family, relatives, and friends.