Effect of family "upward" intergenerational support on the health of rural elderly in China: Evidence from Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey

Abstract

As health challenging rural elderly in an aging population, more attention is being paid on impact of family intergenerational support on the health of the elderly. This paper investigates the effects of children’s intergenerational economic support and non-economic support on physical, mental, and functional health of rural elderly in China in the mean while. This paper applies the 2014 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), in particular, applying exploratory factor analysis to ascertain latent variables and Structural Equation Model (SEM), and analyzes the impacts of "Upward" intergenerational support on health of rural elderly. As resulted, after controlling the socioeconomic status of the rural elderly, the family “upward” intergenerational support influences the elderly’s physical health at a percentage of 11.7%, mental health 29.8%, and physiological function 12.6%. Moreover, "Upward" economic support has a positive effect on physiological function (P<0.05). "Upward" non-economic support has negative effects on physiological function and mental health (P<0.05), while it has a positive effect on physical health. In addition, economically independent rural elderly are more likely to benefit from the health of "upward" intergenerational support, especially mental health. In particular, those results are robust. "Upward" intergenerational support plays an important role for the health of rural elderly. For the rural elderly of economic independence, to improve the quality of care and spiritual support, it is important to solve the health problems. In addition, it is necessary to build a comprehensive old-age security and support system for family, community, and society jointly to improve the health of the rural elderly.

Filial piety matters: A study of intergenerational supports and parental health

“…Empirical research regarding intergenerational support has had mixed results. Some studies suggest that intergenerational support is strongly associated with improved health, especially mental health, in the elderly ( Cong & Silverstein, 2008 ; Barnay & Juin, 2016 ; Shu et al, 2021 ). As a kind of informal care, intergenerational support, especially emotional support, can positively impact health by reducing the stresses of old age.…”

“…Finally, we contribute to the literature by exploring both physical and psychological health outcomes in evaluating the effects of intergenerational care. Although existing studies have focused on either physical or mental health status among older parents ( Barnay & Juin, 2016 ; Shu et al, 2021 ; Wang & Li, 2012 ; Yang & Wen, 2021 ), health is multidimensional; using a single index of health may result in measurement errors ( Giles & Mu, 2007 ). Therefore, we used several measures of health, including self-reported health (SRH), activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), mental health (CESD), and cognition to ensure robust results.…”

How Does Internet Use Improve Mental Health among Middle-Aged and Elderly People in Rural Areas in China? A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS)

“…However, these studies still regard financial support from one’s children as well as their company and ability to provide care as necessary ways to improve the mental health of the elderly in rural China [ 10 ], which is not achievable, and the decline of support from one’s children is a mainstream trend. Therefore, some scholars have begun to seek other ways to improve the mental health of the elderly in rural China.…”

Association of Received Intergenerational Support with Subjective Well-Being among Elderly: The Mediating Role of Optimism and Sex Differences

“…Moreover, support from family members, especially adult children, has a greater impact on health-promoting behaviors and healthy aging outcomes than other support from friends or neighbors [5][6][7]. Received intergeneration support, defined as a type of familial social support received by the elderly from their adult children [8,9], has been identified as having three types in the existing literature: financial, instrumental, and emotional support [10]. Until now, a wide variety of theoretical perspectives and studies have suggested that receiving intergenerational support influences elders' well-being-related outcomes [9,[11][12][13].…”