What determines the preference for future living arrangements of middle-aged and older people in urban China?

Abstract

ObjectiveLiving arrangements are important to the elderly. However, it is common for elderly parents in urban China to not have a living situation that they consider ideal. An understanding of their preferences assists us in responding to the needs of the elderly as well as in anticipating future long-term care demands. The aim of this study is to provide a clear understanding of preferences for future living arrangements and their associated factors among middle-aged and older people in urban China.MethodsData were extracted from the CHARLS 2011–2012 national baseline survey of middle-aged and elderly people. In the 2011 wave of the CHARLS, a total of 17,708 individual participants (10,069 main respondents and 7,638 spouses) were interviewed; 2509 of the main respondents lived in urban areas. In this group, 41 people who were younger than 45 years old and 162 who had missing data in the variable “living arrangement preference” were excluded. Additionally, 42 people were excluded because they chose “other” for the variable “living arrangement preference” (which was a choice with no specific answer). Finally, a total of 2264 participants were included in our study.ResultsThe most popular preference for future living arrangements was living close to their children in the same community/neighborhoods, followed by living with adult children. The degree of community handicapped access, number of surviving children, age, marital status, access to community-based elderly care centers and number of years lived in the same community were significantly associated with the preferences for future living arrangements among the respondents.ConclusionThere is a trend towards preference for living near adult children in urban China. Additionally, age has a positive effect on preference for living close to their children. Considerations should be made in housing design and urban community development plans to fulfill older adults’ expectations. In addition, increasing the accessibility of public facilities in the residential area was important to the elderly, especially for those who preferred living in proximity to their children rather than co-residing with their children. We found that more surviving children were associated with a lower likelihood of choosing “institutionalization”, and it positively contributed to preference for intergenerational living arrangements in our study. As expected, compared with their married counterparts, people who were separated/divorced/widowed preferred living with adult children rather than living independently. A relatively shorter length of residence in the same community was an important indicator of preference for independent living; this finding might require further research.

Attitudes and preferences towards future old-age support amongst tomorrow’s elders in China

“…However, the results in this paper do also point to new patterns of oldage support, especially for those with one child living in urban areas, where a sizeable minority were considering living in a nursing home as a future option. Consistent with previous studies (Meng et al 2017;Zhang 2012;Hermalin and Yang 2004), an increasing number of children, especially sons, increases the probability of believing old-age support should be mainly the responsibility of children; this group is also more likely to prefer living with their adult children in future. In contrast, middle-aged respondents with an only child may recognise their child's incapacity to offer old-age support (Aboderin 2004).…”

“…1. (Meng et al 2017). The probability that a parent receives care when needed is likely to increase with the number of potential caregivers, and therefore the number of the respondents' siblings 4 was also included, along with the total number of the respondents' children.…”

“…However, there has been little change among the advanced age group (80 and above), with the majority still living in two-generation or three-or-more-generation households (Guo 2002). Other studies have found that older people's preference regarding their living arrangement is associated with their education, material resources, and the number of children (Zhang 2012;Meng et al 2017). Therefore, at the individual level, we might expect that middle-aged individuals with more children or from a lower socioeconomic status might favour a model of old-age support from adult children based on coresidence; while those with fewer children, particularly those with no sons, and those with a higher socioeconomic status might have more positive attitudes and preferences towards independent old-age support and living arrangements.…”

The Chinese Socio-Cultural Sustainability Approach: The Impact of Conservation Planning on Local Population and Residential Mobility

“…In terms of the aging process, the elderly revealed lower intentions to move than young residents, as seen in most studies [48]. However, in the present study, the elderly prefer to live close to their elderly neighbors in comparison to their children, which differs from the findings of existing studies [86]. In addition, the decentralization policy has accelerated the aging process to a large extent, which reveals the negative impact of historic city conservation on the social vitality of old downtown areas.…”

The Relationship with Previous Use of Community-Based Services and Informal Caregiver Support and Elderly and Informal Caregivers’ Views of Living Arrangement: Analysis of Official Statistics from 2004 to 2014

“…On one hand, this previous experience suggested higher accessibility of health and social care with elderly people needs being controlled. Available and accessible long-term care services in the community might reduce elders' perceived barriers to live at home [33]. This explanation was also highlighted in other studies that shorter distance to community healthcare facilities reduced the choice of institutionalization [8].…”