Village senior centres and the living arrangements of older people in rural China: considerations of health, land, migration and intergenerational support

Unveiling the Evolution of Eldercare Facilities in Rural China: Tracing the Trajectory from Eldercare Support Pattern and Service to Facilities for the Aging Population

The phenomenon of population aging in rural China presents a compelling societal challenge, necessitating a growing demand for both the quantity and quality of facilities supporting the needs of older people. However, a lack of comprehensive understanding concerning the underlying mechanisms that drive the emergence of these facilities, coupled with the distinctive historical backdrop and social development stage of the nation, engenders complexities in achieving sustainable rural eldercare services. This paper endeavors to comprehensively elucidate diverse eldercare facility types in rural China, delineating their intrinsic characteristics and prerequisites for construction. Additionally, the research delves into the political and economic contexts and advancements in healthcare and eldercare services, culminating in the formulation of an integrated framework that interconnects eldercare support patterns with the political landscape and public service provisions. The implications derived from this nuanced framework provide insightful reflections on significant historical transitions, intricacies faced by rural eldercare facilities, and strategic pathways for fostering future eldercare service delivery systems and allied facilities. The paper's findings furnish insights for bolstering the well-being of the aging population in rural China and lay a substantive foundation for addressing the evolving requisites of eldercare within this distinctive context.

How Does Family Intergenerational Relationships Affect the Life Satisfaction of Middle-Aged and Elderly Parents in Urban Only-Child Families in Chengdu, China

Over the past 40 years, the implementation of the family planning policy in China has led to the creation of many only-child families. In the process of modernization and urbanization, it is critical to focus on the intergenerational relationships in only-child families and their associational mechanism on the life satisfaction of middle-aged and elderly parents, which has crucial implications for them staying active and healthy aging. Using the survey data from Chengdu, China, this study analyzed the characteristics of only-child parents' life satisfaction and family intergenerational relationships, and explored the associational mechanism of family intergenerational relationships on only-child parents' life satisfaction in urban families, as well as the possible moderating role of gender. The results indicate that there are gender differences in the life satisfaction of only-child parents in urban families, and men are more satisfied than women. Moreover, parents of sons and daughters differ in life satisfaction from the dual-gender perspective. Parents of daughters are likely to have higher life satisfaction, especially mothers. The only-child families have not moved toward nucleation in urban families, and intergenerational members maintain close contact and provide frequent mutual support to achieve individual and family development. There are significant gender differences in structural, associational, affectual, and functional solidarity among only-child. This study confirms that there are differences in the associational mechanism of family intergenerational relationships on life satisfaction in different dimensions. Affectual solidarity is the most influential factor of life satisfaction. In terms of normative and consensual solidarity, gender plays a moderating role. For men, normative and consensual solidarity is beneficial for improving life satisfaction, but it has an insignificant effect on women. The effects of structural solidarity, association solidarity, and functional solidarity are not significant.

The Impact of Social Pensions on Intergenerational Relationships: Comparative Evidence from China

China launched a new rural pension scheme (hereafter NRPS) for rural residents in 2009, now covering almost all counties with over 400 million people enrolled. This implementation of the largest social pension program in the world offers a unique setting for studying the economics of intergenerational relationships during development, given the rapidity of China's population aging, traditions of filial piety and co-residence, decreasing number of children, and dearth of formal social security, at a relatively low income level. We draw on rich household surveys from two provinces at distinct development stages - impoverished Guizhou and relatively well-off Shandong - to better understand heterogeneity in the impact of pension benefits. Employing a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, we find that around the pension eligibility age cut-off, the NRPS significantly reduces intergenerational co-residence, especially between elderly parents and their adults sons; promotes pensioners' healthcare service consumption; and weakens (but does not supplant) non-pecuniary and pecuniary transfers across three generations. These effects are much larger in less developed Guizhou province.