Abstract
Guided by Pearlin’s stress process model, this study tested the association between parents’ care needs, caregivers’ structural context, and caregivers’ perception of economic stress in providing care for their parents. Multinomial probit regression was conducted with the cross-sectional data from 895 pairs of Chinese oldest-old parents and their adult-child caregivers. The results indicate that caregiver’s low income, and reporting “eldest son” status increased the likelihood of reporting higher levels of economic stress. Caregivers who lived in urban areas, had poor health, or were divorced, widowed or unmarried reported higher levels of economic stress. These findings indicate the need of research on low-income caregivers and the relationship between filial norms and caregiving experience. This study also implies the need for culturally congruent social services and policies designed to enhance the family’s ability to care for elders.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bilotta, C., Bergamaschini, L., Arienti, R., Spreafico, S., & Vergani, C. (2010). Caregiver burden as a short-term predictor of weight loss in older outpatients suffering from mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease: a three months follow-up study. Aging & Mental Health, 14(4), 481–488.
Campion, E. W. (1994). The oldest old. The New England Journal of Medicine, 330(25), 1819–1820.
Chan, K. W., & Zhang, L. (1999). The hukou system and rural–urban migration in China: processes and changes. The China Quarterly, 160, 818–855.
Chen, F., & Liu, G. (2009). Population aging in China. In P. Uhlenberg (Ed.), International handbook of population aging (pp. 157–172). London: Springer.
Cheng, S.-T., & Chan, A. C. (2006). Filial piety and psychological well-being in well older Chinese. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 61(5), 262–269.
Chernew, M. E., Hirth, R. A., Sonnad, S. S., Ermann, R., & Fendrick, A. M. (1998). Managed care, medical technology, and health care cost growth: a review of the evidence. Medical Care Research and Review, 55(3), 259–288.
Ci, Q. (2000). The analysis of the grander factor impacting the choice of family support. Population Journal, 120(2), 29–32 (in Chinese).
Cooney, R. S., & Di, J. (1999). Primary family caregivers of impaired elderly in Shanghai, China: kin relationship and caregiver burden. Research on Aging, 21(6), 739–761.
Cutler, D. M., & Meara, E. (2001). The concentration of medical spending. In D. A. Wise (Ed.), Themes in the economics of aging (pp. 217–240). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Davis, A. J., Martinson, I., Lan, C. G., Jin, Q., Yi, H. L., Davis, D. B., et al. (1998). Informal caregivers for urban chronically ill elderly people at home in the People’s Republic of China: a qualitative study. Health Care in Later Life, 3(1), 3–14.
Edwards, A. B., Zarit, S., Stephens, M., & Townsend, A. (2002). Employed family caregivers of cognitively impaired elderly: an examination of role strain and depressive symptoms. Aging & Mental Health, 6(1), 55–61.
Gaugler, J. E., Kane, R. A., & Langlois, J. (2000). Assessment of family caregivers of older adults. In R. L. Kane & R. A. Kane (Eds.), Assessing older persons: Measures, meaning and applications (pp. 320–359). New York: Oxford University Press.
Goode, W. J. (1960). A theory of role strain. American Sociological Review, 25(4), 483–496.
Gu, D. (2008). General data quality assessment of the CLHLS. In Healthy longevity in China (pp. 39–60). Netherlands: Springer.
Gu, D., & Zeng, Y. (2004). Sociodemographic effects on the onset and recovery of ADL disability among Chinese oldest-old. Demographic Research, 11(1), 1–42.
Gu, D., & Vlosky, D. A. (2008). Long-term care needs and related issues in China. In J. B. Garner & T. C. Christiansen (Eds.), Social sciences in health care and medicine (pp. 51–84). New York: Nova Publisher.
Guo, Z. (1996). Factors affecting living arrangement of the Chinese elderly women. Population Research, 20(5), 45–53 (in Chinese).
Heru, A. M., & Ryan, C. E. (2006). Family functioning in the caregivers of patients with dementia: one-year follow-up. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 70(3), 222–231.
Heru, A. M., Ryan, C. E., & Iqbal, A. (2004). Family functioning in the caregivers of patients with dementia. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 19(6), 533–537.
Hsu, H.-C., & Shyu, Y.-I. L. (2003). Implicit exchanges in family caregiving for frail elders in Taiwan. Qualitative Health Research, 13(8), 1078–1093.
Ikels, C. (2004). Filial piety: Practice and discourse in contemporary East Asia. Standford: Stanford University Press.
Jiang, C., Gu, D., Liu, Y., & Zeng, Y. (2009). Research on the informal care cost among the Chinese elderly–application of the multi-state life table method. Population Research, 33(3), 81–88 (in Chinese).
Kincannon, C., He, W., & West, L. (2005). Demography of aging in China and the United States and the economic well-being of their older populations. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 20(3), 243–255.
Koyano, W. (1996). Filial piety and intergenerational solidarity in Japan. Australian Journal on Ageing, 15(2), 51–56.
Lea Steadman, P., Tremont, G., & Duncan Davis, J. (2007). Premorbid relationship satisfaction and caregiver burden in dementia caregivers. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 20(2), 115–119.
Lee, M., & Kolomer, S. (2007). Design of an assessment of caregivers’ impulsive feelings to commit elder abuse. Research on Social Work Practice, 17(6), 729–735.
Liang, H. (2000). Evaluation and analysis on rural social security system. Population Journal, 124(6), 26–31 (in Chinese).
Liu, J., & Bern-Klug, M. (2011). Elders’ expectations of community health services in China. Indian Journal of Gerontology, 25(4), 532–552.
Magai, C., & Cohen, C. I. (1998). Attachment style and emotion regulation in dementia patients and their relation to caregiver burden. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 53(3), 147–154.
Montgomery, R. J. V., Gonyea, J. G., & Hooyman, N. R. (1985). Caregiving and the experience of subjective and objective burden. Family Relations, 34(1), 19–26.
Moran, W. P., Lv, S., & Chen, J. G. (2008). Impairment and disability in the Chinese and American oldest-old population. In Y. Zeng, D. L. Poston, D. A. Vlosky, & D. Gu (Eds.), Healthy longevity in China: Demographic methods and population analysis (pp. 305–314). New York: Springer.
Mu, G., & Miao, J. (2002). Chinese social security system in retrospect and reference. Population Journal, 131(1), 30–38 (in Chinese).
Patterson, T. L., Semple, S., Shaw, W., Yu, E., He, Y., Zhang, M., et al. (1998). The cultural context of caregiving: a comparison of Alzheimer’s caregivers in Shanghai, China and San Diego, California. Psychological Medicine, 28(5), 1071–1084.
Pearlin, L. I. (1989). The sociological study of stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 30, 241–256.
Pearlin, L. I. (1999). The stress process revisited. In C. S. Aneshensel & J. C. Phelan (Eds.), Handbook of the sociology of mental health (pp. 395–415). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Pearlin, L. I., Mullan, J. T., Semple, S. J., & Skaff, M. M. (1990). Caregiving and the stress process: an overview of concepts and their measures. The Gerontologist, 30(5), 583–594.
Peng, X., & Song, T. (2002). Survey of the rural social endowment insurance. Population Journal, 135(4), 43–47 (in Chinese).
Poston, D. L., & Duan, C. C. (2000). The current and projected distribution of the elderly and eldercare in the People’s Republic of China. Journal of Family Issues, 21(6), 714–732.
Qiu, Y., & Li, S. (2008). Stroke: coping strategies and depression among Chinese caregivers of survivors during hospitalisation. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17(12), 1563–1573.
Schulz, R., & Beach, S. R. (1999). Caregiving as a risk factor for mortality. JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, 282(23), 2215–2219.
Sherwood, P. R., Given, C. W., Given, B. A., & von Eye, A. (2005). Caregiver burden and depressive symptoms: analysis of common outcomes in caregivers of elderly patients. Journal of Aging and Health, 17(2), 125–147.
Smith, J., Borchelt, M., Maier, H., & Jopp, D. (2002). Health and well–being in the young old and oldest old. Journal of Social Issues, 58(4), 715–732.
Spaid, W. M., & Barusch, A. (1994). Emotional closeness and caregiver burden in the marital relationship. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 21(3–4), 197–212.
Tang, Y. (2006). Obligation of filial piety, adult child caregiver burden, received social support, and psychological wellbeing of adult child caregiversfor frail elderly people in Guangzhou, China. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database (0819161).
Torrey, B. B. (1992). Sharing increasing costs on declining income: The visible dilemma of the invisible aged. In R. M. Suzman, D. P. Willis, & K. G. Manton (Eds.), The oldest old (pp. 381–393). New York: Oxford University Press.
Turner, J. H. (1997). The institutional order. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers.
United Nations, (2009). World population prospects: 2008 revision population database. Retrieved from http://esa.un.org/UNPP/.
Walker, A. J., Shin, H.-Y., & Bird, D. N. (1990). Perceptions of relationship change and caregiver satisfaction. Family Relations, 39, 147–152.
Wang, L., & Schneider, J. W. (1993). Home care for the chronically ill elderly in China: the family sickbed in Tianjin. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 8(4), 331–348.
Wilson-Genderson, M., Pruchno, R. A., & Cartwright, F. P. (2009). Effects of caregiver burden and satisfaction on affect of older end-stage renal disease patients and their spouses. Psychology and Aging, 24(4), 955–967.
Youn, G., Knight, B. G., Jeong, H.-S., & Benton, D. (1999). Differences in familism values and caregiving outcomes among Korean, Korean American, and White American dementia caregivers. Psychology and Aging, 14(3), 355–364.
Yue, X., & Ng, S. H. (1999). Filial obligations and expectations in China: current views from young and old people in Beijing. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 2(2), 215–226.
Zeng, Y., Vaupel, J. W., Xiao, Z., Zhang, C., & Liu, Y. (2002). Sociodemographic and health profiles of the oldest old in China. Population and Development Review, 28(2), 251–273.
Zhan, H. J. (2005). Social-economic context of parent care: explaining Chinese caregivers’ psychological and emotional well-being. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 45(4), 83–100.
Zhang, F. Q. (2004). Economic transition and new patterns of parent‐adult child coresidence in Urban China. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66(5), 1231–1245.
Zhang, Z. (2008). The effects of adult children’s caregiving on the health status of their elderly parents: Protection or selection? In Y. Zeng, D. L. Poston, D. A. Vlosky, & D. Gu (Eds.), Healthy Longevity in China: Demographic methods and population analysis (pp. 251–268). New York: Springer.
Zhu, Y. (2002). Recent developments in China’s social security reforms. International Social Security Review, 55(4), 39–54.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liu, J., Guo, M. & Bern-Klug, M. Economic Stress Among Adult-Child Caregivers of the Oldest Old in China: The Importance of Contextual Factors. J Cross Cult Gerontol 28, 465–479 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-013-9216-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-013-9216-3