School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Role of Children’s Support in Elders’ Decisions to Live in a Yanglaoyuan (Residential Long-Term Care)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2013

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of children’s support in elders’ decisions to live in a yanglaoyuan (residential long-term care) in Shanghai based on their intentions and actual experiences, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data. The 2005 Shanghai Elderly Citizen Longitudinal Tracking Study (SECLTS) examines a stratified sample of community-dwelling elders and their intention to live in a yanglaoyuan (N = 1,512). Eleven semi-structured, retrospective interviews described how children participated in residents’ decision-making to live in a yanglaoyuan. Logistic regression analyses reveal that satisfaction with children’s support—financial, instrumental, and emotional—is negatively associated with respondents’ intention to live in a yanglaoyuan. Higher levels of respondents’ satisfaction with their children’s support are associated with lower levels of intention to live in a yanglaoyuan. Such support, however, does not necessarily determine elders’ decision to live in a yanglaoyuan. Qualitative analyses suggest that children participated throughout residents’ actual process of deciding to live in a yanglaoyuan. Children helped residents to make the decision to live in a yanglaoyuan. Residents reported how their children contributed to instrumental support to face family caregiving challenges and how they experienced and shared the emotional process in the decision-making. Quantitative and qualitative findings complement each other to provide a holistic understanding of the role of children’s support in elders’ intention to live in a yanglaoyuan, as well as in their actual decision-making experiences. These findings also suggest the evolving nature of children’s support in family caregiving in contemporary Chinese society.

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Publication Title

Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology

DOI

10.1007/s10823-012-9185-y

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