Chinese people aged over 60 and intergenerational family cohabitation: A moderated mediation model of role perception, resources, gender, family power

Abstract

We explored whether the perception of older adults of their role in the family mediated the relationship between resource contribution and sense of power, and if this relationship was moderated by gender. For data collection we adopted a stratified sampling method to recruit 1,200 Chinese people aged over 60 years who were living in intergenerational cohabitation with their adult children in Mengzhou City, China. The results showed that the family role perception of older adults mediated the relationship between their resources (including housing ownership and income level relative to that of their adult children) and their family decision-making power. Further, gender moderated the influence of resources on role perception, in that the relationships among housing ownership, relative income level, and role perception tended to be stronger for men than for women. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.