Health and Social Constraints for Elderly Chinese Women Who Lose Their Only Child and Spouse: A Perspective of Resilience

Abstract

ABSTRACT Aging Chinese people who lose their only child are a newly developed vulnerable group as the result of the one child policy in China. As an integral part of this group, women who have lost their only child and their spouse are more vulnerable and have their own particularity. This study uses qualitative methods to explore the resilience of women who have lost their only child and their spouse based on the interaction of risk factors and protective factors at individual and environment levels. From the perspective of resilience, this article examines the psychological suffering and the health and social constraints experienced by elderly women who lose their only child and their spouse and who lack appropriate support from the government and society. It analyses how the internal protective factors of the resilience of such women include being hard-working and able to bear hardships, and showing forbearance and a good ability to seek social support, while the external protective factors include care from relatives and the support from multiple social relationships. Women who have lost their only child and their spouse demonstrate many forms of resilience, including traditional positive resilience and recessive resilience, such as complaining and somatization, indicating profound health and social implications that require the development of appropriate policies in China.