Abstract
Purpose China has an enormous and rapidly growing population of widowed elders. Little is known about how losing a spouse affects elders’ health-related quality of life (QOL), especially in the rural areas where most Chinese elders live. This article analyzes QOL data collected in 2014 among rural Chinese elders to address this question.MethodsSF12 questionnaires and information about individual and household characteristics were collected from 3053 elders aged 60 and above in rural China. We compared the physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores between 1925 married elders and 1060 widowed elders in a bivariate model stratifying by gender and age group and in a general factorial ANOVA multivariate analysis that examined and controlled for other predictors of PCS and MCS scores including education, chronic disease, and family and household factors.ResultsWidowed male and female elders’ physical health and mental health were in decline with age. Widowed men had lower PCS and MCS scores than married men. Widowed women also had lower PCS scores, but differences in MCS scores did not reach statistical significance. In multivariate analysis, widowhood was associated with lower PCS and MCS scores overall. Support from children was associated with better QOL and, based on interaction analysis, appeared to mitigate negative effects of widowhood.ConclusionsWidowed rural elders in China have lower physical and mental quality of life than their married counterparts. These elders rely on their children for care, and a supportive family is associated with better QOL.
Highlights
Data from the Sixth Chinese National Population Census in 2010 show that there were 47.7 million widowed elders in China, accounting for 26.9 % of the total population over age 60, and that this rate was slightly higher (28.8 %) in rural areas
Widowed rural elders in China have lower physical and mental quality of life than their married counterparts. These elders rely on their children for care, and a supportive family is associated with better QOL
Our results raise concerns for the enormous and rapidly growing population of widowed rural Chinese elders, who have lower physical and mental quality of life than their married counterparts. These elders rely on their children for care, and a supportive family does seem to mitigate negative effects of widowhood on both physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS)
Summary
Data from the Sixth Chinese National Population Census in 2010 show that there were 47.7 million widowed elders in China, accounting for 26.9 % of the total population over age 60, and that this rate was slightly higher (28.8 %) in rural areas. The number of widowed elders is expected to grow rapidly in China, reaching 118.4 million by 2050 [1]. The spouse will play a greater role in late life care. We conducted this study to examine the impact of widowhood on quality of life among elders in rural China. Spouses play a protective role that might be expected to improve elders’ health-related quality of life (QOL) in ways ranging from daily care and accident prevention to spiritual consolation [3, 4]. The WHO QOL Group defined QOL as individuals’ perceptions of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their
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