Abstract
ObjectivesParental care in China is traditionally provided by sons. In recent decades—partly due to the One-Child Policy but also economic development and urbanization—significant changes have occurred with more and more parents receiving care from daughters. We investigate the disparities in outcomes of eldercare provided by son(s) and daughter(s).MethodsOur study compares the self-reported health (SRH) status of parents who receive eldercare from daughters and sons in China, analyzing the harmonized 2013, 2015, and 2018 waves of CHARLS with random-effects logistic estimates.ResultsOur results show that the SRH status of parents who receive care from their sons is greater than those cared for by their daughters. This disparity is greater in rural areas, for mothers, and poorer families.DiscussionThe One-Child Policy was more effective in urban areas, reducing both the availability of sons and cultural son preference. Higher levels of education received by girls in urban settings increases their employability and thus their ability to materially care for their parents. However, traditional norms and gender differences in social economic statuses still persist in rural areas, leading to higher SRH status of those cared for by sons, especially amongst those who are heavily dependent on their children: mothers or parents with less wealth.
Highlights
In traditionally patrilineal societies such as China—influenced by the Confucian cultural norm— filial piety is valued as a core virtue, and married sons and daughters-in-law act as the primary caregivers to parents, while married daughters are expected to care for their husband’s parents
This study investigates the difference in the self-reported health of parents who receive eldercare from daughters and sons in China, analyzing the 2013, 2015, and 2018 waves of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS)
The results consistently show that parents cared for by their son(s) have a higher odds ratio of having great health (SRH_CA = 4) vs. the combined good (SRH_CA = 3), fair (SRH_CA = 2) and poor (SRH_CA = 1) health and are less likely to have a new onset of chronic disease than those parents looked after by their daughters
Summary
In traditionally patrilineal societies such as China—influenced by the Confucian cultural norm— filial piety is valued as a core virtue, and married sons and daughters-in-law act as the primary caregivers to parents, while married daughters are expected to care for their husband’s parents. In part due to the One-Child Policy, and arising from economic development and urbanization, significant changes have occurred in practice with daughters providing more and more support to their natal parents [2,3,4,5]. Subjective Health by Gendered Care empowerment and the increased emphasis on affection and care replacing filial piety in parent-child relationships [6]. This has given rise to a particular interest in the contrasting provision of care (financial, emotional, or instrumental support for elderly parents) between daughters and sons [7,8,9,10,11,12]. As Lei [16] points out, there is a growing rural-urban divide in this respect as daughters provide more instrumental and emotional support to parents in urban China, whereas sons and daughters do not differ in rural China
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