The pattern of social support seeking and its socio-demographic variations among older adults in China.

Abstract

The current study used a nationally representative sample to investigate how older adults in China with different socio-demographic characteristics proactively sought support when social support of different sources and types was available; and whether the pattern of social support seeking varied with age, gender and regions. We found that older adults in China tended to seek social support from family members rather than from non-family members. Moreover, we observed a hierarchically ordered pattern of social support seeking within the family such that older adults preferred to first seek social support from a spouse and then turn to sons only when their spouse was unavailable or incapable of providing social support. We also observed a strong trend for son preferences in social support seeking, which was even more salient among old-old adults and older adults from rural China. The findings have implications for elder care and intergenerational support exchanges in Chinese societies.