Old-age Support Research Articles

Volunteer mobilisation and old-age support in urban China

Volunteer mobilisation and old-age support in urban China

Silicon caregivers: a multilevel analysis of European perspectives on robotic technologies for elderly care

ABSTRACT As populations age, women's workforce participation grows and AI advances, understanding attitudes towards care technologies becomes increasingly important. This study examines attitudes towards robot caregivers for older adults across 28 European countries, using 2017 Eurobarometer data from working-age adults (20–59; n = 13,839). We investigate how individual characteristics (gender, education, occupation) and local-level factors (GDP, female labour participation, over 65s as % of the population, spending on old age) are associated with comfort levels with domestic care robots. The results show that men, individuals with higher levels of educational attainment, and those in professional or managerial occupations report greater comfort with robot caregivers. Additionally, local context plays a significant role. Those living in local communities with higher female employment rates and lower spending on old-age support demonstrate higher acceptance of robotic care solutions. These findings highlight the dual influence of individual and community factors in shaping attitudes towards automated care technologies.

It Takes a Village: Health and Old-Age Support in China.

How do older individuals cope with health impairments and the potential economic losses that ensue? Exploiting longitudinal data on a nationally representative sample of Chinese seniors, we investigate whether and how familial economic support responds to sudden and sizable changes in health. We find that both financial and instrumental support from children go up following a health shock. Furthermore, financial transfers coming from siblings, other relatives and friends increase by a larger percentage than those from children. We also find evidence that instrumental care received from a spouse responds strongly to health shocks. Finally, we find that although labor supply and earned income drop considerably, there is no significant change in non-health expenditure. Our results suggest that households are able to cope with some of the adverse economic impacts of health shocks by relying on support networks that extend beyond their children and grand-children. This is particularly relevant in the context of shrinking family sizes resulting from stringent family planning policies.

Are children and pension substitutes? Evidence from the new rural pension scheme in China

ABSTRACT The study examines whether children, widely recognized as an important source of old-age security in many societies, reduce people’s demand for a social pension programme in rural China – the New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS). OLS results suggest that having one more child will lower the NRPS participation rate by 3.0 percentage points and the effect of an additional son is larger than the effect of an additional daughter. However, using fines on unauthorized births under the One Child Policy in China as the instrument of children quantity, I find that the number of children has no causal effect on NRPS participation. Heterogeneity analysis shows that, when all children are adults, the number of children will increase the annual NRPS contribution. These findings suggest that old-age support based on family networks does not necessarily impede the development of formal pension programmes.

Establishing substitute families: Care arrangements for childless older people in urban China

While the issues of childlessness and social support in old age have received considerable attention in more developed countries, the phenomenon of aging without children in China has been relatively underexplored. The existing, albeit limited, literature highlights the vulnerability of the childless elderly in China and the inadequacy of social care services, which is predominantly directed toward most impoverished groups. This study examines the care arrangements and social support mechanisms for childless older people in urban China, emphasizing the role of community-level officers in this context. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted in 2019 with 27 childless elderly individuals and 10 community-level officers in Shanghai, the study reveals the formation of community-based substitute families. These substitute families, comprising neighbors, extended family members, and friends, provide daily assistance, emotional support, and sometimes intensive care. The establishment of these substitute families hinges on the childless individuals’ ability to navigate public and social resources, as well as the institutionalized mobilization and informal work strategies of community-level officers. We argue that the care arrangements for childless older people are significantly shaped by the state's aging-in-place elder care policy. However, the effectiveness of this policy is mediated by the informal work strategies of community-level officers and the proactive care planning by the childless elderly themselves. Our findings offer important insights for improving the current family-based elder care policies and enrich our understanding of aging without children in urban China.

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON CHILDREN IN POSTMODERN FAMILY STUDIES IN CRETIVOX YOUTUBE BETWEEN YOUNG PARENTS AND CHILDFREE COUPLES

The childfree phenomenon has become a popular issue in Indonesia recently. Many articles and media content address the topic of being childfree, including the eighth episode of the YouTube account Cretivox. This episode features two married couples with differing perspectives on having children. The purpose of this study is to explore the differences in perspectives on children in the household from the viewpoints of childfree couples and young parents, analyzed through a postmodern family approach. This research employs a qualitative approach and a descriptive method. Data collection involves documents from the Cretivox YouTube account and relevant journal articles. The results indicate that out of five questions posed, four reveal differing views: preparation before marriage, popular statements about children, the urgency of having offspring, and household harmony. For the question regarding children guaranteeing support in old age, both couples agreed to disagree with the statement.

Old-age support policy and fertility with strategic bequest motives

This paper presents an analysis of the effects of public old-age support on individuals’ fertility decisions and on the long-term equilibrium in an overlapping generation economy with strategic bequest motives. Parents must pay their adult children at least the reservation wage to receive informal old-age support from them (individual rationality constraint). Formal old-age support is financed through wage taxes on children. The increased present value of formal old-age support tends to increase old-age utility, thereby decreasing the family support demand and decreasing savings for the old age. The increased wage tax reduces the opportunity cost of child-rearing time, thereby increasing the fertility rate. The effects of increased formal old-age support on per-worker capital and labor are indeterminate, as is the effect on the long-term lifetime utility of individuals. A strategic bequest motive might engender a higher fertility rate than that of the social optimum.

An eye for an eye? childhood left-behind experience and old-age support to parents

ABSTRACT This article investigates the impact of childhood left-behind experience on intergenerational upward support in China. By utilizing the 2010 and 2016 waves of the China Family Panel Studies data, we find that childhood left-behind experience has a negative and significant effect on old-age support to parents. This effect remains robust with the propensity score matching method. In addition, possible channels lie in the fact that early parent-child separation reduces the closeness of the parent-child relationship and the degree of trust that children have in their parents.

Disrupted ageing in place: Urbanisation and displaced older villagers in Suzhou, China.

This study examines the impacts of urbanisation-induced displacement on rural older villagers and the issues of rebuilding ageing in place in Suzhou Municipality in China's Jiangsu Province. The study employed a qualitative research method involving three measures of data collection, including 20 older-adult interviews, 14 key informant interviews (with street and community administrators, managers of service companies, managers of nursing homes and community doctor) and participant observation of older villagers' daily life in urban resettlement communities. The displacement and resettlement of villagers for urbanisation had serious negative impacts on older villagers, including financial insecurity, relative deprivation and radical changes to the living environment. The community services were limited and insufficient, but the resettlement of the whole village in the same place enabled the village community to maintain social and cultural continuities, which facilitated older villagers' adaptation to the new urban place. Filial piety, though weakened and transformed, continued to play an important role in regulating old-age support, but descending familism reduced family resources for old-age support. This study highlights the importance of examining the impacts of external social and economic forces, such urbanisation in China, on ageing in place. We draw three conclusions based on empirical research in Suzhou: (1) the resettlement of older villagers in urban areas did not significantly narrow the rural-urban gap in old-age support in Suzhou; (2) urbanisation-induced displacement in China affected older residents differently from gentrification in Western countries, due to different processes of compensation and resettlement as well as China's rural-urban welfare gap; and (3) community services for displaced older villagers are limited, but social and cultural continuities before and after resettlement have helped older villagers adapt to the new urban place.

Health Capacity to Work at Older Ages in the Republic of Korea

Health Capacity to Work at Older Ages in the Republic of Korea

INEQUALITIES IN OLD AGE WELL-BEING: THE ROLE OF REGIONAL DEPOPULATION AND SOCIAL AND MATERIAL CONDITIONS

Abstract Material conditions and social integration are important predictors of wellbeing in old age. It can be expected that older individuals who reside in depopulating areas experience declines in well-being, as their property loses value, their social networks are shrinking, and public infrastructure is lacking. We conduct comparative analyses of Germany and Poland, two countries that show significant differences with regard to the economic and social situation of the older population. We expect that regional depopulation is more detrimental to well-being in Poland, as older individuals rely more strongly on informal support and individual resources in old age. We apply multilevel regression models to investigate the interrelations between overall life satisfaction, social integration, material conditions and regional factors. We combine micro-data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) with macro-data on regional characteristics (depopulation, public infrastructure and economic development). Our preliminary analyses suggest that a substantial part of inequalities in old age well-being can be traced back to regional differences in the level of depopulation. Social integration and material conditions are important mediators of this association. Additionally, regional differences in care and health infrastructure are important predictors of well-being – especially for older adults in need of financial and social support. Regional depopulation can be detrimental to well-being in later life due to material hardship, low social integration and lacking public infrastructure. In the next steps, we will investigate whether there are differences at the country level by comparing Germany and Poland.

Gender Preferences for Children and Gender Relations in Contemporary China

This study aims to investigate and compare the determinants of gender preference for children in rural and urban China under the values of children to parents (VOC) approach by focusing on the effects of attitudes to elder care and gender roles, and the attainment of insurance programs. Using pooled cross-sectional data from 2013 and 2015 of the Chinese General Social Surveys, we found that rural individuals expecting children responsible for old-age support exhibit daughter preference, followed by balance preference, whereas their urban counterparts show similar son preference and daughter preference. In addition, balance preference is associated with traditional gender role attitudes among rural individuals but correlated with more equal gender attitudes among urbanites. Furthermore, having more economic security decreases rural individuals’ preferences for having more daughters. The findings suggest that the prevalent balance preference and the rising preference for daughters have quite different implications on the gender relationship between rural and urban China, and traditionalism still drives gender preference in rural China. Policy implications are also discussed.

Access to Pensions, Old-Age Support, and Child Investment in China

Access to Pensions, Old-Age Support, and Child Investment in China

Intergenerational transfers: Public education and pensions with endogenous fertility

We consider an overlapping generations economy, where parents are altruistic towards their children, and children provide old-age support to parents. We show that when the education loan market is imperfect, an education subsidy targeted towards achieving the complete-market level of education distorts fertility decisions. However, augmenting the education policy with pension support in the old-age can restore both education and fertility to complete-market level. This highlights that an Education-Pension package is more potent than perceived by the existing literature – it not only replaces the missing credit market but also corrects for fertility distortions. Our results also hold when state intervention in education is justified due to human-capital externality, instead of credit market frictions.

State familism in action: aging policy and intergenerational support in Singapore

Singapore started to tackle the challenges of an aging society in the 1980s after its fertility declined to sub-replacement levels. A core component of the city-state’s aging policy is to foster intergenerational support, which is based on the value of filial piety, harmonious intergenerational relations, and the elderly as a resource. This paper introduces the concept of state familism to capture Singapore’s comprehensive efforts to strengthen the role of the family in old-age support while promoting mutual assistance across generations. The relevant policies range from the Central Provident Fund, housing, taxation, to old-age support packages. These efforts distinguish Singapore from other Asian countries where the role of the family is sometimes stressed more in rhetoric than in action. State familism in Singapore has drawn criticisms as it is perceived as an attempt to reduce the government’s responsibility. In the recent decade, the Singapore state significantly increased direct financial support for the elderly while keeping the policy of fostering intergenerational support in place. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of Singapore’s state familism for China and other countries.

Childhood Send-Down Experience and Old-Age Support to Parents: The Twins Experiment in China

Abstract In the mass movement of sending urban youth to the countryside during China’s Cultural Revolution, many families with multiple age-eligible children were forced to make a send-down choice among the siblings. We exploit this rare social experiment and employ data on urban twins in China to investigate the effect of childhood send-down experience on children’s old-age support to parents. We find that compared with their twin siblings who had stayed in the city, send-downs were less likely to make a monetary transfer to parents and also tended to transfer less. We show that the inferior transfer behavior of send-downs was not due to any income disadvantage or selection of family’s send-down choice in terms of children’s altruism endowment. After ruling out the income and selection channel explanations, we posit that the inferior transfer behavior of send-downs is driven by the adverse effect of childhood send-down experience on children’s willingness to provide old-age support to parents, which could work through both pure altruism and warm glow.

Filial piety, love or money? Foundation of old-age support in urban China

This article explores the intertwining issues of filial obligation, material interest and emotional intimacy in driving adult children's provision of old-age support in family settings. Drawing upon multi-generational life history interviews with urban Chinese families, this article reveals how the configuration of these multiple forces is governed by the socio-economic and demographic context of a particular time. The findings dispute a lineal modernization model of transition and generational change (from past family relations structured by filial obligation to the present emotion-laden nuclear family). Instead the multi-generational analysis reveals a tightening association of multiple forces around the younger generation, intensified by the one-child demographic structure, post-Mao commercialization of urban housing and establishment of the market economy. Finally, this article highlights the role of performance in carrying out old-age support. “Surface work” is enacted in situations where tensions between conformity to public morality and private intents (emotional or material) cannot be reconciled.

The impact of internet use on old-age support patterns of middle-aged and older adults.

The trend towards low fertility and low mortality is prominant worldwide. The accelerating ageing and the pressure on public pensions are making the "dependent pattern of old-age support", which relies on family and government, unsustainable. It is urgent for people to change their mindset about ageing and to develop a sense of "relying on themselves for oldage support". This study incorporates the commercial pension insurance, formal care and the attitude towards independent old-age support pattern into the framework of "independent pattern of old-age support", using the probit regression model and instrumental variables approach to examine the impact of internet use on old-age support patterns of middleaged and older people based on the CGSS 2012-2018 five-period data. The more frequent internet use increased the likelihood of purchasing commercial pension insurance, accepting formal care, and endorsing independence in later life. The internet can promote the acceptance of independent pattern of old-age support by delivering information and facilitating social interaction. Consistent with previous research, this study finds that internet use can promote the purchase of commercial pension insurance. There are no relevant studies on the impact of internet use on formal care and attitude towards independent old-age support pattern. Our finding provides important empirical and theoretical references for ageing countries to further transform old-age support patterns.

The Heterogeneous Effect of Parental Investment on Old-Age Support: Only Children As the Main Caregivers in China

In an era of rapid aging and shrinking family sizes, only children have gradually become the main providers of old-age support. China offers a unique opportunity to investigate old-age support provision in one-child families due to its strict family planning policies. Using four-wave panel data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we ask whether old-age support in one-child families is more or less motivated by parental investments than in multi-child families. Results show a coexistence of fairness maintenance thesis and singleton compensation thesis: children’s returns to parents in one-child families are weakly motivated by their parents’ large-sum investments, but strongly motivated by parental daily transfers. In one-child families, sons are more obliged to provide old-age support in return for parental transfers than are daughters. The policy implications for old-age support provision in an aging society with a declining family size are also discussed.

The One-Child Policy and Household Saving

Abstract We investigate whether the “one-child policy” has contributed to the rise in China’s household saving rate and human capital in recent decades. In a life-cycle model with intergenerational transfers and human capital accumulation, fertility restrictions lower expected old-age support coming from children—inducing parents to raise saving and education investment in their offspring. Quantitatively, the policy can account for at least 30% of the rise in aggregate saving. Using the birth of twins under the policy as an empirical out-of-sample check to the theory, we find that quantitative estimates on saving and education decisions line up well with micro-data.