Out-migration of Young Adults and Living Arrangements of the Elderly in Rural China: The Case of Chaohu

Merril Silverstein Andrus Gerontology Center

University of Southern California, USA

Li Shuzhuo & Zhang Wenjuan Institute for Population and Development Studies

Xi'an Jiaotong University, China

Background

Perspectives on Chinese rural elderly

Family support for old age

Rural-urban migration

Changing family structure and living arrangement

Factors affecting living arrangements

Preference for living alone or with others

Economic resources to maintain an independent household

Health status for living independently

Availability of kin, especially children, with whom

coresidence is possible

Western elderly and urban Chinese elderly

Perspectives on living arrangements of rural

Chinese elderly

Network-households and traditional marriage form

Son preference

House ownership and independent income

Reliance on children for financial and instrumental

support

Research questions

Does out-migration of young adults affect their elderly parents’ living arrangements in rural China? Family support for old age

Do gender, children’s status, parents’ economic resources and health status affect parents’ living arrangements, especially in the context of increasing out-migration of young adults in rural China?

Data & Methods Data Source

Longitudinal Study of the Well-being of the Elderly in Anhui Province, China.

Random sampling of 1,800 people aged 60 and over living in rural townships within Chaohu city, using a stratified multistage sampling method.

Baseline survey conducted in April 2001 and follow-up survey in Oct. 2003, by the Institute for Population and Development Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong University, with technical support from USC.

Anhui Province, China

Chaohu

Samples

Our interest is the living arrangements between parents

and children, the sample consists of 1,627 elderly with

at least one living child from the 2001 baseline survey.

Method Multinomial logistic regression

Dependent variable

living arrangements of the elderly

Empty-nest family (living alone or with spouse)

Stem family (living with children or spouses of children, with/without grandchildren)

Skip-generation family (living with grandchildren but not children)

Independent variables Living preference: Gender of parents and children

Status of children : Gender, whether within the village, marital status, and age of children’s offspring

Economic resources of the elderly: Occupation, educational attainment, independent income, and house ownership

Physical health status of the elderly : ADL, age

Control variable: Marital status of the elderly

Descriptive Information

Living arrangements of the elderly

alone or with spouseskip-generationalstem-family

Perc

ent

60

50

40

30

20

10

Males

Females

Children’s status The elderly living alone or with spouse are more likely to have sons in the same village than those in other groups.

Variables Elderly in stem household %

Elderly in skip- generation

household %

Elderly in empty-nest

household %

Sons in the village (sons living with them excluded): None

64.1 60.8 35.8

One son 23.8 24.1 32.1

At least two sons 12.1 15.0 32.0

Daughters in the village (daughters living with them excluded): None

71.8 74.8 71.9

One daughter 22.6 21.3 22.2

At least two daughters 5.6 3.8 5.8

The elderly in skip-generation household are more likely to have children outside the village than others

Variables Elderly in stem household %

Elderly in skip- generation household

%

Elderly in empty-nest household %

Sons outside and not separated for job-related reason: None

65.2 16.1 42.9

One son 24.7 41.6 35.7

At least two sons 10.1 42.3 21.3

Daughters outside and not separated for job-related reason: None

32.9 20.6 22.2

One daughter 33.2 35.0 34.6

At least two daughters 33.9 44.4 43.2

Sons outside and separated for job-related reason: None 80.5 75.5 81.4

At least one 19.5 24.5 18.6

Daughters outside and separated for job-related reason: None

83.0 83.2 84.1

At least one 17.0 16.8 15.9

Percentage of elderly with juvenile grandchildren whose parents are

outside the village is highest among the elderly in skip-generation

households

Variables Elderly in stem household %

Elderly in skip- generation

household %

Elderly in empty-nest

household %

Sons outside with children 18 or younger: None 67.9 15.7 49.7

At least one 32.1 84.3 50.3

Daughters outside with children 18 or younger: None

52.9 24.8 35.1

At least one 47.1 75.2 64.9

Sons divorced, widowed or never married: None 71.7 77.6 83.5

At least one 28.3 22.4 16.5

Daughters divorced, widowed or never married: None

88.4 92.0 89.7

At least one 11.6 8.0 10.3

Economic resources

Economic resources of the elderly living with children are worse than those of

other two groups

Variables Elderly in stem household %

Elderly in skip- generation

household %

Elderly in empty-nest

household %Occupation: Agricultural 97.1 93.7 94.5

Non-agricultural 2.9 6.3 5.5

Education: At least some formal education 19.1 21.0 22.1

No formal education 80.9 79.0 77.9

Economic income: No impendent income 63.4 29.0 37.4

Yes 36.6 71.0 62.6

House ownership: Rent or in other’s house 77.8 60.1 43.3

Owner 13.5 32.5 53.0

Joint ownership 8.7 7.3 3.7

Health Status

The elderly in skip-generation households have better physical

health status than those in other groups

Variables Elderly in stem household %

Elderly in skip- generation

household %

Elderly in empty-nest

household%

     

Number of ADL disability: 0 31.4 57.3 49.0

1 13.4 10.8 14.7

2 7.2 8.7 5.6

3 and over 48.0 23.1 30.6

Age: 60-74 48.2 80.4 64.0

75+ 51.8 19.6 36.0

Regression Results Gender preference

The elderly have significant son preference when choosing children for coresidence.

The elderly show no gender difference when choosing living arrangements

Variables Odds ratios

Stem-household Skip-generational household

Gender: Male    

Female 0.878 1.000

Sons in the village (sons living with them excluded): None    

One son 0.241*** 0.466***

At least two sons 0.096*** 0.382***

Daughters in the village (daughters living with them excluded): None    

One daughter 0.853 1.179

At least two daughters 0.868 0.834

Status of children The elderly with more out-migrating sons are more likely to

be in skip-generational households and less likely to live with children.

Additional sons separated for job-related reason increase likelihood of the elderly living with children.

Additional sons in the same village decrease parents’ likelihood in stem and skip-generational households, and increase their likelihood to live alone or with spouses.

The elderly with sons in marriage crisis are more likely to live with children.

Regression results of children’s status

Variables Odds ratios

In stem-household In skip-generation household

Sons in the village (sons living with them excluded): None    

One son 0.241*** 0.466***

At least two sons 0.096*** 0.382***

Daughters in the village (daughters living with them excluded): None    

One daughter 0.853 1.179

At least two daughters 0.868 0.834

Sons outside and not separated for job-related reason: None    

One son 0.315*** 1.299

At least two sons 0.122*** 1.541

Daughters outside and not separated for job-related reason: None    

One daughter 0.688+ .804

At least two daughters 0.614* .832

Sons outside and separated for job-related reason: None    

At least one 1.176+ 1.015

daughters outside and separated for job-related reason: None    

At least one 1.009 0.888

Sons outside with children 18 or younger: None    

At least one 0.885 2.950***

Daughters outside with children 18 or younger: None    

At least one 0.937 1.423

Sons divorced, widowed or never married: None    

At least one 4.886*** 1.442+

Daughters divorced, widowed or never married: None    

At least one 1.090 0.877

Economic resources The elderly without any formal education are more likely to stay in

skip-generational household

The elderly with independent income or house ownership are more

likely to live alone or with spouses

Variables Odds ratios

Stem-household Skip-generation household

Occupation: Agricultural    

Non-agricultural 0.749 1.444

Education: At least some formal education    

No formal education 0.907 1.643*

House ownership: Rent or in other’s house    

Owner 0.146*** 0.401***

Joint ownership 1.118 1.136

Health status

The elderly in relative good health status are more likely to

live alone or in skip-generation household.

Variables Odds ratios

In stem-household

In skip- generation household

ADL 0.954*** 1.029

Age 0.990 0.969*

Conclusions Out-migration of young adults has significant influences on their

parents’ living arrangements.

Gender, children’s status, parents’ economic resources and health

status significantly affect parents’ living arrangements.

Elderly’s need for support has become the primary cause for their

coresidence with adult children, which is different from the Western

elderly and the Chinese urban elderly.

Need of children (i.e. child-care) also affects the living arrangements of

the elderly, when the parents are in good physical health status.

The elderly show strong son preference in selecting coresidence or

providing grandchild care in skip-generational household.

The skip-generational household is a special arrangement mostly

caused by the out-migration of adult children, in which parents provide

daily care for grandchildren.

Thank you!Thank you!