Effect of Children’s Support on Depression among Older Adults Living Alone or with a Spouse: A Comparative Analysis between Urban and Rural Areas of China

Xiaocui Ren and Chen Lu
Additional contact information
Xiaocui Ren: Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
Chen Lu: School of Public Policy and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-15

Abstract: Against the backdrop of rapid urbanization and severe population aging, older adults living alone or with a spouse in China have become a special and vulnerable group that deserve more research attention. Based on a national sample of 3886 older adults (?60 years old) living alone or with a spouse, we used multiple linear regression models to investigate the effect of children’s support on depression among older adults living alone or with a spouse in China. A comparative analysis was conducted to examine the differences between urban and rural areas. The results indicated that financial support from children was negatively correlated with depression among older adults living alone or with a spouse, especially in rural areas. Their children’s frequency of contact also significantly alleviated depression among non-cohabiting parents in rural areas, but not for the same types of parents living in urban areas. Compared with financial support, their children’s frequency of contact contributes more to decreasing depression among older adults living alone or with a spouse. The effect of their children’s support on depression is comparable to that of demographic characteristics, which are usually deemed as important factors in the psychological health of older adults. Moreover, we found that the marginal effects of self-rated health and pain were significant and much higher than other control variables, especially in the urban model.

Keywords: children’s support; older adults; depression; urban–rural differences; CHARLS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6315/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6315/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:6315-:d:567742

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().