Happiness in Old Age: The Daughter Connection

Pataporn Sukontamarn, M Asadullah, Nopphawan Photphisutthiphong and Yen Thi Hai Nguyen
Additional contact information
Pataporn Sukontamarn: College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University
Nopphawan Photphisutthiphong: College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University
Yen Thi Hai Nguyen: College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University

Journal of Happiness Studies, 2023, vol. 24, issue 5, No 5, 1729-1757

Abstract: Abstract Family and intergenerational relationships are becoming increasingly important as sources of support and care for the elderly population in rapidly ageing Asian societies. However, this has also raised concerns over reinforcement of cultural preference for sons as a source of old-age security. This paper therefore revisits the question—what determines happiness in old age—by investigating the role of adult children’s gender in the context of Thailand, an ageing Asian country with no legacy of sex-preference in fertility. We employ nationally representative data to examine the association between old-age happiness and presence of a co-residing child. Compared to living alone, living with at least one child is found to positively associate with older persons’ happiness. However, this result is specific to daughters. Moreover, compared to older men, women systematically benefit from a “daughter effect”. Co-residing daughters with university education and those who maintain a good relationship with their parents help explain the positive happiness effect on older persons. Co-residing daughters are also positively linked to reduced loneliness; improved self-rated health; and improved economic conditions of older parents. Our findings suggest that policies that increase human capital of the girl child and enhance family solidarity are likely to have long term intergenerational wellbeing benefits.

Keywords: Happiness; Older person; Ageing; Son bias; Thailand (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-023-00655-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:jhappi:v:24:y:2023:i:5:d:10.1007_s10902-023-00655-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... fe/journal/10902/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10902-023-00655-1

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Happiness Studies is currently edited by Antonella Delle Fave

More articles in Journal of Happiness Studies from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().